This Just In: Jets Are Really Awful

Is firing Todd Bowles the answer? I don’t think so, but the coach’s team isn’t exactly making a compelling case for him to stick around, is it?

Over the past four weeks, the Jets have been outscored by their opponents by an average of 21 points a game. It’s a good thing they don’t have the mercy rule in the NFL. Or, if you ask the team’s tortured fans, maybe it’s not.

What exactly does Gang Green do well? Or, maybe the easier question is, where are they not resoundingly awful?

They can’t score: they rank 30th in the league in points. They can’t stop anyone from scoring: they rank 29th in points surrendered.

They can’t throw: their 65.2 passer rating is the worst in football.

They can’t stop the pass: their opponent’s rating is north of 100.

Their running numbers look OK, but they’re misleading, as many of their yards seem to come when they’ve run the ball in obvious passing situations. All that’s done is give their punter a better shot at kicking the ball into the end zone on fourth down.

They can’t stop the run, which is strange, because in the first half of the season that's the only thing the Jets did well. Over the past seven games, they’ve given up an average of more than 130 yards on the ground. Prorated for 16 games, that’s well over 2,000 yards.

They can’t hold onto the ball, as evidenced by their 34 turnovers.

They can’t force turnovers -- their opponents have only 11 in games against Gang Green.

Yes, they’ve been dealt a huge blow by the injury bug, which in 2016 has looked more like Godzilla than any insect. But show me a team that’s not banged up by Week 17.

The Jets’ sorry season can be summed up in the absurd back-and-forth between Sheldon Richardson and Brandon Marshall following the 38-point destruction by the Pats. Both Richardson and Marshall came into the 2016 campaign surrounded by high expectations, as they were two of the key drivers behind the team’s 10-win season in 2015.

Fifteen games in though, both have been utterly disappointing, with Marshall not even coming away with half the balls thrown his way and Richardson just another guy not putting nearly enough pressure on opposing QBs.

In fact, they’ve been such zeroes that it’s hard not to wonder if they started griping at each other just to get their names back in the headlines. At least they finally showed some fight. If only they’d done so on the field.

For all the promise of last year, no one has forgotten that the Jets blew a playoff shot by throwing the season away vs. Buffalo. Oh well, no chance of that happening when the two teams face off against each other on Sunday. After all, the Jets tossed 2016 into the trash can before they were even out of October.