The New York Jets offense has shown signs of life the past two weeks. That’s the good news heading into their Week 6 showdown at home against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Breece Hall rushed for 177 yards on 22 carries, including a 72-yard TD, in a 31-21 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Hall has rebounded nicely from a torn ACL last season and is sixth in the NFL with 387 rushing yards in five games and is averaging a whopping 7.2 yards per carry.
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said Hall played “out of his mind” last week and the Jets have lifted all restrictions on the second-year pro, ditching his “pitch count” following knee surgery.
Quarterback Zach Wilson is doing his part, playing with much more confidence and efficiency. He’s completed better than 70 percent of his passes each of the past two games. That’s a big step forward considering he’d only completed 70 percent of his passes once in his first two NFL seasons.
The Jets are not asking a lot out of Wilson but Hackett sees “unbelievable signs of his growing.” Case in point were his two touchdown passes against the Kansas City Chiefs two weeks ago and key completions downfield to Garrett Wilson and Tyler Conklin last week.
However, not only will the Jets (2-3) face the “best defense in football,” per Hackett, they have several things to clean up if they have any hope of knocking the Eagles (5-0) from the ranks of the undefeated.
New York Jets must convert more often on third down
Listen to Hackett. Listen to Wilson. Listen to coach Robert Saleh.
You don’t even need to ask them specifically about the Jets woes on third down this season. Each brings it up unprompted because it’s the single most important issue holding the offense back.
The Jets are an abysmal 26.2 percent converting on third down, last in the NFL. In Weeks 2-3, they were an atrocious 3-of-24 on third down. And even in a victory last week, the Jets converted only three of 12 third downs. Their best performance this season was against the Chiefs, when they were at 42 percent (5-of-12).
Their lack of efficiency on third down leads to the Jets consistently losing the time-of-possession battle and taxing their defense. It also kills their rhythm on offense, short-circuiting any flow they can hope to build.
The Eagles defense is 26th in the NFL on third down, allowing first downs 45.5 percent of the time. The Jets will need to win the third down battle.
Scoring TDs is paramount, so Jets must improve in red zone
The Jets were 0-5 in the red zone last week and didn’t really come close to scoring a touchdown in those five opportunities. Greg Zuerlein converted four of those drives into points with field goals. And the fifth chance slipped through their fingers when Wilson and the Jets failed to clock the ball with no timeouts remaining late in the first half.
Their lack of success in this area last week dropped the Jets to 31st in the NFL in red zone offense, converting at only 30.8 percent. The Jets are not dynamic enough on offense, even with the explosive Hall, that they can afford to continually fail to cash in touchdowns when in the red zone. They play too many close games, so when they’re within striking range, they must get seven points, not three, more often than not. It’s what good teams, playoff teams, do.
This week is a chance for success in this area. The Eagles give up TDs at a 75 percent clip in the red zone, third-worst in the League.
Jets need to get offense untracked in first quarter
With a razor-thin margin for winning and losing games, the Jets hurt themselves by starting slowly on offense and playing from behind week after week. New York has been outscored 37-5 in the first quarter this season. Their only points in the first quarter came last week against the Broncos on a Zuerlein field goal and a safety courtesy of the Jets defense.
This is a particularly annoying problem. Teams script their first series and practice those plays all week so that they can get off to a fast start. Instead, the Jets routinely stumble out of the gate, not just on their initial series but through the entire first quarter.
It could make a world of difference for the Jets to play with the lead, especially to set up their talented defense to be in a more aggressive state.