ORCHARD PARK, NY – The noise in the tunnel was loud, but the locker room was quiet. As Robert Saleh and Zach Wilson headed toward the visiting locker room at Buffalo Bills Stadium, there was commotion behind them. New York Jets defensive end Micheal Clemons and Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins had to be separated, a fight that spread from the field to the tunnel as the two teams headed to the locker room, located in the same tunnel, directly facing each other, without much space between them.
The almost fight in question. Michael Clemons and Dion Dawkins must separate. Two big guys almost collide. Spilled meat during the Bills’ 32-6 victory. 📸 From my iPhone pic.twitter.com/P7xE0ADi3f
-Otis Livingston (@OlivingstonTV) November 20, 2023
It could have been worse, but several teammates helped restrain Clemons amid the melee, and a trainer tried to calm Clemons down as he walked to the locker room. Inside, the atmosphere was grim and words were few.
Saleh appeared to be on the verge of tears in his post-match press conference. When wide receiver Garrett Wilson spoke, it was barely above a whisper. Tight end Tyler Conklin admitted he ran out of ways to explain the Jets’ disaster. It’s usually the same problems, week after week. But this game, which the Jets lost 32-6, was worse than at least since last year. They were outplayed, outplayed and laughed off the field by players like Ed Oliver, who yelled at Jets players as they retreated to the locker room.
“What do you want me to say?” Conklin said after his team fell to 4-6. “If I had answers or someone had answers, I like to think this wouldn’t be happening like this.”
Maybe the answer will come with a quarterback change, but probably not. It’s hard to believe Aaron Rodgers still wants to return after watching Sunday’s game. The Jets’ problems go beyond the quarterback position, even if Zach Wilson has reached a point of no return, where the Jets could bench him, again, and this time for good. When he was pulled for Tim Boyle with 2:17 left in the third quarter, the Jets were trailing 29-6. Wilson had completed 7 of 15 passes for 81 yards, a touchdown (the Jets’ first offensive touchdown in 40 possessions) and a brutal interception in the second quarter. He did not complete a single pass to a wide receiver.
Saleh insisted that Wilson was not the problem and that he would only bench him when it was clear that he was the one who was ruining everything. He flatly rejected the idea of making a change simply to find a spark, and that’s exactly what he did on Sunday when the game was already too far out of reach.
“I just tried to see if we could get something done on the offensive side of the ball,” Saleh said.
Saleh did not say whether Wilson’s benching will carry over to Friday’s game against the Miami Dolphins, whether it will be Wilson, Boyle or Trevor Siemian who will take over. It may not matter, and it’s fair to wonder if that’s entirely Saleh’s decision anyway. The Jets have reached a point with Wilson where, if they bench him, the possibility of them completely waiving him (i.e., releasing him for the season) shouldn’t be completely ruled out. If he is benched, that should be it for him in a Jets uniform. Wilson is a problemPerhaps the biggest problem, but it is not the only one. The Jets already had one of the worst offenses in the NFL last year and it somehow got worse with Nathaniel Hackett running the show as offensive coordinator.
Tim Boyle has taken over as QB for the Jets. pic.twitter.com/yipGuKL6eu
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 20, 2023
The unit feels like it has reached a point of no return and the statistics are so pitiful that they are barely worth mentioning. This week, Saleh said there would be some “personal” and “schematic” changes to try to revive the offensive. That included giving more playing time to young players like undrafted rookie receivers Jason Brownlee and Xavier Gipson, young tight end Jeremy Ruckert and rookie running back Israel Abanikanda. The Jets also held an exclusive players’ meeting Tuesday, and Hackett moved from the bench to the press box to call plays to, as Saleh said, “give him another perspective, get up there and calm his world down.”
None of that worked.
Brownlee played 19 snaps and was not targeted. Gipson fumbled the opening kickoff and had one catch for 7 yards. Ruckert had a nice 18-yard catch but otherwise his impact was unremarkable. Abanikanda barely played in attack until late in the second half, when things were already out of his reach. And the plays didn’t get any better: The Jets went 0-for-11 on third down, further cementing this as the worst third-down offense in the NFL, and one of the worst in recent memory. The running game, which was supposed to be the staple of this offense, has also slumped: Against the Bills, Breece Hall rushed for 23 yards on 10 carries after gaining 28 yards on 13 carries last week against the Las Vegas Raiders. . . Ultimately, Hackett planned to give Hall more of the ball in the passing game and it worked (five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown), but that was the only positive outcome of this week’s changes.
It’s important to mention that the Jets’ offensive line is in disarray. Chris Glaser (zero career starts) started at right guard. When left tackle Mekhi Becton left with an injury and did not return, he was replaced by rookie Carter Warren for the first offensive snaps of his career. The unit allowed five sacks in total. But before Sunday, the Giants were the only offense worse than the Jets in most areas (i.e., scoring and pass blocking), and then they scored 31 points in a win over the Washington Commanders. Quarterback Tommy DeVito threw three touchdowns, something Wilson has never done.
“I don’t think anyone did anything today,” Saleh said. “Players, coaches, schemes, they obviously weren’t good enough. None of it was good.”
The supporting cast surrounding the quarterback doesn’t help much either. Wilson’s receivers have dropped 19 of his passes this season, the third most of any quarterback. A few plays after Boyle checked in, Garrett Wilson lost another fumble.
“I’m trying to make a play, catch the ball, and I decide to try to make a move on the linebacker without good ball security,” Wilson said. “That’s what happens in this league. This season, I’m exposed and I have to fix it. I will do that.”
Garrett Wilson admitted that the offense’s struggles and lack of targets and catches on Sunday put pressure on him to make a play every time he actually gets the ball. That could also be the problem for some of his teammates.
“I feel like that and I feel like I play worse when I do that,” Wilson said. “So I’m trying to fight human nature and maybe we all should feel that way and that adds to the struggles on offense. It’s hard, man, when you play like that and you feel like you have to do it. “I have to get those bad plays off the field because I’m putting pressure.”
And finally, the Jets defense had its first truly bad game of the season. It’s difficult to attribute many of this team’s problems to them; At some point, the straw that broke the camel’s back was going to break the camel’s back. Saleh said a few weeks ago that the Jets had “dominated” the star quarterbacks they were playing this season, comments that surely reached the Bills locker room. Josh Allen made him eat the crow that Sunday, throwing for 275 yards and three touchdowns in a fix game for Buffalo, the same week he fired former offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey.
“I give them credit, they dominated us,” cornerback DJ Reed said. “It’s painful to say.”
Robert Saleh has to prepare his team to play again on Friday, when they host the Dolphins. (Mark Konezny/USA Today)
But this is not the defense’s fault. If you point the finger at anyone, it should start at the top of the organization, toward the most important people running the show:
That’s general manager Joe Douglas for building an offense that suddenly feels lacking talent outside of Hall and Garrett Wilson.
That’s Saleh, who has found it difficult to steer the ship back in the right direction. The Jets have become an undisciplined team prone to penalties and exhausting mental errors.
That’s Hackett, whose offense has become predictable, boring and wildly unsuccessful, somehow less productive than many terrible Jets offenses of recent years.
And then there’s Zach Wilson.
I wasn’t supposed to play this year, remember? He was supposed learn from Aaron Rodgers. Instead, he has started every game and has become the face of the organization’s biggest problem: offense.
Wilson admitted he was “frustrated” about being benched (again), but understood why.
“When things aren’t done, you have to make a change and I understand that,” he said.
Boyle replaced him and completed 7 of 14 passes for 33 yards and an interception after not receiving first-team reps all week. He should do it this week, especially if he ends up replacing Wilson as the starter.
If that happens, the long end of Wilson’s tenure with the Jets will be fulfilled.
Early in the third quarter, Wilson climbed the bench and attacked Saleh, taking it outan image appropriate to the state the Jets are in as an organization.
At this rate, the Jets’ decision to stick with Wilson this season could end Saleh in another way, too.
(Top photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
