3 attainable goals the NY Jets should achieve in 2023

With the NFL Combine taking place week and the NY Jets' QB1 position still up for grabs, there's a lot of uncertainty when assessing the team's future at this point.

Still, Joe Douglas has built a solid foundation with his masterful performance in the 2022 NFL Draft, providing a nice floor for what this team can achieve next season.

Let's look at three goals that may or may not currently be on the minds of the front office, but absolutely will be factors when the season rolls around.

Regardless of who plays at QB, what happens in the 2023 NFL Draft, and/or free agency, all of these goals should be attainable based on last year's performance and the nucleus built in the Joe Douglas/Robert Saleh era.

1. The NY Jets beat the New England Patriots

This one may seem silly on the outside looking in, but there is nothing silly about 14(!) consecutive losses to a division rival. In the 60+ years of this rivalry, there had never been a point in which either team had defeated the other for a double-digit number of consecutive times.

The closest was from 1966-1970 when the Jets were unbeaten in 10 straight games vs the Patriots (nine wins, one tie), but lost their opportunity for a 10th consecutive win in 1971.

It's possible that no Jets player on this roster has any emotional connection to the decades of history between these two franchises, but most of the Jets rostered in 2023 will be extremely invested in correcting the mistakes made in two very embarrassing losses to the Patriots in 2022.

Head coach Robert Saleh has stressed the importance of winning divisional games in order to compete for a playoff spot (more on that later) yet this year the Patriots were the only AFC East team that went 2-0 against the Jets. This adds an extra sting when considering that the Patriots were the worst out of the other rivals this past year (Bills, Dolphins).

Both games were very winnable affairs that seemed to be doomed solely by poor discipline and even worse execution at times. One has to think that this time around, every player who participated in these 2022 disappointments will bring something extra to the 2023 contests.

2. The NY Jets have a 1,000-yard rusher

This past season, we saw Garrett Wilson become the first Jets player in seven years to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a season en route to winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. That same year (2015) was also the last time the Jets had a player eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in a season.

Despite playing in only seven games (and only 'officially' starting in two of them), Breece Hall was the Jets' leading rusher this past season with 463 rushing yards. That average of 66.14 rushing yards per game would've been good for 1,124 yards in 17 games, but as we know, he was in the midst of a breakout at the time of his injury.

In his first three games backing up Michael Carter, Hall averaged seven carries per game en route to 37.3 rushing yards per game on 5.28 yards per carry.

When they let Hall loose starting Week 4, he spent those next three games averaging 18.3 carries per game en route to 93 rushing yards per game on 5.02 yards per carry.

This pace for a full 17-game season would've equated to 1,581 yards — good enough for second in the NFL for total yardage and third in the NFL in yards per game behind Josh Jacobs and Derrick Henry.

Early indications point to Hall starting Week 1 of the 2023 season healthy, and with the help of Henry's run game coordinator Keith Carter now with the Jets, it would be safe to assume Hall will crush that 1,000-yard threshold in 17 games.

None of this takes into account that his 31.1 receiving yards per game over those seven games last year ranked sixth amongst all running backs in the NFL.

If we focus on that three-game surge where Hall was used as the bell cow, that number jumps up to 39 receiving yards per game, which would've been good enough for third in the NFL.

Of the three goals listed here, I've got to assume that as long as Hall is healthy, this one will be the easiest to attain. Maybe I shouldn't take it for granted, however, because only one rusher has accomplished this feat in the last 10 Jets seasons.

3. The NY Jets win a playoff game

C.J. Mosley told us before last season that making the playoffs was the goal of the 2022 season. Despite a colossal collapse at the end, this goal was a very possible reality up until the second-to-last week of the season.

Everyone in the front office is undoubtedly thinking about this goal right now as Joe Douglas attends the NFL Combine, but are they taking it one step further?

The common narrative is that a competent QB would've led the Jets to a playoff game and that an elite passer the ilk of Patrick Mahomes isn't necessary for this current roster to compete.

If that is indeed the case, then the goal this year should be having a roster that would win that playoff game with a competent QB at the helm.

Naturally, it's fair to expect a lot of these young pieces to get better. While the jury may be out on whether or not the 2022 NFL Draft class will experience sophomore slumps, someone like Quinnen Williams, who is 25 and coming off his best season as a pro, shows no practical reason to randomly slow down his production.

During the Douglas/Saleh Era, the team has been able to increase its win totals in both years. If they make the moves this offseason to continue this trend, then there is no reason to believe next year's QB1 can't get a win in January — regardless of who it is.