Injured New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t hold back when elaborating on the team’s offensive woes in the Week 9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night.
“It sucks when we have a poor performance on offense like that because I know what we’re capable of, I know how we’ve been practicing,” Rodgers said in his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday. “I know the kind of talent we have and it’s not coming together consistently and that’s why we’re struggling. I mean 191 yards of offense (by the Chargers) and we lose by three scores is a pretty wild thing to happen.”
Rodgers added: “It just comes down to situational football. We’ve been bad on third down and bad in the red zone. When you’re bad on third down you’re not going to keep drives going. When you’re bad in the red zone, you’re only getting field goals. It’s the same s—. It comes to execution and the little things and everyone doing their job. … When it comes down do it, we have to execute.”
GO DEEPER
Jets’ loss to Chargers makes it clearer than ever: Their offense is a mess
Rodgers, who is out for the season with a torn Achilles, raved about the Jets’ defense and then said “offensively, we’re just not doing our part.”
Jets coach Robert Saleh said Tuesday that he’s not considering benching quarterback Zach Wilson. Saleh said it’s easy to blame the quarterback and offensive coordinator when things aren’t going well. Saleh added that he’s been adamant that it’s a team sport and that everyone around quarterback Zach Wilson has to help him too.
“There’s only so many things the quarterback has control over,” Saleh said.
Saleh said there are some things Wilson can build off of Monday night and some things he can improve on.
“I thought overall he was distributing the ball … he can be a lot better,” Saleh said. “But it’s lazy to just put it all on him. It was collective all the way across the board.”
Jets’ offense reaches new low
Saleh said this about the Jets offense leading up to Week 9: “Eventually things are going to click and it’s going to look pretty cool.”
The offense was bad all season. But it reached a new low on Monday night, losing to a Chargers team despite a dominant defensive performance. The Jets turned the ball over three times, committed eight penalties and allowed eight sacks. Wilson missed wide-open receivers, held onto the ball and fumbled the ball away on a sack in the fourth quarter, leading to a touchdown.
Wilson completed 33-of-49 pass attempts, the most passes he’s thrown this season. He had 263 passing yards — but 65 of them came on the Jets’ final drive in the fourth quarter when the game was already over. The Jets also converted 3-of-15 third downs and failed to convert on their lone trip to the red zone.
After Monday’s disaster, the Jets still rank last in both red zone and third down offense — and fell to 31st in scoring. Saleh was wrong about things clicking. And now it’s fair to wonder if he’ll consider any sort of major change — specifically at quarterback or play-caller, where offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett has led an even worse offense than the one that struggled with Mike LaFleur in 2022. — Zack Rosenblatt, Jets staff writer
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