Jets are forced to make a QB change after Justin Fields' historic ineptitude
The New York Jets played a near-flawless game against the Denver Broncos in Week 6. The defense was lights out for the vast majority of Sunday's game. The special teams unit consistently put the Jets in advantageous positions.
The Jets won the turnover battle and finished with just two penalties for 15 yards. It was everything the team had failed to do through the first five weeks of the season in one game. It was the perfect performance.
Except for the quarterback. Justin Fields' performance on Sunday might have been the most inept showing from a Jets quarterback in decades. Yes, more inept than anything Zach Wilson put on tape. More inept than Luke Falk, Trevor Siemian, Bryce Petty, etc.
The entire offense was placed in an untenable situation because of the play of their quarterback, and despite a nearly flawless performance all around, the team still fell short, 13-11. That's how bad the QB was.
The Jets must bench Justin Fields for Tyrod Taylor in Week 7
It's hard to even put into words how incompetent Fields was in this game. The numbers don't come close to telling the story, but the fact that the Jets finished with a whopping -10 net passing yards should paint a bit of the picture.
Fields was sacked nine times in the game; all except for one or two were the direct result of holding onto the ball for an eternity. There were open receivers more often than not. Fields just couldn't see the field.
The Jets essentially ran their offense with three potential options in mind: run the ball with Breece Hall or Isaiah Davis, give Fields a pre-snap read/decision, or ask Fields to make a post-snap decision and pray.
Virtually every single time — and I mean that literally — the Jets asked Fields to make a post-snap decision, it resulted in a negative play, pretty much always a sack. That's why the Jets simply refused to do it for the majority of the game.
The sequence at the end of the first half was proof of this. The Jets determined that asking Fields to do anything was more likely to result in a negative play than to result in points for the team. So they folded their hand. They gave up.
You cannot function as an NFL team with a quarterback performance like that. It's essentially impossible to win a game if Fields plays anywhere close to that level.
The Jets have to make a quarterback change going into Week 6. This coaching staff cannot justifiably face their players in the locker room and tell them Fields is going to remain the starter.
Is Tyrod Taylor the savior? Of course not. But you can grab any quarterback off the street, and the odds are they would be more playable than Fields was in this game.
Change is necessary. It has to happen.
Spencer Rattler's latest solid outing for Saints undermined by untimely mistakes in loss to Patriots
Spencer Rattler posted similar passing numbers to New England´s Drake Maye on Sunday, only to walk off the Superdome field feeling far less satisfied.
Rattler was 20 of 26 for 227 yards without a turnover, but his receivers let him down in a 25-19 loss in which the New Orleans Saints' only second-half points came on Blake Grupe's 54-yard field goal.
Tight end Juwan Johnson lost a fumble after making a first-down catch at midfield in the fourth quarter. The next time the Saints had the ball, wide receiver Chris Olave dropped a throw near midfield that would have gone for a first down, leading to a punt with 3:55 left.
The Patriots were able to run out the clock after that, thanks to receiver Kayshon Boutte holding on to a contested third-down catch near the sideline with cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry right on him.
"They had one-on-one opportunities and they made plays," first-year Saints coach Kellen Moore said. "We´ve got to find a way to come up with more of those on our end."
Olave let a long pass slip through his hands in the end zone late in the first half, forcing the Saints to kick a 38-yard field goal that gave them a 16-14 lead. Boutte responded with a 29-yard touchdown catch 31 seconds before halftime and New England remained in front from there.
Rattler was seeking his second straight win, having guided the Saints past the New York Giants 26-14 last Sunday, but instead lost for the 11th time in 12 career NFL starts. He has thrown only one interception all season and completed 71.3% of his passes since Week 2.
Still, New Orleans (1-5) has the worst record in the NFC.
"It´s tough, but that´s football, especially at this level," Rattler said. "It didn't feel like we played poorly. A few plays away - we just got to figure out how to make those plays."
The fumble that Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss forced from Johnson, was among the costliest plays for the Saints. Johnson initially was ruled down by contact, but New England coach Mike Vrabel quickly challenged the call before New Orleans could hurriedly get off another snap - and got the call overturned by replay review.
"I was confident when it first happened," Elliss said. "I felt the ball move completely out of his hands, but then when I saw it on replay I thought, dang, he did a good job of bringing his arm underneath it, so I didn´t know which way it would go."
The Saints have not had many critical plays go their way.
Rattler found Olave for 53 yards to the Patriots 22 on the game's first snap, but New Orleans settled for Grupe´s 34-yard field goal.
Grupe kicked a 48-yarder on the Saints´ next possession, but Maye threw touchdown passes of 53 yards to Demario Douglas and 25 yards to Boutte as New England went ahead 14-6. May, who backed up a big win at Buffalo last week, was 11 of 13 for 185 yards in the first half but only 7 of 13 for 76 yards after the break.
After reaching the end zone just once on Taysom Hill's 1-yard run in the second quarter and getting the rest of their points on four field goals by Grupe, the Saints were kicking themselves for a variety of reasons.
"We´re right there, playing against good teams - really good teams," Rattler said, alluding to losses to Arizona, San Francisco and Buffalo that were close well into the fourth quarter.
"We´re not happy about a loss," he added, "but we know we´re a better team than our record says."
