Jets Acquire Davantae Adams, Drop Three Games in a Row.

 

Courtesy: Facebook @NFL

    In three weeks of not posting, a lot changed for the Jets in the 2024 season, most of it for the worse. They dropped three one-score games all in Jet fashion, of course. All in this time they added a new wide receiver in Davantae Adams, fired their head coach Robert Saleh and have a new play-caller on offense in Todd Downing.

    Let's dig into these drama-filled three weeks that just happened with the 10-9 loss to the Denver Broncos. On a rainy day in East Rutherford, the Jets' defense held the opposing quarterback Bo Nix to 60 passing yards on the day and New York still found a way to lose. He threw his first NFL touchdown to give Denver a 7-6 lead late in the 3rd quarter. The common issue in the past three weeks has been red zone offense or mental mistakes while driving for the Jets. This reared its ugly head on the next drive as Aaron Rodgers found Allen Lazard on the near sideline for a first down. Lazard then did a celebration with finger guns, indicating he got a first down and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. That later on forced Greg Zuerlein to kick a field goal and make it 9-7. Denver responded with a field goal of their own to take a 10-9 lead. The Jets had one more chance at the end of the game with a field goal try, but Zuerlein hooked the kick wide and the Jets fell to 2-2. 

    The following Sunday was a 23-17 loss for New York to the Minnesota Vikings in London. Rodgers threw 3 interceptions with one being a pick-six and another ending a potential game-winning drive with under a minute left. Once again the red zone offense was bad and it doesn't help when you bury yourself early and fall behind 17-0.

    

    On Tuesday, October 8, Saleh was fired from his head coaching duties and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was assigned interim head coach. Ulbrich has helped the defense become one of the best in the league and is well-respected by his unit. Later on in the week, Ulbrich gave Downing play-calling duties over offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett

    

    The Jets still couldn't come up with a victory in his first game as interim, falling 23-20 to the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. I refuse to mention the defense until I think it is the problem, Downing made the offense look modern by following the blueprints of other successful offenses in the league but still couldn't score in the red zone. New York went 1-4 when getting inside the 20 and have scored a touchdown 33 percent of the time during this three-game losing streak. The other difference in the game was Zuerlein once again missing crucial kicks. He missed from 32 and 43, in a time where kickers around the league make 50-yarders look easy, its unacceptable especially when you lose by 3. 

    The drama was capped off on Tuesday when the Jets acquired Davantae Adams from the Raiders. This has been long awaited due to Adams' friendship with Rodgers stemming back from the Green Bay days. Since I've been watching football this was the best QB-to-WR duo ever. To see what I'm talking about, just watch this poetry in motion.

The Positives

- Rodgers and Garrett Wilson have had a great connection in the last two games with Wilson getting 40 targets and over 200 yards with 2 scores.

- Jamien Sherwood has had back-to-back double-digit tackling games in place of C.J. Mosley. 

- D.J. Reed has looked like a shutdown corner all year long. He just needs to stay healthy.

- Breece Hall had 169 all-purpose yards against Buffalo. A stat line I've been waiting for out of him.

The Negatives

- Losing primetime/London games isn't fun.

- Hasson Reddick still isn't a Jet and aside from Will McDonald, there is no consistent pass-rush

- The well-documented offensive struggles.

- The well-documented kicking struggles.

- Run-blocking from the Tight End position has been a problem, but Downing is using less of them to counter that.

- Winning just one of these close games would put you at a modest 3-3, with how the AFC is shaping up, that might be costly by the end of the season.

My Final Take

    I believe in this team. I've seen a lot worse from this organization and with the addition of Adams, I think this offense is going to reach a new level and the turnaround starts now. The next test is Sunday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The schedule gets lighter after this week so take this game and keep pushing forward.       

    What are your thoughts about the personnel and roster changeups for the Jets? Comment if you think this is still a playoff team.