By: Izzie Begley
It is no secret the Jets have been struggling, particularly on offense. With high expectations going into this year, it makes it all much more disappointing.
Although they managed to win last week against the Texans, it does not take away their schematic issues.
So, what is going wrong? They fired Robert Saleh so why didn’t the scheme change? Well, it is probably the man the Jets organization were most excited to welcome: Aaron Rodgers.
Is it fair to blame it all on Aaron Rodgers? No. However, it is fair to acknowledge that a good portion of this is due to his preferences in scheme.
When Rodgers was in Green Bay, he was very vocal about his displeasure with LaFleur’s offense. He believed there was little control at the line of scrimmage and did not like the constant use of motion with the play action. LaFleur had to end up tempering with him and met him halfway. Which is interesting because it was still very successful and led to Rodgers winning two MVPs.
Rodgers claimed he was more accustomed to playing a “West Coast offense,” which is more about timing and rhythm. It is simple, which is what Rodgers wanted to implement into Green Bay. This is what he grew up playing, but is a high school and college offense fitting for the NFL? We’re finding out the answer to that right now.
This season, Green Bay is running a full LaFleur offense. This consists of no number one receiver; and lots of pre-snap motion which forces opposing defenses to respect the jet sweep and opens up the play-action pass. This is an offense that is truly a team effort.
Whereas in New York, it is quite the opposite. They are running an archaic offense from the early 2000s and Rodgers is refusing to adapt. There is little to no pre-snap motion, the offense is driven by ego, stuck in its ways, and totally focused on the quarterback. The offense is the quarterback, and that’s why it’s bad.
