The New York Jets Are Playing A Very Dangerous Game
The 2023 Jets season is finally over and now we enter a similar offseason regarding the unknown of the Aaron Rodgers-Nathaniel Hackett era in New York. A few weeks before the season ended, Jets owner Woody Johnson said that Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh’s jobs were safe. It was a controversial decision since it seemed like the failures of this year should result in some sort of consequence.
A Historically Bad Offense
While having to accept the reasoning for bringing back the more notable names that are in charge of this organization, I did expect some accountability to be held on some level. The Jets' offense this year put up some embarrassing numbers.
New York finished the season as the 31st-ranked offense in the league. They have a league-low 11 passing touchdowns in 2023 and are also tied for last in rushing touchdowns (7) with the Vikings and Panthers.
Aaron Rodgers or not these numbers are atrocious, and in the year of the backup quarterback, many teams overcame the adversity that they were faced with. However, the Jets were not one of those teams. The Bengals finished with nine wins after losing Joe Burrow for the year, the Vikings immediately traded for Josh Dobbs in response to losing Kirk Cousins, and the Steelers and Browns will both be participating in playoff games this weekend after overcoming each of their own quarterback problems.
Needless to say, the Jets were the first team to lose a quarterback this season and with many avenues to take, New York chose to stay put and were seemingly ok with accepting that 2023 was a lost year.
Who To Blame On This Jets Staff?
If this was almost any other year, in any other situation, then Nathaniel Hackett would most likely be fired for what we had to witness this season. However, the unknown of what he and Aaron Rodgers could do for this Jets team is what’s keeping him in New York for now. With that being said, I did expect some changes to be made on the offensive side of the ball. Offensive line coach/run game coordinator Keith Carter and passing game coordinator Todd Downing were two guys that came to mind.
During the Jets end-of-year presser, Saleh made it clear that he’s “not anticipating anything significant” in terms of changes to the coaching staff. He even doubled down and mentioned that he believes Keith Carter “did a really nice job” this season.
While I may be wrong and things could work out next year, it's hard to get behind the fact that no one within this organization is going to be held accountable for what went on this season. We had to watch this team fail to put points on the board almost every week and even struggle at times to cross over the 50-yard line. This team should be grateful that the other side of the ball is the polar opposite of this offense. I'm scared to see how many games this team would have been able to win if it wasn't for this defense finishing 3rd-overall in the league.
Saleh and Co. have done nothing but reiterate their “confidence” in what they put together this season. It started with the backup quarterback decision, to now sticking with everyone on this coaching staff. The Jets better know what they're doing because holding no one responsible will only increase the pressure to succeed next season as if there wasn't enough of that already.
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