Someone should contact the Nashville police to see if they can put out an APB for the Jets offense.
The last time anyone saw the Jets’ “O,” it was moving up and down LP Field against the Titans. Since then, the offense has been as effective as a row boat in a hurricane.
The Jets have been searching for answers this week on how to regain the form with which they scored a combined 115 points during Weeks 10-12 before going into a shell the last two weeks.
Coach Eric Mangini said the first place to start improving is third down.
“I don’t know what our third-down conversion rate is over two games, but it’s not very good,” Mangini said. “You can’t get very many drives and if you can’t get very many drives you can’t get very many points. That to me is an area that we need to be better at.”
In the losses to Denver and San Francisco, the Jets converted 19 percent (4-of-21) of their third downs. The culprits were plentiful last Sunday against the 49ers. Rookie tight end Dustin Keller dropped a pass on a third-and-2 play, the right side of the offensive line collapsed on a third-and-1 and Chansi Stuckey ran an 8-yard pattern on third-and-9.
“We haven’t been as crisp on third down, which is not allowing us to stay on the field, which is not allowing us to score the points that we were scoring,” tackle Damien Woody said. “We were like leading the league in long drives. The past couple of weeks we weren’t doing that. That’s what we need to get back to doing, converting on third down and sustaining those long drives to score points. If we do that, we’ll be all right.”
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and Mangini must take some of the blame with their play-calling. Of the 20 third downs, nine of them came with 4 yards to go or less and they only ran the ball once. Quarterback Brett Favre seems to always be looking to the same targets on third down, too. Of the 17 third-down passes he has made in the two games, five were directed at Keller and four at Leon Washington.
Favre has looked to Laveranues Coles only once in that situation. If third down is problem No. 1 for the offense, the lack of production at wide receiver is 1A. Coles and Jerricho Cotchery had one catch apiece this week. This after Coles was held to two catches by the Broncos.
“I’m not frustrated,” Coles said. “(When I was younger) I was equating getting the ball with being successful, but at this point in my career I know you don’t have to have the ball to still be effective. I think I help my team out by just lining up on Sundays.”
The deep ball has become a memory for the Jets. Favre has not connected on a pass of more than 40 yards since Cotchery’s amazing catch against New England. His last pass over 30 yards was a short pass to Washington that the speedster turned into a big gain.
Favre threw up a few long balls the last two weeks. Twice he was intercepted and the other times he and the receiver did not connect. Favre’s not worried, though.
“People want to say, well they figured out the short passing game or you guys can’t throw deep,” Favre said. “No one’s figured out anything. It’s a matter of execution.”