The New York Jets lost to the New England Patriots in Week 6.
During his weekly appearance on “DiPietro & Rothenberg” on ESPN New York, Rex Ryan revealed the real reason the Jets lost.
“Frustrating because short-yardage man is huge in games like huge. We came up empty in that. In those situations, it’s like ugh, that’s why you lost the game. Quite honestly, it came down to the short-yardage situations. That was a major contributor in losing this game. Were there times when there was a lot of really good things offensively? Yeah. Were there times when there was a lot of really good things defensively? Absolutely, but at the end of the day, it’s those things that look like little things. When you can point to what’s one of the big areas where I think the Jets can improve, it’s in those particular situations more than anything. I think short yardage has to get better,” Ryan explained on Monday, October 19.
“In short-yardage situations in the first half, the Jets turned the ball over twice on downs, failing to get a first down on fourth-and-2 from the New England 30 and fourth-and-1 from the New England 39,” Jets editorial contributor Amanda Vogt wrote.
Jets Couldn’t Deliver or Stop the Bleeding
When the Jets controlled the ball, they couldn’t punch it through in short yardage situations. When the Patriots controlled the ball, the Jets couldn’t stop New England in short-yardage situations.
New England converted a fourth-and-one at midfield at the end of the first half that resulted in a field goal.
“The game came down to short-yardage. Their ability to stop us in those situations and our inability [to stop them] cost us. I think that’s where this team, in my opinion they got to get better in those situations because now you’re extending drives all of a sudden now when it gets down to third and one and fourth and one and you know we’re going to win those downs; that’s critical,” Ryan said on ESPN New York.
“Look, the Philadelphia Eagles won a Super Bowl because of that, right? Because they had a play that they know damn well you can’t stop, whether it’s a tush push or whatever it is, we’ve got to find a way, the Jets have to find a way to convert on those situations because we have seen it all season that this has been a consistent struggle for this team unit,” Ryan added.
The analytics back up the eye test.
Through the first six weeks of the season, the Jets rank 27th in “3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1 conversion rate” going 7-for-12 (58.3% conversion rate), according to NFL Insider Ari Meirov.
Multiple Leaks in This Boat
The Jets’ short-yardage problems aren’t linked to one area of weakness. Frank Reich has had bad play calls. Geno Smith, as a 36-year-old man, couldn’t execute a quarterback sneak when you could drive a mack truck through the A-gap. Braelon Allen couldn’t put his foot in the ground and make a play.
There has been a cavalcade of mistakes.
The strange thing is the Jets’ running attack was actually working against the Patriots.
ESPN’s Ben Solak highlighted that when the Jets were facing a down in which they had to go “at least 3 yards” they finished with “14 carries, 76 yards (5.4 YPC), 4 explosives, [and] 4 first downs.”
However, when they faced a situation that was “2 or fewer yards to go: 6 carries, 5 yards (0.83 YPC), [and] 2 first downs” — they struggled.
When the Jets had a further distance to go, they thrived. When the Jets had a smaller distance to go, they were stuffed. Make it make sense.
Rex Ryan Reveals Real Reason Jets Lost to Patriots