Anyone watching the New York Jets\u2019 2023 season is intimately familiar with the nauseating feeling of tragedy. The Jets, with a championship-level defense and future hall-of-fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers, had high hopes. These hopes imploded after four plays when starting quarterback Rodgers went down, leaving third-year quarterback Zach Wilson to carry the team. In the weeks since, everyone has blamed Wilson for the team\u2019s failures but he is not the problem. He is simply a scapegoat to distract from a failing organization. Rather, the offensive line and the looming shadow of Rodgers\u2019 and his buddies should bear the brunt of the blame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A massive problem hinders Wilson\u2019s ability to make decisions and key throws \u2013 his offensive line. As of week twelve, the Jets\u2019 offensive line ranked dead last in the NFL and Wilson\u2019s confidence continued to crumble. \u201cIt\u2019s tough to have his confidence high when, on the first third down, he gets sacked within two seconds or something crazy. That\u2019s on the O-line,\u201d says Wilson\u2019s troubled offensive line captain, Connor McGovern. He refers to the Jets\u2019 disastrous Black Friday game, where the opposing Dolphins embarrassed the Jets, especially the offensive line which allowed Wilson to be sacked seven times. Wilson\u2019s 38 sacks<\/a> on the season are the third-highest in the entire league. Any quarterback, even potential MVPs like Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes, could not create success with the current turbulence of the Jets\u2019 offensive line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilson must also overcome the shadow of Aaron Rodgers and his 17-year legacy. Rodgers, a four-time league MVP, signed with the Jets in the 2023 offseason and intended to be a much-needed spark in the Jets’ offense. Unfortunately, on the fourth play of the regular season, Rodgers tore his Achilles \u2013 a season-ending injury. Wilson, expected to be in \u201cfootball rehab\u201d for the 2023 season, his only job to watch, listen and learn from Rodgers, found himself with the entire team on his shoulders and shoes the size of Metlife (the Jets\u2019 stadium) to fill. The Jets\u2019 coaches initially designed the offense around Rodgers\u2019 ability to read defenses and predict their moves, sometimes before they even made them. Wilson can\u2019t read the defense in the same way and the designed offense makes it impossible for him to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The players and coaches Rodgers vouched for are another contributing factor to the crumbling Jets\u2019 offense. Rodgers brought his friend Nathaniel Hackett to the Jets as Offensive Coordinator. Under Hackett, the Jets offense is 31st overall, 30th in scoring and last in third-down and red-zone conversion percentages<\/a>. Other busts recruited by Rodgers include receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, running back Dalvin Cook and quarterback Tim Boyle. Lazard and Cobb are nonexistent this season, with Lazard benched in favor of rookie receivers and Cobb with only three catches on the year. Cook, coming back from an injury, lacks the explosiveness he had on his previous team, the Vikings. Boyle has a total of four touchdown passes and twelve interceptions in his entire NFL career. Every single member of the Jets team that Rodgers brought failed miserably. He left Wilson with a graveyard of an offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n