ORCHARD PARK — The most important thing the Jets offense needs to do, according to Braylon Edwards, is determine an identity.
After the Jets closed out their miserable season and sealed their 6-10 finish with a 28-9 loss to the Bills yesterday, Edwards — the team’s veteran receiver — said finding an offensive identity was critical. He also said the team was, futilely, trying to rediscover what worked during the Jets’ successful campaigns two and three years ago.
“We have to create an identity of our own. I think that’s the biggest problem, is we don’t have an identity right now,” said Edwards, who was re-signed three games ago and who played for the Jets in the 2009 and 2010 AFC Championship games.
“We’re still trying to search for the 2009 or 2010 season, and that season has passed. That team is gone. This is a much different team. I’m not saying player personnel-wise from a good or bad, it’s just, it’s not that team.
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“Every team changes year to year. No 53 stays the same. We have to identify who we are and once we do that, we can move forward and start to make plays for this franchise.”
The Jets went into yesterday as the NFL’s 30th-ranked offense, and they were facing the NFL’s 22nd-ranked defense in the Bills. Yet the Jets managed just three field goals.
Between leaving the Jets and returning to them, Edwards spent time with the 49ers and Seahawks, two teams that are both playoff-bound this year (the 49ers for a second straight season). He said San Francisco and Seattle have figured out their identities.
“If you look at what San Fran has done to become the new San Fran, they have a great defense and they lean on that defense. That defense is a monster. And the offense, they understand what they’re good at … They know who they are and they execute that way,” Edwards said.
“Seattle’s the same thing.”
In his three games with the Jets, Edwards caught a total of 10 passes for 125 yards. The soon-to-be-30-year-old said he’d like to return next season.
“I definitely do. I think this team has been nothing but good to me,” Edwards said. “I think we can win here. I know we can win here. I would hope the opportunity would arise this offseason. If it doesn’t, I wish the Jets organization nothing but the best.”