The New York Jets are going to have some problems scoring points this season, football fans.
Of course, we knew as much before the Jets even descended on Florham Park, N.Y., for training camp. But in the week-plus since Gang Green returned to the gridiron, there are fewer and fewer reasons to be optimistic New York will be able to score points on anything resembling a consistent basis.
A big reason for that is quarterback play. Journeyman signal-caller Josh McCown is seen as the top guy on the depth chart, and it doesn’t sound like second-year QB Christian Hackenberg will be pushing McCown anytime soon.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Tim Rohan, Hackenberg’s camp struggles include the simplest, most basic elements of quarterbacking — like breaking the huddle.
“During one rep in seven-on-seven drills,” Rohan wrote for The MMQB, “as he approached the line of scrimmage, a coach ordered him to re-huddle. When he broke the huddle again — in the wrong fashion for a second time — he was ordered off the field.”
That’s … not great.
In the interest of fairness, however, we should add when Hackenberg got another chance, he correctly broke the huddle (yay!), and according to Rohan, “threaded a pass about 20 yards downfield for a completion.”
Regardless, it seems Hackenberg is more or less picking up where he left off at OTAs, where he had reporters ducking for cover during team drills.
Combine the quarterback uncertainty with the loss of Brandon Marshall and the recent season-ending injury to Quincy Enunwa, and it’s easy to see why there’s not a lot of optimism for the J-E-T-S to S-C-O-R-E very much in 2017.
Thumbnail photo via Noah K. Murray/USA TODAY Sports Images