The same old Jets came to play in week two looking unprepared, undisciplined and just flat out bad against the Buffalo Bills. Now they head down to Tampa Bay to play the undefeated Buccaneers.
New York comes into this game at 0-2, and now they will have to try to get their first win on the road without starting quarterback Justin Fields, who was ruled out for this game with a concussion.
Replacing him will be 15-year veteran Tyrod Taylor, who is making his first start since 2023. Taylor has been with the Jets since the start of last season and has appeared in a few games for the team mostly in mop-up duty.
Taylor necessarily isn’t that much of a downgrade to Fields, yes he won’t be as dynamic in the rushing game as Fields. You could make the case though that Taylor is a more polished passer then Fields.
With that in mind, New York’s offense shouldn’t take that much of a hit with the change, and can’t possibly be as bad as it was last week. So the concern isn’t really on the offense.
It just comes down to whether they can run the ball effectively like they did in week one, and Taylor can command the offense with some timely passing to mainly Garrett Wilson.
The concern for New York is the defense who has gotten torched in both of their games so far this season. Aaron Rodgers had his way against the secondary, and then Buffalo ran all over them for over 200 yards.
Safe to say, it has been a disaster for the defense who has let up 30 points or more in both games. Now they have to face the offense led by Baker Mayfield who has guys like Mike Evans, rookie Emeka Egbuka, and Bucky Irving at his disposal.
So this defense can really get killed either way by Tampa Bay, Mayfield can sling it all over them while Irving could dominate them on the ground. The Jets are in trouble if their defense can’t perform at a higher level.
The good news is Tampa Bay is missing three of their five starting offensive linemen for this game. If there was a game for the Jets front four to finally make an impact it would be this one.
New York needs Quinnen Williams, and Will McDonald IV to feast in this game if they want a shot. Now New York has their own injuries as well as Jermaine Johnson II is questionable for this game and is trending towards not playing.
Still, New York’s front will need to have a big day and disturb Mayfield if they want to be able to slow down Tampa’s offense. The Jets are not a team built to win shootouts. They are a team designed to control the ball through the ground and win the grind it out games.
New York is in trouble of starting the season 0-3, and that is not a hole they can get themselves out of. This is a must-win game for New York if they have any ambition to snap the streak of missing the playoffs.
The keys to winning this game are they need to run the ball effectively behind Breece Hall, Taylor needs to be able to manage the game and not turn the ball over. The defense needs to put pressure on Mayfield especially when they have three offensive linemen out.
This game is winnable for New York given the circumstances but then again a lot of folks including me thought the Jets could upset Buffalo last week.
More than likely, the Jets will lose this game and fall to 0-3 as Aaron Glenn will continue to search for that first win of his career.
