The New York Jets offense continues to struggle this season, dropping their second straight game in a 16-12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday Night Football.
Sunday marked their second straight game without scoring a touchdown, as the team now more than ever seems in need of quarterback Aaron Rodgers following his torn Achilles injury suffered in Week 1. Rodgers joined the ‘Pat McAfee Show’ on Tuesday and opened up about his team’s offensive struggles.
“It’s tough because we’re nine games in,” Rodgers said. “I think a lot of the issues that we’re having are ones we’ve had for a lot of the season. We’re not being efficient in the red zone, not being opportunistic on third down, we’re very low in both those categories.”
The Jets have the NFL’s worst third-down offense, converting just 25% of their attempts this season. And in the red zone, they’re just as bad, also ranking last in the league scoring touchdowns on just 22.7%of their trips to the red zone.
“This game we actually got in the end zone it looked like twice. Zach [Wilson] got in, got called back that he was out of bounds which was a millimeter call there and then we scored our rushing touchdown, called back on a holding, took points off the board. Another reverse called back on a holding that was a first down that put us in good position,” Rodgers explained. “We had some other opportunities to score points I think.”
Missed opportunities have certainly been the story for the Jets offense this season and in the past, which is especially painful given their defenses being one of the top units across the entire NFL.
“So it’s a lot of the same things hurting us every week, but you don’t get in the end zone you’re not gonna win many games, doesn’t mater who’s playing defense for you and our defense has been fantastic. Four field goals, six points the previous week, 13 the previous week in a win. Not good enough,” Rodgers said. “So there’s a lot of geniuses out there with ideas about how to fix the whole thing, but in actuality very simple. If you watch the film you can see where the issues lie and there’s plays to be made, there’s opportunities that are out there and we’re just not getting it done.”
Rodgers was supposed to remedy the Jets’ recent offensive shortcomings this season, but unfortunately due to his injury, it’s been the same song and dance for New York’s offense for another consecutive season.
The Jets will look to bounce back and return to a .500 record next Sunday, as they visit the Buffalo Bills in a rematch of their overtime thriller from Week 1 when Rodgers also suffered his injury.
More must-reads: