EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — Mike LaFleur was smiling as he came off the field. He shook hands and hugged Jets employees he knew and spoke to journalists who questioned his decisions and wondered if he was the right person to be the Jets’ offensive coordinator. Now in the same position as the Los Angeles Rams, LaFleur got the last laugh on Sunday. His Rams came away with a 19-9 win over a hapless Jets team that already felt checked out for the 2024 season.
Nearly two years ago, LaFleur’s fate as the Jets’ play-caller hung in the balance. In their exit interviews following the 2022 season, some key players made it clear to their bosses that in their minds the offense had become predictable. Garrett Wilson said so during his end-of-season press conference. But that was just a microcosm of the problems the Jets had on offense. Many of them are rooted in quarterback incompetence, especially Zach Wilson. When Wilson wasn’t behind center, LaFleur’s offense thrived, especially with Mike White and Joe Flacco.
But external pressure won. Jets owner Woody Johnson pressured coach Robert Saleh to fire LaFleur. Saleh presented alternative solutions, including one in which LaFleur had a reduced role while working with Todd Downing and Keith Carter. But so many of the Jets’ key forwards were frustrated that fans (and some in the media) called for LaFleur’s head. Johnson was unmoved.
For many in the Jets locker room, it was a lifetime ago. On Sunday, the Rams’ offense couldn’t exactly get around the Jets’ defense, which has fallen apart significantly in the second half of the season. LA had 110 passing yards. But LaFleur’s presence and his smile on Sunday are part of a larger conversation about how many wrong turns the Jets have taken since LaFleur was fired and replaced by Nathaniel Hackett.
“I love him,” Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson said of LaFleur. “Looking back on my rookie year, it was a special time and one I may have taken for granted.”
The Jets were a young whippersnapper in 2022, and despite not being expected to be very good, they jumped to a 6-3 record thanks to a notable rookie class. They collapsed and finished at 7-10, and that collapse led the Jets to make a decision they’ll probably regret in retrospect. Saleh had a hard time convincing the offensive coordinator to take the job for only one year. That was the perception at the time, especially since Johnson had forced LaFleur’s firing in the first place. So he settled on Hackett with the following idea: That could help the Jets land Rodgers. But the Jets basically rebuilt their offense with a coach (Hackett) who had an unclear record when not working with Rodgers. Then the offense unraveled when Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon in Week 1 last year.
It’s now the end of 2024. Hackett was demoted earlier this season and play-calling was put in charge of Downing, who was hired as passing game coordinator after LaFleur was fired. While the offense has improved in both production and creativity since Downing took over, it’s really still Rodgers’ show. However, many of the same problems persist.
Wilson was targeted just three times Sunday before the Jets’ final offensive drive. Rodgers instead focused his targeting on Davante Adams, seemingly determined to have his 500th touchdown pass fall into the arms of his closest friend on the team. Wilson was targeted four more times toward the end of the game, but at that point it was too late to matter. Rodgers said he didn’t target Wilson because of the way the Rams were covering him. Wilson wasn’t sure why.
“To be honest, I don’t know.” Wilson said. “I don’t know. I just go out there and do my best and hope things go my way. I want to be in the game and I want to influence the game, but if people think differently, that’s out of my control. I just can’t do it. “I’m just trying to do what I can.”
The Jets started their opening drive from their own 1-yard line. Rodgers put together an impressive 14-play, 99-yard scoring drive that capped off with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Adams (and then Anders Carlson’s extra point was missed). After that, their decision-making overall left a lot to be desired.
On the next drive, which started with Tony Adams’ interception of Matthew Stafford, interim coach Jeff Ulbrich made the confusing decision to force a fourth-and-1 from the Jets’ 33-yard line. Running back Breece Hall was stuffed at the line of scrimmage and the Rams scored a touchdown three plays later.
“At that point, their offense was very efficient,” Ulbrich said. “Our offense was also very efficient. We were maintaining the drive. We were moving the ball. “We were switching third-and-4s there for a while, so we wanted to stay aggressive and keep the ball in the hands of our offense.”
Next, the Jets capped a 15-play, 67-yard drive with a 21-yard Carlson field goal. Besides two scoring drives (99 and 67 yards), the Jets gained only 155 total yards. On a cold afternoon (the coldest day of the season so far at MetLife Stadium), they ran the ball just 20 times compared to 44 dropbacks. The Jets have run the ball less than any team in the NFL this season, despite Hall’s presence. Hall expressed some frustration with the lack of carries earlier this week. It’s the same with how the season is going, how the games are going, how it played out,” Hall said Friday. “So, you know, I want the ball as much as possible, but if I can’t get it out, that’s all I can do.”
In the third quarter, the Jets reached the Rams’ 13-yard line and again attempted a fourth down rather than score with a field goal. Rodgers threw for Adams in the end zone, but on downs the ball was knocked out of the receiver’s hands for another turnover.
Early in the fourth quarter, Rodgers held on to the ball too long and was stripped, and the Rams recovered in Jets territory. LA scored again a few plays later to go up 16-9.
“Maybe we should have run the ball,” Rodgers said. “It seemed like we had gloves on everything, but I think we should have taken it out of our pocket and left it somewhere.”
The Jets tried again on fourth down on their next drive, but failed again. On another fourth quarter possession, Carlson missed a 49-yard field goal wide right. The game ended when Xavier Gipson muffed a punt and the Rams recovered. None of that even scratches the surface of the Jets’ confounding mental errors on Sunday.
The Jets, one of the most penalized teams in the NFL, had eight more penalties on Sunday. That includes at least one from each of the six offensive linemen who played. (Rookie left tackle Olu Fashanu left in the fourth quarter with a serious foot injury, but Ulbrich had no update after the game.)
“It’s been like that all year,” said Rodgers, who completed 28 of 42 for 256 yards. “For some of these guys to reach their full potential, I think identifying the details is something that needs to be ironed out going forward. And it’s not just this crime. Whatever comes after this, there will be important details in every crime. And it’s just small adjustments that can make the difference between explosive profits or conversion rates and declining sales.”
Perhaps the Jets still would have had many of the same problems even if they had stuck with LaFleur. This was true even before Saleh was fired. But it was never this bad, this undisciplined, this chaotic. Good teams find ways to win. Every week the Jets find a way to lose. According to ESPN, Sunday marked only the second time since 1940 that an NFL team failed to score at least 10 points despite not punting in the game.
It’s clear that neither Hackett nor Rodgers are the answer to what caused the offense. And it’s fair to wonder how things might have looked if LaFleur had been able to continue building the unit the way he envisioned it, and the way Saleh envisioned it. Hall told the New York Post on Sunday that he, Garrett Wilson and LaFleur are still in regular contact. This is a sign that their relationship has grown stronger since LaFleur was kicked out.
LaFleur seems happy in Los Angeles. The Jets, on the other hand, will be starting from scratch again in 2025 with a coach, play-caller, and possibly a quarterback.
So what does Wilson mean when he says it’s natural to spend time with LaFleur?
“It’s just some of the relationships,” Wilson said. “When I looked around, there weren’t many familiar faces back then. That’s what happens when you don’t win the game.”
(Photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
