Jeremy Bates wants Jets offense to bounce back with more attitude
Jets offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates looks on during the first half of a preseason game against the Falcons on Aug. 10. Credit: AP/Bill Kostroun
MIAMI — The heat is on the Jets. They can’t afford to have their offense go cold — again.
It’s happened too much this season, and far too often lately. At 3-5, and with their next three games against AFC-East teams, Todd Bowles and his team have entered the must-win portion of their schedule. But the Jets won’t win many games if their offense continues to produce duds.
In a season when scoring around the NFL is way up, the Jets have put up 17 and 10 points in their last two games — both losses. Their ground game has disappeared, Sam Darnold’s completion percentage continues to shrink and their false start penalties are on the rise.
The Jets have had their share of issues, blown assignments and a lack of communication on defense as well. But the offense has taken some steps backward the last two weeks.
Offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates’ unit is looking to bounce back and break out Sunday against the Dolphins. Being pushed around by the Bears last week should be motivation enough for the Jets. But Bates, repeating Bowles' words, saying Chicago “played harder” than the Jets might light a little extra fire within the offense.
“You get to this league with an attitude,” Bates said. “If you don’t have attitude, you don’t stay very long. It’s an aggressive game. It’s a physical game and you’ve got to bring it for 16 weeks.”
The Jets didn’t bring it last week. They ran for 57 yards in the game and had just 98 yards of offense through three quarters against the Bears without Khalil Mack. The Jets’ lack of a run game led to Bates saying Chicago played harder.
The offense didn’t bring it the week before against Minnesota. Darnold threw three interceptions, and the Jets didn’t convert their first third down until there were about four minutes left in the third quarter.
Miami (4-4) could be the right opponent at the right time for the Jets.
Although one of the Dolphins’ wins came against the Jets — 20-12 in Week 2 — they’re a much more offense-friendly defense than the Bears. Miami allows the sixth-most yards in the NFL (408), the third-most rushing yards (143.1) and the fifth-most points (27.4).
Darnold and the Jets should have opportunities to put points on the board, if they can hold onto the football and avoid pre-snap penalties. They committed five false starts last week.
“It’s up to me to communicate a little better in the huddle and make sure everyone knows what the snap count is,” Darnold said. “Just being on the same page and moving as one is the biggest thing and not shooting ourselves in the foot with false starts or penalties or fumbles or anything like that.”
But the Jets are an enigmatic offense.
In Week 5 against the Broncos, they ran for 323 yards and racked up 512 yards of total offense. They compiled 470 yards of offense in the last two games. Running back Isaiah Crowell went from rushing for a franchise-record 219 yards on 15 carries against Denver to totaling 54 yards on 24 carries the last two games.
Overall, the Jets rank 30th in yards per play, 28th in third-down conversions and last in red-zone scoring percentage.
“I feel like we’re really inconsistent,” wide receiver Jermaine Kearse said. “I feel like there’s times when we do a lot of good things and we have a lot of success. And then there’s times where we plateau a little bit or dip a little bit.
“You don’t really want a roller coaster performance. That’s hard to win games and hard to win games consistently when you’re doing that.”
Injuries to starting running back Bilal Powell and Darnold’s top two receiving targets Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson certainly have had an impact.
Powell’s season is over because of a neck injury he suffered against the Vikings. But the Jets could be getting Anderson and/or Enunwa back Sunday.
Both Anderson, who missed last week’s game with an ankle injury, and Enunwa, who sat the last two because of an ankle, were limited participants in practice Friday. The Jets list them as questionable.
Darnold hasn’t used their absences as an excuse for his erratic and mostly unspectacular play lately. But after recording his first three-touchdown game in three weeks ago against Indianapolis, Darnold is 31-for-71 (43.7 percent), for 359 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. His passer rating in the two games is 51.3 percent.
Dolphins coach Adam Gase said this is normal growing pains for rookies, and Darnold can be a pain for defenses.
“It seems like he’s struggling a little bit,” Gase said. “But you’re going to have those games where all of a sudden you see three touchdown passes, 300-plus yards passing, 100-plus rating.
“He’s throwing the ball well. They’ve had some moving parts. But he’s dangerous. You get him time to get in any kind of rhythm or he starts moving around the pocket making some plays, it can become a nightmare for the opposing side real quick.”
That’s what the Jets are hoping for against the Dolphins.
Bates said he isn’t concerned about the Jets statistics and where they rank statistically on offense. There’s only one stat he worries about.
“Wins and losses,” Bates said. “Stats get blown out of proportion. You can take knees on third downs and victory plays and all that good stuff. The only thing that matters is wins and losses in this league, and right now we need more wins.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
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