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The New York Jets are 2-5 and riding a four-game losing skid after a Week 7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Things are bad. Like, real bad.
Firing head coach Robert Saleh was supposed to do the trick for owner Woody Johnson. Instead, the Jets are 0-2 in the two games since Saleh was let go and the one thing that he was good at — calling a defense — has gotten worse.
The Jets gave up 37 points to the Steelers in Week 7. That was with Russell Wilson, years off his prime, running the show for the Steelers.
Speaking of past-their-prime quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers threw two more interceptions and now has seven on the season. Any conversation regarding blame for the Week 7 loss has to start and end with him.
Aaron Rodgers no longer has ‘it'
It's okay to say that Rodgers is washed. Even Peyton Manning and Tom Brady slowed down in their final season. That's assuming Rodgers hangs it up after this campaign, which his pride may not allow him to do.
In fact, pride is the name of the game with Rodgers. He could have rode off into the sunset with the Green Bay Packers but his pride was hurt when they traded up to draft Jordan Love in 2020. He ultimately requested a trade to the Jets, and his pride made it so that he was the center of the show and the bright lights of finally being out of Green Bay and into New York.
Not only did he bring his ego along with him, but he brought some friends. Allen Lazard has worked out well enough now that Rodgers is again healthy, but Randall Cobb was useless in 2023 and Nathaniel Hackett — one of Rodgers' great friends — is a terrible playcaller. That much has been proven.
Speaking of friends, facing an already lost season, the Jets traded away assets for an aging Davante Adams, who will make a whopping $35.6 million in the next two years if New York somehow keeps him in the fray. He caught three passes against the Steelers but was largely invisible.
All of this to appease Rodgers, who threw one of the worst interceptions of his career to close out the first half and give Pittsburgh a ton of momentum.
It wasn't all on him, of course, but Rodgers is the leader of this team with Saleh gone and the Jets look listless.
Garrett Wilson forgot how to play football
There was a time when Garrett Wilson was thought of as the next great NFL wide receiver. The addition of Rodgers to New York's offense was supposed to unlock Wilson's true potential and allow him to finally be a superstar.
Against the Steelers, he didn't look like a superstar. Sure, he caught five passes for 61 yards with an average of 12.2 yards per carry, but he also did this.
Rodgers' second interception was purely on Wilson, who normally has sure hands.
Whether it's the pressure of playing with a grumpy Rodgers or the fact that there's a new No. 1 receiver in town in the person of Adams, there is no doubting the fact that Wilson absolutely contributed to New York's loss in Week 7.
Quinnen Williams was invisible
Big man Quinnen Williams was given a four-year, $96 million contract extension in July of 2013 to become the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history at the time. The Jets paid him big-time because he had proven to be a big-time player as a two-time Pro Bowler.
He was anything but big-time against the Steelers, though. He totaled just one total tackle. Not a tackle for loss, quarterback hit, or even a quarterback hurry. He didn't even get in on any stuff.
It's fine for a defensive tackle to have a statistically quiet game or two as long as they're doing their job and clogging up the middle, but the Steelers were able to rush for 149 yards as a team, with 102 of those yards and a touchdown coming from Najee Harris. Heck, Wilson even found the end zone with his legs, which should not happen against a defense that was supposed to be “elite”.
The Jets are faltering on all sides of the ball, but their performance against the Steelers was especially embarrassing defensively.
It probably doesn't help that ownership gave the defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, extra responsibilities as acting head coach in Saleh's stead. It also doesn't help that the big-time players on this defense simply aren't making plays.
Another player who could probably make this list is cornerback Sauce Gardner. He doesn't have an interception on the season and he tallied only one tackle against the Steelers.
Whether it's Rodgers, Wilson, Williams of Gardner, the Jets are clearly in a bad way.
