✈️ Jets Air Traffic Report Week 5: A win can't hide this passing game's problems

A new system, a depleted offense, and heavy rainfall. Translation: another odd game to assess and another scapegoat for the New York Jets' passing game.

Shallow drag, shallow drag, over route, shallow drag. I'd attribute the vanilla approach to the rain, but we've seen this for five straight weeks.

Geno Smith lines up in the shotgun, one back in the backfield, three-step drop, short throw to a receiver running horizontally. Basic? Very. Efficient? I guess. The better question is, when do we move past page one?

Is this all there is to the Frank Reich playbook?

Remember the days when new seasons of your favorite show came out immediately? Now, you're lucky if you get it within two years. By the time it drops, you've forgotten the plot. and all momentum is lost.

Watching this Jets pass game feels a lot like that. Offense in the NFL has become about manipulation. There's a reason why Jaxon Smith-Njigba kills you in fantasy every week.

They move him around, force defenses into mismatches, and when you adjust to stop him, they make you pay for it. In this respect, the Jets finally got what they wanted this week.

On the first drive of the game, Garrett Wilson was the featured attraction. Four targets, three catches, and an opening-drive touchdown.

More importantly, the Cleveland Browns responded just like you'd want them to as an offensive coordinator. Starting on the very next drive, Wilson was double-covered.

You don't need football knowledge to understand that if two people cover one person, there's one less person to cover everyone else.

In this particular game, that seemed to help the Jets run game with a lighter box. However, it should have also opened the door for other receiving options and new route concepts.

Spoiler alert: It did not.

Do the New York Jets watch film?

There's a feeling I have watching this Jets offense that they are just running its offense.

It doesn't matter what team is on the other side or the defensive scheme they are facing. Smith looks like every high school quarterback ever, just executing the plays from practice.

In today's NFL, offense is reactive. Pioneers like Andy Reid in Kansas City or Sean McVay in Los Angeles have led a new era of putting defenses in positions where they simply cannot be right.

We already know what you're going to do, so we're going to make sure you're wrong.

The Jets have appeared to take the opposite approach to offense against five straight opponents. Same routes, same run/pass balance, same results. Had it not been for Braelon Allen running like Earl Campbell, earning every yard, the result here would have matched the last three.

Once again, there is evidence that suggests Geno Smith is crippling this offense

Critical play in the game. Smith knows the call is a reverse-open play fake to the boundary. If there's even a chance of a free rusher on the weak side, this play is doomed.

Audible. Call a timeout. Alert your offensive line and whip your head around just in case.

Smith chooses none and instead runs the play with no apparent indication that he ever sees reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, Carson Schwesinger, walk right up on the line of scrimmage.

For those blaming Joe Tippmann, I don't care if it's Larry Allen: a linebacker running full speed upfield at the snap is an impossible assignment for a guard.

In any case, there's been a moment like this in every game that shows a troubling lack of understanding by Smith. Especially for a thirteen-year veteran.

It leads me to believe that the Pop Warner offensive package the Jets have been running may simply be the only one Smith gets, and the only option Frank Reich has.

This safe passing strategy can't hide forever

At some point, this pass game needs to change its identity from trying not to be the problem to one capable of winning games.

I think the Seattle Seahawks' run last year might have the football world convinced that defense is back - so much so that their third-ranked scoring offense is conveniently dismissed.

These first five games have blurred the big picture of this Jets team massively. Two rain-soaked, ugly home contests, a time-of-possession outlier, a distracting reunion in Detroit, and a win against what might be the worst team in the league.

Add to it all the history of this organization, and a 2-3 start feels like progress. However, misleading record aside, this pass game is not currently built to win.

So much has been made about Smith's interception-free streak; meanwhile, the Jets rank 28th in PPG.

Combined record for the other teams that round out the bottom five? 2-18. (Including all three 0-5 teams left).

It's great that Smith is protecting the football. But last time I checked, you need points to win. What does a completion percentage matter if your team finishes 5-12?

Overall Rating: 6.1 ⭐️

Like screaming at the main character in a horror movie because you can clearly see what's about to happen. Except the film lasts an entire football season, and your own mental health depends on them not being slaughtered.

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