Why the NY Jets must take play calling away from Nathaniel Hackett

The Nathaniel Hackett experiment needs to come to an end. Now.

The NY Jets' offense has been nothing short of embarrassing this season, with even their star players at a loss for words following Sunday night's stinker against the Raiders, dropping the team to 4-5.

Although many want to point the finger directly at Zach Wilson, and rightfully so, as he is just as bad, the team has no alternatives there, with just Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian on the roster to replace him. Hackett can be replaced and should be, before next week's game if this franchise wants to be serious.

Nathaniel Hackett's historically bad offense

Let's get this straight — this 2023 Jets offense hasn't just been bad, they've been a historical abnormality. It's been abysmal since Week 1 and has been lifted to four wins by the otherworldly defense, not because of it.

The Jets are currently the worst team in the entire Super Bowl era on third down, converting just 25 percent of the time. Even the New York Giants, literally playing without an NFL quarterback the last three weeks, have converted 30 percent!

In terms of points per game, the Jets have managed to somehow score 16 points per game, 30th out of 32 teams. They've also only scored 10.3 points per game in their last three games, all winnable contests after the bye week when the offense was supposed to be getting cleaned up.

They rank 29th in yards per game, 32nd in touchdowns per game, 32nd in red zone scoring percentage (22.7 percent), 31st in expected points per game, 30th in passing yards per game, 29th in yards per attempt per game, and 32nd in passing touchdowns per game.

It's been nothing short of embarrassing from start to finish across every statistical category one can point to when discussing an offensive coordinator. Even their rushing yards per game have fallen to 18th in the NFL after topping out at ninth just four weeks ago.

Nathaniel Hackett has been bad everywhere

None of this should be surprising to Jets fans, though, as Hackett has been a horrible offensive mind every place he has ever gone.

In Green Bay, he was lauded as an offensive mastermind under coach Mike LaFleur and quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers and the Packers were 13-3 in consecutive seasons with Hackett on the staff there, going deep into the playoffs in 2020 before losing to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship, earning Rodgers back-to-back MVPs also.

What few realize is that Hackett, despite being the offensive coordinator, had no play-calling responsibility. In fact, he managed nothing with the offensive game planning besides crafting the red zone offense.

For reference, Green Bay, with Aaron Rodgers and a 13-3 NFC Championship caliber roster, finished 27th in red zone touchdown percentage and 18th in red zone scores per game despite finishing eighth in red zone chances per game.

That tells me everything about Hackett I want to know... other people were capable of getting this team right down the field at an elite level, and once Hackett's plan took shape, the Packers, with an absolutely loaded roster and MVP quarterback, regressed too far below league average.

If that wasn't enough, Hackett had more evidence for his inability to manage an offense with his time in Denver last year as head coach. Under Hackett's leadership, the Denver offense was one of the worst in the league last year.

Denver finished 32nd in points per game (out of 32), 21st in yards per game, 32nd in third-down percentage, and 28th in touchdowns per game. Since he has left, the entire offense has improved this year, rising to 14th in touchdowns per game, 17th in points per game, 23rd in yards per game, and 14th in third-down percentage.

Since Hackett has left, the Broncos went from one of the worst offenses to league average despite a complete lack of talent on the roster. Russell Wilson, who Hackett made seem like a practice squad-level player, has thrown for 1600 yards, 16 touchdowns, just four interceptions, and a completion percentage of 66 percent.

The fact Hackett has struggled with the Jets yet again as an offensive mind should come as no surprise to anyone who knew the first thing about Hackett's history.

Nathaniel Hackett's complete misuse of the NY Jets' offensive personnel

For any fans that watch the game, it is clear Hackett has no real ability to utilize the talents on the field to their strengths, or at least remove them in spots where they may be weak. Let's just use Sunday night's game against Las Vegas as proof.

C.J. Uzomah has been one of the league's worst run-blocking tight ends all year. Coincidentally, the Jets have Jeremy Ruckert on the team, who happens to be one of the best run-blockers in the league.

On Sunday night, the Jets ran behind Uzomah twice in key spots. Both times he was called for a hold, one negating a red zone first down, one negating a touchdown.

Running back Breece Hall happens to be one of the most explosive players in the NFL, and when Breece Hall scores, the Jets always win. Literally, they are 8-0 when Breece Hall scores a touchdown in the last two years.

Nonetheless, the Jets rarely throw the ball to Breece Hall, leading Robert Saleh to say he "agrees, Breece needs to be more involved in the passing game" after a Week 10 loss. Week 10!

Garrett Wilson is one of the league's best wide receivers, on pace to top 100 catches for over 1,200 yards this year. However, Sunday night, Wilson clearly hurt his arm, sitting out a full series and receiving lots of attention from medical personnel for much of the game.

Hackett, seemingly unaware, had Wilson throw a double pass to Lazard, which predictably went sailing way out of bounds because Wilson could not grip or throw the ball with his injured arm.

Quarterback Zach Wilson has become an elite early down, play-action passer. Seriously, he's one of the NFL's best, and it's maybe the only good thing he does. Early Sunday night, the Jets hit a 41-yard pass play on a deep play-action cross to Garrett Wilson. They never came back to it the rest of the game.

Randall Cobb, despite statistically being the worst NFL receiver this year, played more than 50 percent of the snaps in the team's first seven games before finally being benched after the bye week.

At that same time, speedster Mecole Hardman and undrafted rookie Xavier Gipson barely got on the field. Gipson has had three catches for 56 yards in the last two weeks when he has finally started playing over Cobb.

Recently released Jets running back Michael Carter regressed yet again this year. He ranks as one of the bottom-tier backs in catch percentage, pass-block win rate, rushing yards over expected, and yards after contact.

The Jets also have Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook, who have graded out as two of the best pass blockers and run-after-catch running backs in the NFL this year.

Carter was getting almost all of the third-down opportunities prior to his release, costing the team big on Sunday night with an illegal chop block after a huge third-down conversion.

I think you get the point, right?

Looking ahead to next year

Nathaniel Hackett has been really bad, for a long time, but now the question is what's next?

This is a massive question for the Jets across the board. Yes, Aaron Rodgers will be back, and yes, that will obviously make everyone look better. But Rodgers isn't a miracle worker here, folks. He can't cover for every single one of the Jets offensive shortfalls.

My biggest concern is that even with Rodgers, Hackett was still terrible at his limited job on those 2020 and 2021 Packers teams. That was before he even had to call plays! He was even worse last year with Denver as the play-caller with future Hall of Fame quarterback Russell Wilson.

How will Hackett ever succeed with 40-year-old Rodgers, coming off major surgery and almost two years without playing meaningful football? Hackett's creativity, personnel misuse, and career percentages are all embarrassingly bad. What suggests it will change next year?

The Jets, Rodgers' feelings aside, need to make a move now to strip him of his job and let someone else take a crack. Even Adam Gase wasn't this bad, and his roster was a joke and a half.

The Jets need to compete next year at a high level, and there is no reason to believe Hackett is capable of doing that, with or without Rodgers. Let's see who or what else might be available to get it done next year.