New York Jets Report Card: Week 2

[JetNation]

Week 2 Report Card: Jets @ Raiders L 45-20

 

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Quarterback: C

Josh McCown: 17/25 166 yards, 2 TD 0 INT, 1 fumble

The offense actually showed some life in the first half, and in particular the 34-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Kearse gave the Jets a boost in momentum. That was all erased by a muffed punt from Kalif Raymond, setting up the go ahead touchdown for the Raiders at the end of the half. It was all down hill from there. McCown failed to hit a couple of wide open receivers, took too many sacks, and fumbled once on a strip sack. Other than that, he played a decent game.

Running back: C

Matt Forte: 9 rushes for 53 yards, 4 receptions for 38 yards

Elijah McGuire: 6 rushes for 29 yards, 1 reception for 7 yards

Bilal Powell: 6 rushes for 13 yards

Josh McCown: 4 rushes for 31 yards

The Jets actually surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark, although no running back had more than nine touches. It looks like the Jets may begin using a three-man running back committee by including Elijah McGuire in the rotation. All things considered, the run game made strides compared to last week.

Wide Receiver/Tight End: C

Jermaine Kearse: 4 receptions for 64 yards, 2 TD

Robby Anderson: 2 receptions for 28 yards

Jeremy Kerley: 3 receptions for 14 yards

Charone Peake: 1 reception for 3 yards

Neal Sterling: 1 reception for 8 yards

Will Tye: 1 reception for 4 yards

Jermaine Kearse continues to be the only consistent play maker on the Jets’ offense. With a pedestrian wide receiver group, this will likely be the case for the season. Robby Anderson has struggled to make an impact so far, putting even more pressure on Kearse to produce.

Offensive Line: B

Considering they were playing the likes of Khalil Mack, Bruce Irvin, etc. the offensive line did a commendable job. They did a better job opening holes for the run game, and a decent job in pass protection. Josh McCown was sacked four times, but at least two of them were due to McCown trying to scramble out of the pocket.

Defensive Line: F

For the second straight week the defensive line was manhandled. The supposed strength of the team has been a glaring weakness so far this season. The run defense has been putrid giving up 370 yards in two games, while the pass rush is nearly nonexistent.

Linebacker: F

The inexperience and lack of talent is obvious in the linebacker department. Blown coverages, missed tackles, and terrible play recognition are abundant so far with this group. Not to mention the absence of a pure pass rusher.

Secondary: F

The only player in the secondary that wasn’t terrible today was Jamal Adams, who is showing promise by improving his tackling technique and usually finding himself near the ball. Derek Carr had a field day completing 82% of his passes, while throwing for 230 yards and three touchdowns. The secondary made Michael Crabtree look like Antonio Brown.

Special Teams: D-

This could have easily been a B grade if it weren’t for Raymond’s muffed punt. Chandler Catanzaro has been a pleasant surprise in the kicking game, he’s 4/4 so far this season. Lachlan Edwards has done a decent job punting so far as well.

Coaching: C-

The offensive game plan was more palatable this week, with offensive coordinator John Morton being more aggressive downfield and mixing in more rushing plays. That being said, the decision to put Kalif Raymond back in the game after surrendering the momentum-altering fumble was a head scratcher to say the least. Raymond fumbled twice last week, making it three fumbles in two weeks. He should be cut tomorrow.

Overall Grade: D-

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[Sperm Edwards]

I don't want to dump on these, because I know they take time to put together. Most of it is spot-on, but I think a few are either a little harsh or a little soft:

QB: McCown was better than a C grade QB. They all miss an open man or two while under duress. The problem is we don't have enough of a receiver corps to have enough other open guys for big gains on that play - or subsequent plays - to hide it. I'd also grade him on a curve for what he is. This is better than expected for him, although Oakland's pass defense (other than some pressure they can create) is trash. Our receivers should have been open almost at will, and would have if they were more talented+experienced, or the plays were more creative. The strip sack came almost from behind him, while he was about to throw it. Nobody throws the ball while keeping 2 hands on a tucked-in football, so I can't really fault him for not seeing/feeling the pressure there and the ball popping loose; that was on Shell. 

OL I'd drop a little bit. The run game was virtually shut down until the point deficit became insurmountable. McCown scrambling for dozens of yards - including a 20+ gainer on 3rd & 18 to extend the drive that got it back to a 1-score game - hid a bit of it. I think it's weak to blame McCown for half the sacks by saying they came on his scrambles, since he wouldn't be scrambling if the protection didn't break down in the first place. Also Shell has to be able to give McCown more time on that strip sack. Whether it's McCown or a great QB, they need time on plays like that if we're going to challenge the secondary deep or go through his progressions as needed. Otherwise we're going to be limited to 3-step drops, with 1 read & throw or throw-away, for a passing playbook.

Coaching is generous at C-. Whatever the "plan" one chooses to commend them on devising, we got utterly destroyed. Bowles should drop 3 letter grades alone just for keeping in his geriatric QB to hand off to his geriatric RB in the 4th quarter with the Jets down 29 points, or failing to bench the culprit who took the wind out of the team's sails. Yeah it's easy to judge this one in hindsight, but they say luck is the residue of design, and in that spot I think you want the sure-handed PR rather than the more dynamic - but wholly unreliable - one. At the time we'd just gotten a 3 & out, were only down by 4 with 2 min and a timeout left (plenty of time to get into FG range at least, against Oak's D), and we were receiving to start the 2nd half. The only thing that would have killed momentum there was a fumbled PR.

Also going for it on 4th on the possession before that was an unnecessary risk. An easy FG has us within 4 (after rallying from a 14-point deficit), while converting the 4th down still has us merely on their 26-27 yd line. The run play of Forte up the gut was predictable, and Oakland snuffed it out with ease. Luckily our own ineptitude on the field - a delay of game penalty - hid the ineptitude on the sideline, so we got an undeserved do-over on the decision.

[Jack Straw]

You can't lose by 25 and not give the coaching staff an F. Of every game played in week 2 of the NFL, no team lost by a greater margin than the Jets. To lose by 25 in the NFL is a rare feat, and one I think the Jets are capable of accomplishing a handful of times this season thanks to Todd Bowles.

I don't care how bad the talent is, and I don't care that we had to go cross country to play the Raiders, losing by this margin is inexcusable. The 49ers are every bit as untalented as the Jets and they gave the Seahawks a run for their money today. Cleveland is awful, started a rookie QB, and only lost by 14 to the Ravens. The Colts are on their third string QB who showed up two weeks ago and they took the Cardinals to OT. The Vikings' third string QB started today and they lost by 17 to the Steelers.

What was the Jets' excuse? That they're young? Baloney. The Colts, Browns, Texans, Bengals and Rams are all younger than the Jets, and all manage to field more competitive teams than the Jets.

[Better2bgreenthanblue]

The Jets D the past two weeks is as bad as any I've seen In 50 years. F isn't good enough! I'd give them an I-incomplete for not showing up.

[nyjunc]

we have talent on D to be an upper half D but instead we may be the worst D in the league.  we are supposed to have a defensive genius running things, if our O can score 20 pts in a game we should have a chance in 80% of games to at least have a game come down to the final minutes.  we can give the O coaches a non F grade but the HC and defensive coaches get less than an F.  it's beyond embarrassing.  we aren't even asking for wins, we are just asking to compete and our talented D cannot even compete.

[Scoop24]

Maye played a pretty good game as well . Considering how bad things where out there.

Back to Adams 

 

[rangerous]

i think i'd give some credit to skrine.  yes he got beat, sort of by crabtree but considering he's 5-9 and crabtree is taller, he at least held him to little yac.  and then there's the hit where he picked up a personal foul.  there was no foul.  the back was not a vulnerable receiver and it wasn't really helmet to helmet.  and then skrine backed it up with a clean tackle on the guy because he didn't go down. other than that no complaints about the grade.

[sciond]

I do not see how overall not an F otherwise pretty fair except too generous to Bowles.

 

[Warfish]

F

No need for exposition. F covers it all, accurately.

[JohnnyLV]

1 hour ago, nyjunc said:

we have talent on D to be an upper half D but instead we may be the worst D in the league.  we are supposed to have a defensive genius running things, if our O can score 20 pts in a game we should have a chance in 80% of games to at least have a game come down to the final minutes.  we can give the O coaches a non F grade but the HC and defensive coaches get less than an F.  it's beyond embarrassing.  we aren't even asking for wins, we are just asking to compete and our talented D cannot even compete.

I don't see it. What is this talent you speak of. Despite the abundance of first round picks for our defense where are the playmakers? The game changers?  And on top of that we are actually bad at certain positions like linebacker. We have maybe 1 player in Leonard that will get consideration for the pro bowl. Adams and Maye look decent but safety is like the least impactful position on a football team. so of course we invest a 1st rounder on it. I actually think our talent level on defense is bottom third in the NFL. We just assume we are talented because of all the draft resources we invested in it. Seriously. Being generous:

Defensive Line: C, maybe. Mo does not try. Leonard is solid and the rest sans Sheldon are JAGS. It is nowhere near as good as we think, and dramatically worse without Snacks. Kony Ealy stands out, and he is a cut from the NE defense.

Linebackers: D, if we are being generous. I am not sure D is low enough. We have terrible inside linebackers and a hodgepodge of outside linebackers that are not really impact players

Secondary: C- Clairborne seems OK but mostly because the rest are really mediocre to awful (Skrine). Maye and Adams look promising but not really playing more than JAG level

So I am just need seeing the upper half talent. We could cut the entire defense and not all of them would even be picked up. I think we are bottom half definitely, bottom third likely and playing to our talent level. We have just become used to the idea that we have great talent on the defense but it is not reality.

 

 

 

[Hael]

i'd give McCown a B, the Rbs a B-  (Forte was pretty good) and the Wrs a D (Kearse gets a B, the rest are big Fs).   McCown should be given credit, b/c frankly his windows are absolutely tiny.  None of our Wrs, RBs or Tes create any separation, and essentially the only thing he has are quick dump offs and west coast offense motion plays.   Boring perhaps, and fans want to go down the field, but our best down the field threat is easily handled one on one by any competent CB.  There is just no physical mismatch on our team, and even Tom Brady struggles when he runs out of wr options.  I mantain that our OC has called pretty good games twice in a row, and has kept things from really getting out of hand.  I assure you, if you put Petty in there and he has a game like he had last year against Miami, we could be looking at 60-10 scorelines and a complete disintegration of confidence by the entire team.

On D, we just have a very overrated team talent wise.  People have systematically overhyped what we have.  It's not a pretty picture, and frankly fans have the right to be upset about the quality of the unit, given how much draft capital and money is spent.