Say it Ain’t Joe; Saleh Can’t Hand Week 2 Starting job to Flacco Without Competition

If Robert Saleh wants to be taken seriously as a head coach, he’s got some decisions to make.  First and foremost, is about who should be taking snaps from under center in week 2 after the Jets anemic offense failed to do much of anything against the Baltimore Ravens, losing 24-9.

After all the excitement that was built up over a very active off-season, the Jets offense couldn’t get out of its own way.  The offensive line was bad, but was made to look far worse by an indecisive veteran quarterback who, at times, looked to be moving in slow motion.

Joe Flacco would finish the day with over 300 yards passing (307 to be exact), but that came on a whopping 59 pass attempts.  Many of which were checkdowns or late game dump offs as the Ravens defense backed off with the outcome no longer in doubt.

Too many times, Flacco held on to the football for 3, 4 or 5 seconds.  The QB would scan the field until inevitably a defender would arrive to apply pressure.  At that point, Flacco would roll out and throw an incomplete pass or run out of bounds.  When the Jets attempted a QB sneak late in the game, Flacco looked more like a fainting goat than an NFL QB.  The quarterback appeared to simply lean forward and hope for a hole to open up that he could fall through.  Instead, the Ravens defense showed up and forced Flacco to the turf, nowhere close to a first down.

Jets fans have been subjected to plenty of bad QB play over the past 10…erm…35 years.  Today was another one of those days.  Slow processing, no deep shots, and several dirt balls with or without defenders applying pressure.

If this is the best Joe Flacco can do, then Robert Saleh has to, at the very least, announce a quarterback competition between Flacco and Mike White.  Pre-season star Chris Streveler should also be in the running.  At this point, why not?  If Flacco is going to give you what he gave today, there will be no wins before Zach Wilson returns.  With that being the case, what’s the harm in allowing for White or Streveler to take some live reps in the hopes of developing a good backup QB, because it certainly seems the Jets don’t have one now.

Glenn Naughton

Glenn was Born in the Bronx, New York and has followed the Jets religiously despite being stationed in several different countries and time zones around the world. He now resides in England and has been a JetNation member since 2005. Glenn will bleed green with the rest of us through the highs and lows.

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