The Jets have gone from worst to first in red-zone offense this season.
Gang Green have scored on 73 percent of their trips inside the 20-yard line this season, the best mark in the league. In 2014, they scored on just 36 percent of their trips, the worst percentage in the NFL. The uptick in production partially can be attributed to Brandon Marshall, who is a beast in the red zone, but that is not the total reason.
When Todd Bowles took the job in January, he told his coaches they were going to focus on a few areas, and the red zone was one of them.
“That’s situational football,” Bowles said. “You win or lose games with red zone, two-minute and third down. When we first started in the spring, one of the things we wanted to function on was red zone and third down. We started practicing red zone right off the top before anything else. It’s been paying off once we got down there.”
Bowles said he learned the importance of working situational football from Bill Parcells and Bruce Arians, two of his coaching mentors.
Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey said Bowles emphasized it from the start, and the results they have seen this fall are from the work they did this spring.
“We’ve been working hard at it since early, early in OTAs, not just minicamps and training camp,” Gailey said. “From OTAs, we’ve been working on that. I think that has a lot to do with it, and we’re getting a better feel for each other. We’ve got a couple of guys who really know how to beat people in the red zone, so combine that with a tough runner, it helps you in the red zone.”
Rookie WR Devin Smith is coming off his best game, catching a touchdown against the Dolphins and making another big catch in the game. Gailey said if they can get Smith to develop, they can give opposing defense headaches.
“Right now, the other teams, to me, have two issues,” Gailey said. “They have [Eric] Decker and they have Brandon. If you can add a third one to that, now you really create problems for people. I think we’re going to get there. It’s not been as fast as any of us have wanted. He missed all of training camp and stuff like that, but I think we can get there.”
CBs Darrelle Revis (concussion) and Marcus Williams (knee) did not practice. LB Calvin Pace (abdomen), C Nick Mangold (hand) and Marshall (ankle, toe) were limited. Bowles said he is hopeful Pace can play. Mangold and Marshall are expected to play.