New York Jets Fall to New Orleans Saints: Takeaways From 12th Loss of the Season
The New York Jets are in full free-fall. After their loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, the team is 3-12 on the year and looks the part. The offense continued to struggle under Brady Cook, while the defense, after a turnover on the first drive, reverted back to its old Charmin soft self, letting up 29 points in the loss. While the loss does get them higher in the draft order, it’s still not encouraging to fans to see the team roll over to a four-win team the way they did.
Offense Continues to Struggle
Fans clamoring for Brady Cook to get a chance have quickly gone quiet. The undrafted rookie has looked like a third-stringer these past couple of weeks, which was somewhat expected, given that’s what he is. The offensive line did him no favors on Sunday either, giving up eight sacks on the day, including two back-to-back to a retirement-tour Cam Jordan. John Metchie and Adonai Mitchell, while both have had flashes, have not shown nearly enough to justify not picking a receiver high in the 2026 draft. Garrett Wilson still leads the team in receiving yards with 395, and he hasn’t caught a ball since October 12. Tanner Engstrand has seemingly been scheming up some good plays, but evaluation is near impossible with the talent level on this roster at the current moment.
Defense Stays Soft Despite New Coaching
Chris Harris being named the interim defensive coordinator still didn’t stop the team from letting up 29 points to a four-win team starting a second-round rookie. The defense forced a fumble on the first drive, but then proceeded to let the Saints offense, led mostly by 35-year-old do-it-all man Taysom Hill, hang nearly 30 on them. Hill accounted for nearly 100 yards of offense, throwing a 38-yard bomb to Chris Olave for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to really put the emphasis on how bad this defense is. Jamien Sherwood looked semi-competent in this game, recording a sack and generally just being a bit more involved in plays positively, but it still wasn’t enough to stop the Saints from marching all over them. Hopefully, he can carry the momentum from this performance into next week and next season, but that’s pretty much the only positive takeaway from this whole performance.
Jets Walk Away With Fourth Overall Pick
Many fans have been rooting for the tank these last few weeks, and in the past three games, they’ve definitely gotten what they wanted. Following this loss to the Saints, the team is now 3-12 and sitting at number four in the draft order. Unless the team lucks into the first overall pick, there likely won’t be a quarterback waiting for them at their selection, but if they keep losing, anything’s possible. They play two playoff teams in the coming weeks in the Bills and the Patriots, so they likely will lose out, but they still have to rely on the teams in front of them to win. They got some help today with the Titans beating the Chiefs, but they need to continue to get lucky if they want any shot at someone like Fernando Mendoza to come and save the franchise.
