The New York Jets lost their first game of the new NFL season against the San Francisco 49ers by a clear 19:32. Not everything was bad, but too much was predictably not good. Insights from the first Monday Night Game of the year.
The New York Jets have finally signed a real game with quarterback Aaron Rodgers after he had to leave the team injured after only four snaps last year. The bottom line was that things didn’t go particularly well this time either. From a purely sporting perspective, it was a disappointment, because only at the beginning did it seem that Gang Green in the clear slap could keep up.
sport.deEditor Marcus Blumberg delivers his rapid reaction to the Jets’ guest appearance at the Niners.
Jets: Aaron Rodgers is back
Aaron Rodgers is back and still in one piece after the game at the Field of Jeans. That alone is a plus point compared to last year.
But that’s not all, because Rodgers showed some positive signs that he may be closer to his old form than one might have expected. If you want to pick out something particularly positive, two drives are the ones that stand out.
First, there was the touchdown drive lasting 7:07 minutes in the first quarter. It wasn’t a particularly good drive from a play selection perspective, but it reminded everyone that Rodgers can still solve difficult situations against good defenses. Because he often found himself in 3rd & long situations, he had to find solutions himself time and time again. And he found them several times in the person of Garrett Wilson, who apparently wasn’t covered during the entire drive.
And then there was the touchdown drive in the third quarter, when he found Allen Lazard for a 36-yard touchdown with one of his patented free plays – he had previously lured a defender offside with his calls at the line. Classic Rodgers!
Jets: Nathaniel Hackett is still there
The Jets’ play calling was not so positive – and this could have been predicted. The Jets repeatedly found themselves in longer 3rd downs before the break, which is not a good recipe against a good defense like the 49ers’. And it would have been easy to prevent if they hadn’t stubbornly run through the middle on early downs.
But not with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, whose career as a play caller is paved with inefficient seasons wherever he has worked. Last year, everyone could use the excuse that Rodgers was missing. But even with him back, Hackett still hasn’t found a way to put more efficient offenses on the field. And that could prove to be the Jets’ downfall one time or another.
It certainly won’t be as bad as last year, because Rodgers can compensate for some of it, but as soon as they play against a fundamentally better coached team – the Niners, for example – the Jets are already at a disadvantage before the first kickoff. Not a particularly good basis for a team that considers itself one of the Super Bowl favorites.
Jets: Pay Reddick!
The bottom line was that the Jets’ actually impressive defense had two sacks and four QB hits. What is shocking, however, is that there were not many more pressures on Brock Purdy overall. The sacks in question were the result of a blitz by cornerback Sauce Gardner and an unfortunate scramble by Purdy in garbage time (Michael Clemons). Danger on natural The only one who made the difference was Quinnen Williams, who was then consistently avoided, especially in the run game.
Otherwise, however, the classic pass rushers of this team were not really a factor. The secondary usually did not have much time to adjust to all of the Niners’ receivers because there was hardly any pressure on the front line. And it seems that, as expected, the personnel level is very thin in this part of the team.
So what should we do? The obvious solution is to agree to a new contract with edge rusher Haason Reddick, which was promised to him at the time of the trade from the Eagles. Since then, he has stayed away from the Jets. If we want to get his biggest problem in defense under control, it would probably be advisable to sit down at the negotiating table again and pay our potentially best pass rusher appropriately.
Because even though head coach Robert Saleh described numerous problem areas as “fixable” immediately after the game, pass rush is unlikely to be one of them. At least not without adding personnel – Reddick!
Source: www.sport.de
