Robert Saleh’s Jets are on pace to be worse than Adam Gase’s teams

Robert Saleh’s New York Jets are on a historically bad pace

With their gruesome 54-13 loss to the New England Patriots in Week 7, Robert Saleh and the New York Jets have fallen to 1-5.

A 1-5 record is bad enough in itself, but the team’s overall performance level independent of the win-loss record puts them on track to become one of the worst teams – if not the worst team – in Jets history.

Yes, even worse than Adam Gase’s squads.

Let’s stack up the 2021 Jets against Gase’s 2019-20 Jets and some of the other brutal teams in Jets history.

Season-long pace

The Jets currently own a scoring margin of -95. They are scoring 13.3 points per game (32nd) and allowing 29.2 points per game (29th) for an average scoring margin of -15.8.

If maintained, that would be the worst mark in the history of the New York Jets.

Here are the worst teams in franchise history based on their average scoring margin at the end of the season:

1. 2021 (-15.8)
2. 1976 (-15.3)
3. 2020 (-13.4)
4. 1975 (-12.5)
5. 1996 (-10.9)
6. 1963 (-10.7)
7. 1962 (-10.4)
8. 1989 (-9.9)
9. 1995 (-9.4)
10. 2016 (-8.4)

We’re only six games in, so the Jets have 11 games to pull themselves out of the franchise’s all-time basement, but the sad fact of the matter is that the Jets very well could finish the season in this spot if they do not start playing a substantially better quality of football.

The Jets’ numbers in non-scoring categories indicate that their scoring margin is not a fluke based on their performance to this point. They are currently ranked 31st in total offense and 27th in total defense. If those rankings are maintained, they would become the first team in franchise history (since moving to the NFL in 1970) to rank bottom-six in both categories.

Saleh’s 2021 Jets have been out-gained by 130.2 yards per game this season. Not only is that the worst mark in the NFL this season, but it would be the worst in the history of the Jets as well:

1. 2021 (-130.2)
2. 1963 (-118.3)
3. 2020 (-107.6)
4. 1976 (-99.0)
5. 1975 (-87.6)
6. 2018 (-81.2)
7. 1971 (-77.9)
8. 1964 (-73.7)
9. 1977 (-73.4)
10. 1989 (-61.4)

Yikes.

Even before the New England debacle (551-to-299 yardage edge for the Patriots), the Jets had an average yardage margin of -105.8 over their first five games, which would put them on pace for the third-worst mark in franchise history.

Six-game start

The Jets’ six-game start in 2021 is up there as one of the worst that the franchise has ever experienced, comparing closely to Gase’s 2019 and 2020 teams.

Here is a look at the worst yardage differentials through six games in Jets history:

1. 1963 (-873)
2. 2019 (-859)
3. 2021 (-781)
4. 2002 (-720)
5. 1976 (-687)
6. 1971 (-662)
7. 2020 (-613)
8. 2001 (-607)
9. 2007 (-571)
10. 2006 (-463)

Here is a look at the worst point differentials through six games in Jets history:

1. 1976 (-122)
2. 2020 (-110)
3. 2021 (-95)
4. 1962 (-94)
5. 2019 (-93)
6. 1996 (-91)
7. 1995 (-90)
8. 2002 (-74)
9. 2016 (-69)
10. 2014 (-62)

We are witnessing perhaps the most embarrassing era in Jets history. The 2019, 2020, and 2021 seasons represent three of the five worst six-game starts in franchise history based on point differential.

The Jets are a young, rebuilding team, but that is no excuse for the level of ineptitude that has been shown thus far. This is a historically bad football team until proven otherwise.