Who Should Get Most Blame for New York Jets' Disastrous Season?

The New York Jets are out of excuses as they prepare to play their final seven games of the 2024 season.

Nov 10, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) warms up before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

It's only mid-November, but the New York Jets' season is basically over.

With last week's humiliating 31-6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the Jets are 3-7 and have lost six of their last seven games, getting outscored by 52 points during that stretch.

Barring a miraculous finish, New York will miss the playoffs for the 14th consecutive season.

Given that the Jets entered the year with Super Bowl aspirations, this season has been a colossal failure. They're currently tied for last place in the AFC East with the talent-starved New England Patriots, and there's a good chance New York finishes with a worse record than last year's 7-10 mark.

With two more losses, New York will clinch its ninth straight losing season.

Who's to blame for this catastrophe? Where does one begin?

Many members of the organization are to blame, starting at the top. Woody Johnson has owned the Jets since 2000, presiding over an embarrassing quarter-century of football. The franchise has been a laughingstock for much of it. The back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances are a distant memory .

Johnson tried to help by firing head coach Robert Saleh after Week 5, but the move immediately backfired. New York's defense has regressed without him, and the team is 1-4 under interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich.

The Jets have played far below their talent level, so part of the blame falls to the coaching staff.

But ultimately, the players haven't executed well enough. There have been too many penalties, dropped passes and inexcusable miscues, costing the team winnable games against beatable opponents.

Football games are often won and lost at the line of scrimmage, and New York has been atrocious on both sides of the ball.

The offensive line has failed to adequately protect Aaron Rodgers, who's been sacked 23 times (ninth-most in NFL). They've also struggled to block and open up running lanes for Breece Hall and Braelon Allen, contributing to the Jets' lackluster ground game (30th in rushing yards per game).

Rodgers, who is about to turn 41 years old, needs a good rushing attack to take the pressure off him and open things up downfield. He's not good enough to carry an offense by himself.

New York's defensive line has also been horrendous, ranking 25th in rushing yards allowed per game and 29th in rushing touchdowns allowed. Meanwhile, the secondary hasn't forced enough turnovers, notching just two interceptions (30th in NFL).

The less said about kicker Greg Zuerlein, the better.

But at the end of the day, the buck stops with Rodgers. This is his team, for better or worse, and the results clearly indicate the latter.

Rodgers' completion rate (62.4%) is down for the third straight season, and his passer rating (86.8) is the lowest it's been since he became a starter.

Including his final season with the Green Bay Packers, he's 11-16 as a starter. His MVP days are long gone.

In hindsight, betting on an aging quarterback to save the franchise was a bad idea, but doubling down on him was an even worse idea.

The Jets have given Rodgers everything he's wanted. They've traded for and signed his old Packers teammates, including Davante Adams and Allen Lazard. They brought in Nathaniel Hackett to run the offense, even after his abysmal stint with the Denver Broncos. Saleh was likely fired to appease Rodgers, as the two were reportedly not getting along.

None of it's worked. New York keeps spinning its wheels, finding new (and sometimes historic) ways to lose every Sunday.

The Jets can't blame their division, which is the weakest in football. They can't blame their schedule, as they've already lost to two rookie quarterbacks.

In the end, they only have themselves to blame.