Do the Jets Have Something? | The Cutting Edge W/JackKnife

Momentum despite coming off a loss?

The New York Jets are 1-2. Normally, I and most of the fan base would be like, "here we go again," in this scenario, and to a degree, we still are. However, something reels a little different. That's because despite the losses, the Jets actually played well.

Don't get me wrong, there's still an issue "closing the gap." The Jets absolutely could have won both the games against the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, and in all honesty they should have at the very least beaten Green Bay. But that's the thing, they could have done it. These weren't losses where their opponent looked like an actual football team and the Jets were just there.

Gang Green is coming off a shootout loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field last sunday. Now they head towards the southwest end of Lake Michigan to take on the Chicago Bears. Will they continue this trend of competitiveness in the Windy City this week? If they do, can they actually turn it into a W?

Caleb who?

Much to the chagrin of our resident Philadelphia Eagles fan, Zach Danielz, the Bears are coming off a dominant 27-7 victory on Monday Night Football against the Birds, and they did this without Caleb Williams, whose season is over with a grade 2 hamstring strain. Okay, I made the last sentence up because of his reaction to the injury and it seeming worse than it actually was. Still, Williams is hurt, and stepping in to save the day is 38-year-old Case Keenum, who went 24-for-34 on passing attempts for 247 yards and two touchdowns.

Chicago's offense ranks third in the NFL averaging 408 yards a game. Williams has been ruled out again for this matchup at Soldier Field. Still, based on how Keenum ran the offense on Monday, the Jets defense will still have their work cutout for them. I'm assuming Keenum will start, but oddly enough, the Bears have not named a starting quarterback for this game, despite Keenum's performance.

Maybe it's head games, but in a sense, it's a repeat of their opponent from last week. Bears head coach Ben Johnson was the offensive coordinator in Detroit at the same time when Jets head coach Aaron Glenn was the defensive coordinator there. So these two are familiar with each other in the same sense Glenn was familiar with Dan Campbell last week. 

Certainly Glenn wants to reverse the outcome from last week and get the better of his former colleague with a high-powered offensive approach, but that's going to require the Jets defense to make some stops this time around. The Bears not only have to answer against receivers like DJ Moore and Kalif Raymond, but they have to slow down running backs D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, who currently have the Bears as the best running offense in the NFL averaging 184.3 yards, which makes any Jet fan cringe considering Jahmyr Gibbs ran all over them last week.

Despite giving up all the yardage last week, the Jets defense still sits 2nd in the league averaging 258.3 yards against per game. Maybe they can shake off the bad game they had last week and remember who they are. There is some good news regarding the defense. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is expected to return to the in-game roster for the first time since his injury in week one. Maybe, just maybe, the Jets will finally get an interception? Please?

Run the damn ball EFFECTIVELY this time

While the Jets get some help coming back on defense with the aforementioned Fitzpatrick, on offense, they suffer a loss in running back Breece Hall who is out with a quad injury. What makes this even more off-putting for the Jets is that their rushing offense was already putrid even with Hall in the backfield, sitting at 27th in the league with just 277 yards, averaging 92.3 a game. I already mentioned the Bears running attack previous segment, but let's get some more reference, the Jaguars sit in 10th in the league, averaging 119.3. 

Now, despite this, the Jets sit 11th in the league averaging 236.7 passing yards a game. This could be better if Adonai Mitchell (ruled out Sunday) wasn't injured. his could potentially be better if the running backs carried the weight we know they can. Normally, when we talk about the Jets offense, it's usually the running game and the "ground and pound" that carries an at best mediocre passing game, but the Jets have shown competence in the passing game. Last week, Garrett Wilson and Kenyon Sadiq went off each catching for over 100 yards and a touchdown. Wilson sits 11th in the league with 243 receiving yards. Not only that, Geno Smith (on his "JackKnife is an Idiot and Wrong" tour) is 12th in the league with 783 passing yards. 

So the quarterback, receivers, and tight ends are all doing their part for the Jets, but the running backs haven't been able to break loose and with Hall out, that's going to make balancing the attack even more difficult. We can assume Braelon Allen is going to get more touches, as will Isaiah Davis. To say they need to raise the bar, is putting it lightly. 

Prediction 

This has the potential to be another high scoring game. Can the Jets defense right the wrongs that happened to them in Detroit and show that was an outlier? If not, the goal of the Jets offense is this, it sounds simple, but it isn't. Don't blink. What do I mean by that? Well when Chuck Clark strip sacked Smith last Sunday, the offense blinked. To put it in more descriptive terms, they can't make many mistakes if any. The first mistake could certainly cost them. Gang Green made a handful of mistakes against Detroit, but that lapse quarterback protection was the most impactful. 

It'll be significantly more difficult for the Jets considering that while the Bears don't have some elite defense (not even close the '85 team their fans will always revered), they ride middle of the back in the league, compared to Detroit who has a lot more issues stopping their opponents offense. The Lions just happened to make the big play when it when it came to crunch time.

So with all those factors, while I think the Jets offense can certainly have another good game, I don't know if they're going to be able to match the Bears with the injuries to Hall, Mitchell, tight end Mason Taylor, and left guard Dylan Parham. To make matters worse, Sadiq is questionable with a back injury. So the Jets offense is hurt and if they were to win, they would need a lot of guys to play above their ceilings. 

I expect to the defense to have somewhat of a bounce back. Johnson runs a scheme and coaches to a style similar to what Campbell has in Detroit, that's where the Bears got him from, after all. But I fear the injuries on offense combined with the running game not being up to standard is going to mean some three and outs from the offense in which the defense will be tired, but still be forced to head back out onto the field. I hope I'm wrong, maybe subconsciously I'm looking for a reverse jynx, but my prediction for this game is 23-13 Bears. 

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