That their lone highlight occurred well before kickoff is all you need to know about the New York Jets and their dismal 27-6 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night.
Aaron Rodgers walked into MetLife Stadium, eschewing a motorized cart to transport him from parking lot to locker room. He then took to the field before pregame warmups, effortlessly dropped back and threw 50-yard spirals downfield.
And yes, he did this less than two months after major surgery to repair his ruptured Achilles.
Jets players and coaches say daily that Rodgers is an inspiration. That his will and work ethic propels them and fuels hope he’ll miraculously return to game action before the season ends.
Unfortunately for the Jets, Rodgers’ pregame passing display was more highlight than inspiration. In their home stadium, in front of a rabid fan base, in primetime and in a game full of playoff possibilities, the Jets fell flat.
Standing on the sideline with a headset on, Rodgers looked more pained from watching the Jets’ woeful offense than from his surgically-repaired Achilles. Even Robert Saleh, the Jets coach and eternal optimist, couldn’t put a happy face on this one postgame.
The loss doesn’t knock the Jets (4-4) out of playoff contention. But it does make the Jets appear more playoff pretender than playoff contender.
Each of the Jets rivals in the AFC East lost Sunday. A win and the Jets would have woken up Tuesday just a half game behind the first-place Miami Dolphins (6-3), sitting second in the division. Not a bad place to be considering New York lost its quarterback and leader four plays into the season when Rodgers went down clutching his leg in Week 1.
Instead, they remain third, behind the second-place Buffalo Bills (5-4). Plus, the Jets dropped a valuable wild card tiebreaker by losing to the Chargers, who are now also 4-4.
Slow starts, inept offense reasons New York Jets are playoff pretenders
Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
The Jets fell behind by two touchdowns early, chased the Chargers all night and never came close to catching up behind an utterly inept offense.
Sound familiar? It should because that’s been the Jets MO this season. The Jets have been outscored 61-12 in the first quarter. They’ve trailed in every game. And their .500 record has been built more on the backs of an elite defense, terrific kicking game and late-game comebacks spurred by unlikely heroes.
Zach Wilson and the offense continue to be terrible. And this unit is holding the Jets back from making a serious playoff push for a second straight season.
With Wilson running the show on the field and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett doing so from the sideline, the Jets continually fail to generate any rhythm, sustain drives and do what they’re paid to do: score touchdowns. The Jets have eight touchdowns from their offense in eight games, three in the past five games.
Not surprisingly, the Jets are last in the NFL in red zone offense and were 0-for-2 Monday. Even in garbage time on their final drive down 21 points, the Jets failed to score a TD when C.J. Uzomah dropped a wide-open pass in the end zone and then Tyler Conklin was stopped at the one-yard line on fourth down.
The Jets’ third-down woes continued. Already at a historically low 24% on third down this season, the Jets were 3-for-17 Monday.
Then there was the work of their injury-ravaged offensive line, which failed to protect the quarterback or open significant holes for running back Breece Hall. Wilson was sacked eight times, though to be fair he was indecisive and held on to the ball far too long in many instances.
Four pre-snap penalties were par for the course. Wide receiver Allen Lazard continued to be a major disappointment with two drops and three penalties. Wilson fumbled the ball away twice and even Garrett Wilson uncharacteristically fumbled in Chargers territory in the first quarter when it was only 7-0.
“We all just gotta grow up and do our job,” lamented Hall postgame.
With an offense this bad, the Jets can’t afford any breakdowns on defense or special teams. Unfortunately, the latter faltered, allowing an 87-yard punt return for a game-opening TD against the Chargers.
Related: New York Jets standing in our NFL Week 10 offense rankings
Elite defense, sound kicking game give Jets fighting chance to make playoffs
The Jets held the Chargers to 191 yards total offense and limited Justin Herbert to 136 yards in the air. That’s typical elite play by New York’s defense. Of course, the Jets still lost by three touchdowns, so there’s that.
“We have a championship defense,” Saleh said postgame.
The Jets didn’t force any turnovers — LA fumbled three times but recovered each time. And they didn’t do what is now another expected requirement of their job: score points.
“We gotta score on defense,” Sauce Gardner summed up after the loss.
Gardner, Quinnen Williams, Jermaine Johnson, Bryce Huff, Quincy Williams, D.J. Reed, C.J. Mosley, John Franklin-Myers. The list goes on. One “dog” after another on defense, as Garrett Wilson said Monday.
They provide the Jets their best hope to end a 12-season playoff drought.
And those two veteran kickers — punter Thomas Morstead and kicker Greg Zuerlein — are on track for Pro Bowl recognition this season. Morstead already was Special Teams Player of the Week last week and Zuerlein is New York’s best threat on offense, nailing 18 of 19 field goals, including two against the Chargers.
The Jets, though, are still alive and a win Sunday at the Las Vegas Raiders (4-5) could flip perception 180 degrees.
But halfway through the season, the Jets appear to be more playoff pretender than contender.