The NY Jets rushing attack is on life support entering Week 15

The stat I keep seeing about Breece Hall this week is yards after catch — where his 461 yards is sixth in the NFL. This is a great way to distract people from the fact that Hall has only eclipsed 60 yards twice in 13 games this season and has had five straight games of 40 or less.

It’s also been seven games since he’s scored a rushing touchdown but the team was able to manage one last week with Xavier Gipson’s nine-yard touchdown scamper.

The four yards per carry the Breece averaged against the Texans was the most he’s had in a game since averaging eight yards per carry against the Broncos way back in Week 5. Since the Week 7 bye, Breece is averaging 2.5 yards per carry with zero rushing TDs and a rushing total of 199 in those seven games (28.4 per game).

Now this isn’t an attack on Breece — he is a foundational piece of this offense and his work in the passing game has arguably produced more value after the bye than Garrett Wilson’s (three Hall rec TDs to Wilson’s one).

This attack is on the team’s rushing output as a whole — which has suffered even worse than the passing attack as the offensive line continues to limp into a new starting combination every week.

No team in the NFL has rushed for less than 65 yards per game in their last three besides the NY Jets (56.7) which is horrifying when you consider how poor the QB play was among Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian. Perhaps the poor QB play was the cause of the low rushing yardage?

Whatever the reason, it’s been a while since the Jets have gotten going on the ground and I’d imagine that was part of the cause of Zach’s struggles that led to his benching.

The 79 rushing yards the Jets accrued the Texans were still among the worst in the league last week but the Jets were able to overcome due to a miraculous performance from Zach Wilson.

I’m sure they would love to balance out their offensive attack, which is what they implied by cutting Michael Carter to make way for rookie running back Israel Abanikanda.

Israel Abanikanda has been a non-factor for the NY Jets

In the games since that move, Abanikanda has been given a grand total of four carries and they recently had to mention his pass-blocking woes as an excuse for not giving him more playing time.

Dalvin Cook seemed to be shaking off some rust to the tune of nine carries for 35 yards against the Falcons until a lost fumble completely halted his (and the Jets) momentum. I’m embarrassed to point out that he led the team in rushing that game.

Miami’s run defense has been great all year but especially good as of late – allowing the 4th fewest yards per game in their last three. Christian Wilkins has been an absolute beast up front and figures to be a factor in this game.

If Wilson somehow can continue the passing success, will that open up the running lanes for the Jets to have their first 100-yard rushing game since they rushed for 108 in that shocking loss against the Raiders?