Bob Wischusen has been the radio play-by-play voice of the New York Jets for 19 years. Throughout the season, Wischusen will shared thoughts about the Green & White in a weekly column.
Finishing Strong
The formula for success for the Jets these last couple of wins, and the formula for success against the Patriots if they are able to finish off the last win, is consistency. On offense, Sam Darnold — for the first time in his career — has gone three consecutive games without turning over the ball. Not giving the ball away on offense has made sure the Jets are not behind the eight ball at any point and hasn't hung the defense out to dry. Executing on offense and making sure they don't give it away has been of utmost importance and probably the single biggest reason why the Jets have won these last two games. On defense, it's at the line of scrimmage. Cam Newton cannot get out of the pocket and break out in big runs. They must continue to pressure the quarterback—which they've done of late— and control the opposition's run game, and make sure that an inexperienced secondary is not facing a lot of second and third and shorts. If you can continue to control the line of scrimmage on defense and play clean on offense, there's no reason to think the Jets can't be competitive on Sunday and finish with a third consecutive win.
Future Needs
Even if the Jets are able to finish off the regular season with one last win, it doesn't change the fact that they were once 0-13 and have a lot of work to do on this roster in the offseason. To me, the highest priority on the offensive side of the ball would be two areas. No. 1 — are you going to draft a young quarterback and move in a different direction or are you going to go forward with Darnold? No. 2 — upgrade the players around the quarterback so that this offense finally has an explosive quality to it, which it has been lacking. With four first-round draft choices over the next two seasons, there's ample opportunity for GM Joe Douglas to answer the question at QB and to give the QB more options. Those two things have to happen for the Jets to contend in the AFC East.
