EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Aaron Rodgers went through it Monday night.
He slammed the seatback of the bench with his left palm after a third-down pass in the red zone to Breece Hall bounced off the running back’s hand. It was the first series of the game, and Hall had tried to make the catch by extending only one arm.
He often looked up at the sky, as if in disbelief, after several of the 11 penalties called on his team. And then, after the game, walking gingerly out of the shower, he dejectedly fist-pumped offensive tackles Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses and shared a few solemn words.
The New York Jets entered Monday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills with a chance to leapfrog to the top of the AFC East. Instead, after yet another loss marred by sloppy play, a failure to execute and a lack of attention to detail, the Jets (2-4) are in danger of having their win-now season unravel.
“We need to get going,” Rodgers said after game, a 23-20 defeat. “This was a golden opportunity. Some games you win in the NFL, and some games you give away; this was a giveaway. I mean, we were terrible in the red zone, missed two field goals, didn’t convert on a two-minute drive. We had plenty of chances.”
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Indeed, New York struggled inside the 20, converting only one of its four trips into touchdowns. And it was the team’s final trip of the night that was the most devastating.
Late in the third quarter, the Jets marched inside the 5-yard line, when running back Braelon Allen pushed through the Bills defense for what would’ve been a 4-yard touchdown rush; it would’ve given the Jets a seven-point lead. Instead, a holding penalty on left tackle Tyron Smith – a “phantom” hold, Rodgers would later say – nullified the score.
On the following play, receiver Garrett Wilson had a would-be touchdown lodged out of his hands after he was sandwiched by a pair of Bills defenders.
On the play following that one, kicker Greg Zuerlein missed a 32-yard field goal attempt.
“We’ve got to be on our details,” Rodgers said. “It’s little things every single time.”
That this came in the first game since Jeff Ulbrich took over as interim head coach, replacing the recently fired Robert Saleh, showed that New York’s issues run deeper than replacing the head coach. The team has consistently undermined its own operation, and most concerning is that there seems to be little progress to show.
Four of New York’s 11 accepted penalties were defensive pass interference calls, which resulted in huge gains for Buffalo. Over the team’s last four games, it has yielded 382 yards by way of penalty. When the Jets got the ball down three points with 3:43 left to play in the game, their attempt at a game-winning drive was curbed by two penalties, one of which was off-setting.
Yet despite all the self-destruction, there were signs of growth, particularly on offense, with the unit playing its first game under Todd Downing as play caller and de factor offensive coordinator.
Downing’s game plan made a concerted effort to activate Hall and Wilson, both of whom had been having slow starts to the season.
With Hall, Downing called several lateral stretch plays and tosses, which allowed Hall to build speed and gash the Buffalo defense once the blocks at the edge sealed rushing lanes open.
Hall gained 101 of his 113 rushing yards – or 89.4% – on 12 carries outside of the tackles; in his six attempts inside the tackles, he picked up only 12 yards.
Rodgers looked for Wilson early and often, and Downing dialed up pass plays with rapidly developing outlets, allowing the veteran quarterback to lean on his quick release to get Wilson the ball in open space.
“Our focus was to get our best players the ball,” Hall told USA TODAY Sports. “We came out and established the run. We played a good game today, but it just wasn’t good enough. We’ve got to be better as an offense executing. There are things we can take moving forward but there’s a lot we need to leave behind. We got to be better in the red zone. Me and Garrett both felt like we left some meat on the bone. We felt like we should’ve won this game. It’s frustrating.”
The Jets now sit two games back of the Bills (4-2) and have a tough matchup against a physical Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) team looming. In two weeks, they’ll face the Houston Texans (5-1).
Whatever offensive gains the Jets may have made Monday won’t matter, frankly, if New York continues to get in its own way.
“This is harder than it sounds, is what I’m learning,” Wilson said. “We’ve got to find it, man. I really don’t know. If I would’ve had all the answers, we would’ve won that game.”