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The Jets are getting their bye week.
They could use a bye month.
The 2024 Jets will go down as one of the most disappointing in the franchise’s history, and this is a franchise that has seen plenty of misery.
The team began the year with Super Bowl aspirations and playoff expectations, armed with a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback and stars all over the roster.
They arrive at the bye 3-8, and with an interim head coach and general manager.
It is hard to believe.
The Jets have six games remaining, and everyone’s thoughts from ownership to the fans already has turned to 2025.
They will need a new GM, coach and probably a quarterback.
How did they get here?
That is the question everyone associated with the team is asking.
No one saw a season like this coming during training camp.
The positive vibes were high with Rodgers returning from the injury that cost him last season.
The defense returned most of its starters from a year ago, when they were in the top five.
The offense had emerging stars in Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall.
The Jets began the season 2-1 and had an impressive win in Week 3 against the Patriots before the bottom fell out.
Back-to-back losses to the Broncos and Vikings led to owner Woody Johnson firing coach Robert Saleh.
That move did not work.
The Jets lost their next three games after interim coach Jeff Ulbrich took over.
They continued to make moves to try to stem the tide, trading for star receiver and Rodgers’ pal Davante Adams and convincing pass rusher Haason Reddick to end his holdout.
After a brief moment of hope against the Texans, the Jets have lost their past two games, including a heartbreaking 28-27 loss to the Colts last week.
That loss ended any faint playoff hopes the team still had, and Johnson fired general manager Joe Douglas on Tuesday to begin the search for the team’s new leadership.
It is impossible to know what to expect over these final six games.
Are the Jets checked out?
Do they now play better freed of any expectations?
With the way this season has gone, nothing will be a surprise.
Most Valuable Player
Not much has gone right, but third-year wide receiver Garrett Wilson has played well.
Wilson is third in the NFL with 69 receptions.
He has 722 receiving yards and five touchdown catches.
Wilson got off to a slow start and looked like he was not on the same page with Rodgers, but the two have shown better chemistry over the last seven weeks.
Wilson has had three 100-yard games this year and the arrival of Davante Adams has taken some of the defensive attention off him and opened things up.
The highlight of Wilson’s season came in the second half against the Texans when he had two one-handed touchdown grabs, one in the end zone that became a viral sensation.
Wilson is going to be eligible for a contract extension after this season, and the new management is going to have to make a big decision on whether to lock Wilson up now.
Least Valuable Player
The Jets traded for edge rusher Haason Reddick in March, hoping he would replace the production they were losing with Bryce Huff’s departure in free agency.
Instead, Reddick decided to hold out for a new contract.
Reddick missed all of the spring, training camp and the first seven games.
Since he returned last month, he has had very little impact.
After four straight seasons of double-digit sacks, Reddick has a half-sack in four games for the Jets.
The Jets’ pass rush was actually better before Reddick got to the team.
He is a free agent after this season, and he’s going to have to pick up his production if he hopes to get a payday from someone.
Biggest Surprise
One of the assumptions about the Jets was that their defense was going to be among the best in the NFL.
But it has proven to have many flaws and has crumbled in big spots this year.
Some of the statistics still look good.
The Jets are No. 7 in total defense and 12th in points allowed.
But anyone who has watched this defense knows it has not lived up to its preseason billing.
It started in Week 1, when they allowed 180 rushing yards to the 49ers, who did not even have Christian McCaffrey.
The run defense remains an issue.
They have given up at least 100 yards rushing in eight of their 11 games.
Then, there is their inability to get interceptions.
The Jets have just two interceptions this season, and both came from Brandin Echols, who is not even a regular starter.
The Jets are getting a bad season from one of their top players, cornerback Sauce Gardner.
On top of that, the defense crumbled in New England and last week against the Colts in the final minutes when the team needed a stop.
Biggest Disappointment
There are plenty of candidates for this title, but you have to start with the biggest star on the team, and that is Aaron Rodgers.
The expectation when the Jets traded for Rodgers in April 2023 was that he was the missing piece to push this team to the playoffs at least.
His injury cost him last season, but hope returned with his comeback this year.
Rodgers has not been terrible, but he also has not elevated this team like everyone expected.
He looks skittish in the pocket, afraid to get hit and unable to move.
He rarely pushes the ball down the field.
The passing offense seems to consist of throwing short to playmakers and hoping they break off a long run.
Rodgers’ stats are not bad.
He has 2,442 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
He may end up with one of the better statistical seasons in Jets quarterbacking history if he can make it through the final six games.
Anyone who has watched the games, though, knows Rodgers has been a major disappointment.
Best Moment
The Jets had a terrible first half against the Texans on “Thursday Night Football,” but then found an offensive rhythm in the second half.
The highlight of the game and the season came early in the fourth quarter when Rodgers threw a ball up into the end zone and Wilson made an acrobatic, one-handed grab and somehow came down inbounds with the ball.
The touchdown gave them a 14-10 lead on the way to a 21-13 victory.
The catch caught fire on social media and was replayed for days.
It felt like it could be the spark for a turnaround, but that thought disappeared with a loss in Arizona the following week.
Wilson’s catch brought back memories of Odell Beckham Jr.’s one-handed catch for the Giants 10 years ago.
It will be interesting to see if the catch is remembered or it gets lost in the wreckage of this dismal season.
Worst Moment
The cracks on this season were already showing at 2-3, but the Jets were still about to play the Bills at home for a share of first place in the AFC East when owner Woody Johnson decided to fire coach Robert Saleh.
Johnson had grown tired of Saleh, who was hired by his brother Christopher when he was still the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, and decided the team needed a change.
Johnson felt the team would turn around under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, but the opposite happened.
Follow the latest on the New York Jets firing head coach Robert Saleh:
The team is 1-5 since changing coaches.
Saleh was 20-36 as head coach, but the locker room did not react well to his firing.
Players liked Saleh, and it felt like a state of shock descended upon the team for a few weeks.
The defense, of which Saleh was the architect, has not been the same since his firing.
It was the first time Johnson fired a coach during the season in his 25 years as owner.
Biggest Head-Scratcher
What happened to kicker Greg Zuerlein?
As the losses have mounted and people have lost their jobs, this is one question that has been asked many times.
Zuerlein had seemingly solved the Jets’ long-term kicking issues in recent years.
He made 35 of 38 field goals last year and was rewarded with a two-year, $8.4 million contract extension in March.
But Zuerlein was terrible this year.
He missed six field goals, including a potential game-winner against the Broncos that began the Jets’ downward spiral.
Who knows if things go differently if they win that game?
He missed big kicks against the Bills and Patriots, too, before finally being replaced.
The Jets have used three kickers since putting Zuerlein on injured reserve with a mysterious left knee injury.
Upcoming Decision
Well, the big decisions will come in the offseason on the future of this team.
If you are talking short-term, though, everything centers around Rodgers.
Will he play out the string?
Will he suddenly land on injured reserve?
Rodgers has been dealing with hamstring and knee injuries for most of the season, so if the Jets and Rodgers decide it is no longer worth it to play, they could move him to IR and cite those injuries getting worse.
At this point, Rodgers is playing for pride and trying to salvage something from this miserable season.
Rodgers seems to genuinely enjoy being on the team, but it has not worked.
If the Jets had a young quarterback in waiting, getting a look at him now would make sense.
They don’t have that guy, though.
Tyrod Taylor is Rodgers’ backup and Adrian Martinez is the third-string quarterback.
This has been a season from hell for Rodgers and the Jets.
You wonder if he just wants it to end.
