The New York Jets lost to the New England Patriots 25-22 in Week 8 to fall to 2-6. It was a calamity of errors for the Jets, who blew three timeouts in the first quarter to prevent delay of game penalties and then took a delay of game penalty on a key two-point conversion. With their playoff chances all but dashed, almost everyone has turned on Aaron Rodgers. That includes Colin Cowherd, who laid into the veteran on his FS1 show “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.”

“One of the' defensive linemen for the Patriots said out loud what we've been saying for multiple weeks: Aaron is done. I've been preaching this, he's agreed poorly and quickly. There is no discussion here. Aaron ranks 30th in completion percentage and he now has three excellent wide receivers. You can't blame the lack of skill players.”

The addition of Davante Adams, the firing of Robert Saleh, and the long-awaited arrival of Haason Reddick have not worked. The core of the team that won seven games with Zach Wilson and Mike White in 2022 is still good. Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall had solid games and there are pieces on the defense.

Now, the Jets have lost five straight games and are on the outskirts of the playoff conversation. What must happen for them to turn it around?

The Jets must string together wins to salvage their season

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After the worst loss of a season filled with bad losses, the Jets have a short week. They host the Texans on Thursday Night Football on Halloween. While they beat Houston at home last season, this year has been a different story for their defense. Since Robert Saleh was fired, the defense has not been the same. The game-winning drive by New England was evidence of that once again.

After the Texans, they go to Arizona to face the Cardinals and host the Colts. Those final three games before the bye represent the only chance the Jets have of breaking the playoff drought. If they can get to 5-6, they might be able to rip off more wins down the stretch to make the dance. Cowherd's point about the breadth of skill players makes this slightly more possible.

For any of those things to happen, the Jets must get better play out of their quarterback. There is certainly blame to be dished to the defense, who could not stop Jacob Brissett. Jeff Ulbrich deserves blame for his timeout usage and Todd Downing has not changed things too much. Vibes are low for the Jets as their 2024 season sits on life support.