It's a tough fact for any member of Jets Nation to digest. But whether one choose to accept it or not, the Jets are the only remaining team in the NFL not to score a touchdown so far this preseason.
The good news, however, is that they have two more preseason opportunities to get this monkey off their back and three more weeks before the games actually start to count.
Guard Brandon Moore is set to begin his 10th season with the squad. He understands that the offense hasn't executed the way it's capable of during these first two regular-season tuneups. But he's hopeful things will move in the right direction.
"It seems like every preseason there is some dilemma offensively," Moore said, "going back to when we had Chad [Pennington] or [Brett] Favre or whoever else was at quarterback. You'd like to get things rolling going into the season, feeling good about what you're doing. For whatever reason, it doesn't ever seem that it's been like that.
"We try not to put too much into it, but also understand that you need to learn from it and get it right as you move along to that first game. You don't want to keep telling yourself these don't count and we're not game-planning or things like that. You definitely want to have some positives coming out."
Although the Jets failed to get into the end zone Saturday against the Giants, a positive element that Moore witnessed was the club's running attack. On 24 running plays, the Jets produced 65 rushing yards, 7 more yards than the G-Men, who carried the ball 32 times.
"I thought we moved guys off the ball," he said. "I thought we came off with a good mindset. It wasn't quite as good as an ideal situation, but I saw that. I saw guys working together really well in the run game."
The 2011 Pro Bowl selection said the squad is also continuing to adapt to the new offense brought in by first-year OC Tony Sparano. There have been noticeable strides, but it's clear the unit is still in the midst of a transition phase.
"You're always learning, always learning the offense," Moore said. "I think the quicker you can get to hearing a play and being able to react quickly, and not thinking and understanding where and how you fit into the play, those are the things that come with a lot more reps with practice and focus on what you need to do. I think that's the next step, taking from understanding the play to being able to think quickly and make your adjustments off of that."
As the Jets now prepare for their next challenge, facing the Carolina Panthers and last year's Rookie of the Year, Cam Newton, the offense is motivated to put points on the board.
Maybe this third preseason game is where things start to change for the better. Maybe it's not. But you'd like to think they certainly should, especially with the starters expected to play three quarters.
"I mean, we'd like to score touchdowns and make third-down conversions in order to score touchdowns," Moore said. "That's something we want to get better at. There were some positives you can take from it. I don't think we're satisfied with not scoring touchdowns."
