New York Jets: 3 Takeaways vs. Falcons in Week 8
2. Anemic running game
For the second straight game, the Jets running game was held in check. It’s beginning to look like the game against the Jaguars was an aberration. No one should expect 200+ yards, but we can expect a 100-yard rusher. None of the Jets runners have given us that since.
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The Jets were held to 2.0 yards per carry as a team. To make matters worse, they didn’t even reach 50 total yards as a team on the ground, and that’s pathetic. The Jets couldn’t muster any semblance of a ground game in a game that called desperately for the team to do so.
Some thought the running game might be a strength of this team, given the fact the receivers are mostly young. However, this game exposed the Jets running tandem of Elijah McGuire, Bilal Powell and Matt Forte as a below average group of runners.
It’s time to consider the fact that maybe Powell plays better in a reserve role, where he can also be a primary pass-catcher out of the backfield. The Jets only ran the ball 22 times in the game as they were forced to pass the ball a lot due to the aforementioned running game not holding up their end of the bargain.