EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Mike LaFleur smiled as he left the field. He shook hands and hugged Jets employees he knew, and addressed media members who questioned his decisions and wondered if he was the right man to be the Jets’ offensive coordinator. Now in the same position for the Los Angeles Rams, LaFleur got the last laugh on Sunday, his Rams leaving with a 19-9 victory over a hapless Jets team that already feels checked out of the 2024 season.
Nearly two years ago, LaFleur’s fate as the Jets’ play-caller hung in the balance. In exit interviews after the 2022 season, some key players made it clear to their bosses that the offense had become predictable in their minds – Garrett Wilson said this during his end-of-season press conference. But that was just a microcosm of the problems the Jets had on offense. Many of them were rooted in the incompetence of quarterbacks, especially Zach Wilson. When Wilson wasn’t behind center, the offense often thrived under LaFleur, especially with Mike White and Joe Flacco.
But outside pressure won out. Jets owner Woody Johnson forced coach Robert Saleh to fire LaFleur. Saleh pitched alternate solutions, including one that would see LaFleur stick around, but in a smaller role, along with Todd Downing and Keith Carter. But too many of the Jets’ key offensive players were frustrated, and fans (and some media) were clamoring for LaFleur’s head — Johnson wasn’t swayed.
For many in the Jets locker room, that was a lifetime ago. On Sunday, the Rams offense wasn’t exactly running circles around a Jets defense that has fallen well into the last half of this season — LA had 110 passing yards. But LaFleur’s presence on Sunday and his smile are part of a larger conversation about how many wrong turns the Jets have made since LaFleur was fired and replaced by Nathaniel Hackett.
“I love him, man,” Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson said of LaFleur. “My rookie year, when I look back on it, it was a special time and I might have taken it for granted.”
The Jets were young whippersnappers in 2022, a team that didn’t set out to be good but jumped to a 6-3 record powered by a remarkable rookie class. They fell apart, finishing 7-10, and that collapse led to a decision the Jets probably regret in retrospect. Saleh had difficulty convincing offensive coordinators to take the job if it was only for one year — the perception at the time, especially since Johnson forced LaFleur’s firing in the first place — so he chose Hackett with the idea that it could help the Jets land Rodgers. But the Jets essentially started again on offense, with a coach (Hackett) whose record was poor when not working with Rodgers. When Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon in Week 1 last year, the offense unraveled.
Now it’s late 2024. Hackett was demoted earlier this season and Downing — hired as passing game coordinator after LaFleur was fired — has taken over play-calling. Basically, it’s still Rodgers’ show, though the offense has improved in both production and creativity since Downing took over. But many of the same problems remain.
Wilson was targeted just three times on Sunday before the Jets’ final offensive drive, when Rodgers instead sent targets to Davante Adams, seemingly determined to land his 500th touchdown pass in the arms of his best friend on the team. Wilson was attacked four more times near 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 covered him. Wilson was less sure of the reason.
“I don’t know, to be honest with you, man,” Wilson said. “I don’t know. I just have to go out there and put my best foot forward and hope things come my way. I’d like to be involved, I’d like to have an impact on the game, but if people seeing it differently, I have no control over that. I just try to do what I can do.”
The Jets started their opening drive at their own 1-yard line. Rodgers authored an impressive 14-play, 99-yard scoring drive, capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Adams (followed by a missed extra point by Anders Carlson). After that, their decision-making in general left a lot to be desired.
On their next drive — which started after Tony Adams intercepted Matthew Stafford — interim coach Jeff Ulbrich made the confusing decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Jets’ 33-yard line. Running back Breece Hall was packed at the line of scrimmage and the Rams scored a touchdown three plays later.
“First of all, their offense was very efficient at that point,” Ulbrich said. “Our offense was also very efficient. We were servicing drives. We were moving the ball. We were there for a while converting on third and fourth down, so I wanted to stay aggressive and keep the ball in the hands of our offense.”
Then the Jets ended a 15-play, 67-yard drive with a 21-yard Carlson field goal. Outside of these two scoring drives (of 99 and 67 yards), the Jets only gained a total of 155 yards. On a cold afternoon – the coldest of the season yet at MetLife Stadium – they ran the ball just 20 times against 44 dropbacks. The Jets have run the ball less than any team in the NFL this season, despite the presence of Hall, who expressed some frustration with his lack of carries earlier this week: “I don’t really have much to say, you know. just with how the season is going, how the games are going, you know, that’s just how it turned out,” Hall said Friday. “So, you know, obviously I want the ball as often as I can, but if I can’t get the ball out, all I can do is do my job.”
In the third quarter, the Jets got to the Rams’ 13-yard line and went for it again on fourth down – instead of taking the points with a field goal. Rodgers threw for Adams in the end zone, but the ball was knocked out of the receiver’s hands, causing another turnover on downs.
Early in the fourth quarter, Rodgers held the ball too long, was sacked and the Rams recovered in Jets territory. LA scored again a few plays later to go up 16-9.
“Probably the ball should have been shared,” Rodgers said. “It looked like we were pretty gloved in all the spots, but I guess I should have gotten out of the pocket and just dumped it somewhere.”
The Jets went for it again on fourth down on the next drive – and failed again. On another possession in the fourth quarter, Carlson missed a 49-yard field goal wide right. The game ended when Xavier Gipson muffed a punt and the Rams recovered. Though none of that even scratches the surface of all the Jets’ confusing mental mistakes on Sunday.
The Jets, one of the NFL’s most penalized teams, had eight more penalties Sunday, including at least one from each of the six offensive linemen who played. (Rookie left tackle Olu Fashanu left in the fourth quarter with a foot injury that appeared serious, although Ulbrich was not given an update after the game.)
“It’s been all year,” said Rodgers, who finished 28 of 42 for 256 yards. “I think some of these guys need to reach their full potential by focusing on the details. And that’s not just this violation. Whatever happens next, there will be important details in every violation. And those are just the small adjustments that make the difference between explosive profits or conversions and turnover during slumps.”
Perhaps the Jets would still have many of the same problems even if they had stuck with LaFleur. They had some of these problems when he was around – same with Saleh, before he was fired. But it has never been so bad, so undisciplined, so confusing. Good teams find ways to win. Week after week, the Jets find ways to lose. According to ESPN, it was only the second time since 1940 that an NFL team didn’t kick in a game but failed to score at least 10 points.
It’s clear that neither Hackett nor Rodgers were the solution to what ailed the offense – and one wonders what things might have looked like if LaFleur had been able to stick around and build the unit he envisioned as Saleh had in mind. Hall told the New York Post on Sunday that he, Garrett Wilson and LaFleur are still in regular contact, a sign that their relationship may have grown stronger since LaFleur was forced out.
LaFleur seems to be happy in Los Angeles. The Jets, on the other hand, will be starting all over again in 2025: coach, play-caller and probably quarterback.
So what did Wilson mean when he said he might have taken his time with LaFleur for granted?
“These are just some of the relationships,” Wilson said. “When I look around, there aren’t that many familiar faces from that time. That’s what happens when you don’t win games.”
(Photo: Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)