Getty New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard attempting to make a play during an NFL game.
The New York Jets’ dirty laundry just became public.
Following the 30-0 shutout loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 15, veteran wideout Allen Lazard put his own team on blast.
“I think they just played a better game. They out-schemed us, out-efforted us, they played a better football game than we did today,” Lazard bluntly said.
Connor Hughes of SNY said Lazard’s words weren’t “wrong” but “saying that publicly, though, calls into question the foundation of this team. It makes you wonder if the Jets are actually headed in the right direction, or any direction at all.”
Hughes categorized Lazard’s quote on the state of the team as “alarming.”
Hughes Highlights Jets Effort Concerns, Job Security
Hughes noted the lack of luck this Jets team has experienced since Aaron Rodgers blew out his Achilles. However, he said that is no excuse for games like this and, “efforts like this.”
“Coaches can endure losing seasons. They happen. The death knell is when he loses the locker room. The on-field performance and post-game quotes illustrate players are dangerously close to turning,” Hughes explained. “They’ve made off-the-record remarks in recent weeks. Now they’re saying them in front of cameras. They’re getting tired of the blame for this season being put on them — what they can’t do, who’s not there. They want to be put in a position to succeed and feel they are not. The frustration is at an all-time high.”
The Jets have three games left in the 2023 regular season. However, the compelling motivation of the NFL playoffs came to a screeching halt on Sunday, December 17.
Gang Green was officially eliminated from playoff contention with its loss to the Dolphins and the wins by the Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns in Week 15.
The Jets secured its eighth consecutive losing season and the No. 13 straight year of no playoffs. This current playoff drought is the longest such period of non-playoff activity in franchise history.
After the game veteran cornerback DJ Reed was asked how he stays motivated with the playoffs no longer on the table.
“I mean it’s hard to be honest like I’m not going to sit here & say oh we’re going to be motivated every week. Knowing we are not going to the playoffs is very tough,” Reed explained.
#Jets CB DJ Reed had a brutally honest answer to @antwanstaley’s question about how does he stay motivated even when the team is eliminated from the playoffs:
‘I mean it’s hard to be honest like I’m not going to sit here & say oh we’re going to be motivated every week. Knowing…
Final 3 Game Stretch for Jets Will Be Very Telling for the Coaching Staff
The motivations were obvious for this Jets team ahead of the Miami game. Playoffs and a potential Aaron Rodgers return. However the same can’t be said for the final stretch of the year.
The postseason hopes are dead and Rodgers is unlikely to return now that the team has been mathematically eliminated.
It would be very easy for this team to pack it in considering all of the adversity they have been through and the somewhat meaningless nature of these remaining games.
That means it will be on the Jets coaching staff to motivate this group and get them ready to go. If the team continues to show a lack of effort and preparedness that could be a damning indictment of this coaching staff.
However, if the team shows signs of life that could be a comforting message to ownership to stick with this group and allow them to run it back in 2024.