NY Jets: 3 things to improve before Week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts

The NY Jets must set out to improve these three things ahead of their Week 3 game.

Another week and another blowout loss for the NY Jets. Adam Gase’s squad came out and gave a very uninspired performance in Week 2 losing to a depleted San Francisco 49ers team 31-13.

Overall, it was a much-improved performance from Week 1 against the Bills — not that that’s saying very much.

Quarterback Sam Darnold played well given an overall bad situation, the offensive line continued to play solid football, and there were a few standout performances from young guys like Quinnen Williams and Mekhi Becton

But that’s about it. The rest was very ugly.

The offense still failed to move the ball on a consistent basis while the defense was gashed for multiple big plays. Even backup quarterback Nick Mullens had his way with a Jets’ pass defense that ha really struggled thus far.

Were there improvements? Sure, but altogether it was another atrocious day of football for Gang Green.

While there are many things that need to be improved before the Jets visit the Colts this week, here are the top three things that need to improve before heading to Indianapolis.

Next: 1. Adam Gase's coaching

1. NY Jets’ head coach Adam Gase must improve

Yet again, Adam Gase has let his team down.

In a week in which the owner of the franchise came out and called him a “brilliant offensive mind”, Gase disappointed. The play-calling was basic, he did not let Darnold air the ball out, and once again, he became predictable.

Gase wasn’t aggressive in situations he should have been, he was uncreative when he needed to be, and didn’t even trust his quarterback to audible out of a terrible play call on a key fourth down. He didn’t trust the players he had and refused to take responsibility for his own mistakes.

There is also the defense and I’ll get to this later, but Gase has to take some responsibility for its letdowns as well.

I know he is not a defensive guy, but the team has been terrible at tackling, was awful at getting off the field on third down, and came out slow, giving up an 80-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage.

There is also the giant problem of players coming out and pretty much saying that practices aren’t intense enough. When your players are telling the media you’re bad at your job, it probably means you are.

At the end of the day, if Gang Green is gonna have any chance to compete on Sunday with the Colts, Gase has to be better.

Next: 2. Tackling

2. The NY Jets must improve their tackling

Once again tackling makes the list of things that need to improve before the Jets’ next game.

Last week when I wrote this article I put this as No. 1. In all honesty, it would be again if Gase was at all acceptable as a head coach. But he hasn’t been.

The defense as a whole has just struggled to make tackles and make plays when they need to. The Jets have missed 40 tackles through two games. That means they are missing 20 tackles per game on average which is absolutely unacceptable.

Those 40 missed tackles lead the league and are 38 percent more than the second-worst team in terms of tackling, the Kansas City Chiefs with 29 missed tackles. Cornerback Blessuan Austin is currently leading the way with six missed tackles — a figure that also leads the NFL.

Not only is this just poor football, but it’s affecting the team’s ability to get off the field on third down. This just needs to change.

A poor offense with a defense that doesn’t tackle well will create a very long and dreadful season.

Next: 3. Third-down defense

3. The NY Jets must improve their third-down defense

Here it is, the most embarrassing thing that happened to the Jets on Sunday. Giving up a first down on a 3rd-and-31. Are you kidding me?

The Jets’ defense played rather well on first and second down the entire day, but third down they looked like swiss cheese.

The Jets allowed the 49ers to convert on 7-of-13 third downs, good for a conversion rate of just about 54 percent. That is just flat-out bad.

As a defense, when you get a team to third down you have to get off the field more times than not. Especially when you are forcing the opposition into third-and-long a good amount of the time.

This will ruin the Jets’ time of possession and will contribute to the defense being gassed by the fourth quarter. The inability to get off the field on third down will ruin games for the Jets this year.

If the Jets have any chance of being in Sunday’s game on the road against the Colts they will have to do a better job getting off the field on third down.