The Jets’ bye week left a lot of uncertainties surrounding the offense as they head to Philadelphia for their Week 5 bout with the Eagles.
Will Sam Darnold return? Will Adam Gase shake up the offensive line? Will the Jets continue to feed Le’Veon Bell? What we do know is that plenty of things need to change for the Jets to be successful moving forward.
Regardless of who’s throwing the football, the Jets have offensive woes that borderline unsolvable. They currently rank 32nd in total yards and offense touchdowns. It’s been a horrendous season just four weeks in, but they can turn it around against a surprisingly-soft Eagles defense.
Here are the four keys to the Jets offense in Week 5.
Attack through the air
It doesn’t matter if it’s Sam Darnold or Luke Falk under center in Week 5; the Jets must generate some sort of passing attack against a depleted Eagles secondary. Three of Philadelphia’s cornerbacks are battling injuries – Ronald Darby, Avonte Maddox and Sidney Jones – and the Eagles have allowed an NFL-high 1,295 passing yards after four weeks.
Passing hasn’t been part a big part of the Jets’ game plan thus far. Jamison Crowder and Le’Veon Bell lead the Jets in receiving targets, and Darnold and Falk rank 38th and 37th in air yards (respectively), according to airyards.com.
The Jets don’t have many competent pass-catchers behind Crowder and Bell, but they need to target the speedy Robby Anderson on the outside more against the Eagles’ injured cornerbacks.
Convert more first downs
A big reason why the Jets haven’t been able to generate points or sustain offensive drives is that they rank last in first downs (36), third-down conversions (20.9 percent) and offensive plays (172). This offense cannot stay competitive in games if it’s constantly going three-and-out, and it’s on Adam Gase to design plays to set the Jets offense up for success. That means either avoiding third-down altogether or creating situations where the Jets aren’t looking at third-and-long.
Part of this will be on the coach, but the quarterback and the offensive line must also do their jobs correctly or the team is doomed to continue its sad trend on offense. Long offensive drives will also keep the Jets defense off the field longer, which will inevitably keep them from getting fatigued and help them remain productive against the Eagles offense.
Get creative
For all the talk of Adam Gase’s offensive ingenuity, he hasn’t shown it the first three weeks. The Jets offense looked stale and one-dimensional during their 0-3 start, and runs almost exclusively through Le’Veon Bell. They’re entirely predictable, and defenses easily game plan against that.
The previously 0-3 Steelers were able to generate offense seemingly out of thin air when they employed a creative wildcat-style offense against the Bengals in Week 4. It wasn’t pretty, but the game plan eventually opened up the team to take deep shots down the field. Sitting winless with the season on the line, the Jets offense needs to try something unconventional against the Eagles.
Stabilize the offensive line
The Jets didn’t play in Week 4 but are still ranked sixth in sacks allowed. That cannot continue moving forward, but there’s no much that can be done with an underperforming unit.
Gase suggested changes could be coming to the offensive line this week, and a shoulder injury to guard Kelechi Osemele may force Gase to employ a different iteration of the line. Backup guards Alex Lewis and Tom Compton have starting experience and Jonnothan Harrison could replace a struggling Ryan Kalil at center.
Luckily for the Jets, the Eagles rank last in defensive sacks with three, which will help the passing game. Unfortunately, they do have a top-five run defense, which could thwart attempts on the ground.
