Latest Jets Loss is Tough, Fall 24-17 to Houston

(Via NewsDay)

After starting 4-1 on the season, the Jets have hit a huge rough patch and are now just 5-5. The latest heartbreaking loss coming to the sub-average Houston Texans by a score of 24-17.

With the season hanging by a thread, let’s take a look at some of the takeaways from Sunday’s loss.

1. Running Game – The Jets have completely forgot how to run the ball. They ran the ball 16 times on Sunday with people not named Ryan Fitzpatrick (who ran five times). Chris Ivory had eight attempts and just 36 yards. And if it wasn’t for one 23 yard breakout rush, Ivory was kept quiet. And if Ivory is not running the ball well, then the Jets aren’t running the ball well because Billal Powell and Stevan Ridley are not reliable. The Jets were good earlier in the season because Chris Ivory was running the ball really well; outdoing himself every week. But now he has gone completely cold and the offense is really suffering as a result.
2. Ryan Fitzpatrick – Turning the ball over three times (two interceptions and one fumble loss) is not a good recipe for success. Like the running game, Fitzpatrick has gone cold. Not that Fitzpatrick was really good in the first five games, but he was good enough because he wasn’t turning the ball over. But now that he is turning the ball over and the run game is not working, the offense as a whole is simply bad. With the way the offense looked on Sunday, they were lucky to score 17 points. And it’s almost miraculous that the Jets had 16 first downs because they were just 3/14 on third down conversions.
3. Defense – Like every other aspect of the team, the defense has not been themselves lately. They haven’t been atrocious, but they were a lot better earlier this year. There was a time when the Jets had forced nine turnovers in two games. No one expected for the Jets to keep that up the entire year, but they are clearly struggling to turn the ball over. After getting nine in the first two weeks, they have 11 in the next eight weeks combined. And since the offense is struggling, the defense has to give them extra possessions for more opportunities to score.

With just six games left in the regular season, it is very difficult to identify the true identity of this Jets team. Are they the 4-1 team from earlier this year or are they a team that is 1-4 in their last five games? Were the first five games a fluke or the last five games?

And with the Jets struggling to stay in the Wild Card race, you can figure that the Jets have to go 4-2 in their last six games to have a decent shot a playoff spot. And those last six games are: vs Dolphins, @ Giants, vs Titans, @ Cowboys, vs Patriots, and @ Bills. So the Jets have their opportunities to win four games, but they have not been beating the teams that they are supposed to beat so the Jets dug themselves in a hole for the stretch run.