One word can be used to describe the Jets’ 23-3 loss to the Browns on Monday night: ugly.
From beginning to end, New York’s offense failed to get going and was limited to only 224 yards. To make matters worse, Trevor Siemian went down with an ankle injury, leaving Luke Falk as Gang Green’s only healthy quarterback while Sam Darnold deals with mono.
Considering how poorly the Jets played against Cleveland, the team can only go up from here… maybe. With that being said, here are four takeaways from New York’s second loss of the season.
The Jets are in trouble at quarterback
This one goes without saying.
Sam Darnold is likely out for the foreseeable future with mono. Trevor Siemian is probably done for a while based on the gruesomeness of his ankle injury as well. That leaves the Jets with Luke Falk and Le’Veon Bell as the team’s emergency quarterback.
It’s safe to assume Joe Douglas will go out and add a quarterback as soon as Tuesday, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Jets have themselves a major mess under center.
Penalties persist
When the Jets weren’t busy looking incompetent on offense, they were shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly with penalties.
New York racked up 12 penalties throughout the course of the game, six of which were called on the offense. Getting blown up in the trenches on every play is bad enough, but the problems only get compounded when you’re getting called for holding on every other play.
It looked like the penalty issues that plagued the Jets throughout Todd Bowles’ tenure as head coach were a thing of the past. Clearly, that is not the case. New York needs to get its act together if it wants to have any kind of success moving forward.
It’s Le’Veon Bell’s team
When in doubt, ring the Bell.
That was the approach the Jets took on offense against the Browns. It wasn’t the most effective gameplan, but the only one Adam Gase could turn to with both Sam Darnold and Trevor Siemian out. Not to knock Luke Falk, but he isn’t exactly a world-beater under center. Either handing the ball off to Le’Veon Bell or dumping it to him on a checkdown is New York’s best bet moving forward.
It’s probably not good that the Jets are forced to go with a one-dimensional offensive attack, but they don’t have a choice at this point. Hopefully, Bell can handle the heavy workload and stay healthy. If not, New York’s offense will hit rock bottom.
Secondary comes up short as expected
It was unrealistic to expect the Jets secondary to contain the Browns offense on Monday night.
Odell Beckham Jr. returned to MetLife Stadium and cooked the Jets to the tune of six receptions for 161 yards and a touchdown. Beckham Jr. accounted for the majority of Cleveland’s passing yards on offense, but far too many times New York’s secondary allowed conversions on third and long situations.
It’s no surprise that the Jets defensive backs came up short against Cleveland. Given the current state of the secondary, it’s surprising Baker Mayfield and company didn’t put more points on the board.
