"No Moral Victories": Jets Week 1 Recap

Credit: New York Post

Tell me if you've heard this before: the Jets were underwhelming in their Week 1 performance against the Baltimore Ravens. After another offseason of promise, potential, and the mindset of "turning things around", the Jets once again looked like an inept group of fraudulent athletes unable to put everything together. The offensive line sucked. Joe Flacco looked old. The safeties were torched. I wasted 3 hours of my life at a bar watching the Jets lose while eating cold nachos. I'm an angry boy at the moment. Regardless, here is my week 1 recap as I try to find some sort of semblance of hope.

Moral Victories Aren't Enough Anymore:

Bobby Saleh said it himself; this team is done with moral victories. 3 years in Joe Douglas's tenure and 2 years into the Robert Saleh era, it's time for the Jets to actually put it all together. So far after one week? They still can't seem to do that. While the defensive line and corners played good football on Sunday, it was all for nothing. Jets safeties were targeted 5 times, allowing 5 receptions for 92 yards and 2 TDs. Not good.

Similarly, the Jets offensive line underperformed compared to the praise they were getting all offseason. There was potential for the line to be near the top of the league in efficiency, but Laken Tomlinson and George Fant had brutal days out there, allowing 8 and 4 pressures respectively. Fant can somewhat be excused for his play because of all the shuffling of his position on the line, but Tomlinson, the pro bowler signed out of free agency, has higher expectations.

Because of all this pressure coming from the Ravens defensive line, Flacco was forced to throw the ball 59 times, completing 37 of them for 309 yards. Flacco averaged a depth of target of 5.7 yards, and only two QBs in the entire league had a lower average this week. The inability to get any long drives going eventually tired out the defense, allowing for some late game scoring by Lamar Jackson.

What Next:

The Jets are on the road next week at Cleveland, who are coming off a last second victory against Carolina. The Browns will be without Deshaun Watson, but the rest of the roster remains one of the most talented in the league, and I expect another tally to the loss column.