Jeff Ulbrich had a great opportunity to make a statement, about the Jets, about his role as their interim head coach, about their standing in the league. And many things went right in Ulbrich's first game in the hot seat.
But too many more things went wrong. And Brick's Jets suffered a difficult 23-20 Monday night home loss to Buffalo. Instead of being tied for first place with the Bills at 3-3, the Jets are two games down and it's starting to get a little late a little early at One Jets Drive.
"I think there's always a sense of urgency — there has to be," Ulbrich said. "That's just the nature of this league. At the same time, 2-4, we are by no means out of this thing. I know the character of this locker room, I know the way we will respond. I thought this week's process was right, the way we were prepared was exceptional. We have to start stacking these weeks of exceptional preparation."
Yet Brick also knows what needs to be fixed. A primary issue was penalties — the Jets had 11 penalties marked off against them for 110 yards, with five more that were either declined or offset. Five were pass coverage flags (one declined, one offset). Five were presnap penalties (one offset, one declined). Offensively, LT Tyron Smith was hit for a costly hold that nullified rookie RB Braelon Allen's walk-in 4-yard touchdown.
"It's not good enough," Ulbrich said of the yellow rain. "We have to collectively look at it, take a hard look at that tape. What's legit, what isn't? It's always telling. From a discipline standpoint, though, it can't happen."
An unexpected issue was kicker Greg Zuerlein, who made his first two field goals, then after the Smith holding call doinked a 32-yard field goal try off MetLife Stadium's south goalposts — instead of seven points on that red zone drive, the Jets got none — then to end the Jets' next drive he clanged a 43-yarder off the left upright of the north goalposts/
But that wasn't something that would keep Ulbrich up all the rest of Tuesday morning on into the afternoon
"Everything you've got to take a hard look at," he said, "but I'm not concerned with Greg. I know the track record of this man and I know he's going to catch his rhythm and we're going to roll."
One more sore spot, this one for Ulbrich's defense, was the Jets' difficulty stopping their run game. Even without injured starting tailback James Cook, the Bills were going to still run the ball and they did so effectively, with rookie Ray Davis carrying 20 times for 97 yards, former Jet Ty Johnson adding 4 carries for 34 yards, and Josh Allen still dangerous with the passing game, adding 9 carries for 18 yards, his first carry for the game's first touchdown from a yard out and his last a left-end keeper for 6 yards on third-and-4 with 59 seconds left to end the Jets' hopes for one more chance to tie or win.
"That's not the start we're accustomed to with this defense," Ulbrich said of the Bills' opening drive of 9 plays for 70 yards, with 8 of those plays runs for 56 yards. "That was a strong emphasis this week, stopping the run, knowing they'd be committed to it. We did not do that. That's not winning football. That's on me, that's on every player, that's on every coach, that's on all of us.
"Then in the passing game, too many yards and I thought there were opportunities to get the ball off of them, which we didn't take advantage of."
But as mentioned, there were some optimistic coaching points. The Jets offense, with Todd Downing as the new playcaller, produced 393 yards and 20 first downs. Breece Hall erupted for 113 rushing yards and 56 more receiving for a 169-YFS game. Garrett Wilson had his second consecutive 100-yard receiving game and short TD pass (8-107-1), and alongside "G", Allen Lazard had 6 catches for 114 yards, making him and Wilson the first two Jets receivers to have 100-yard receiving games together since Jermaine Kearse and Robby Anderson vs. Carolina in 2017.
And Lazard's big catch could have been the play that turned this game in the Green & White's favor. His 52-yard grab in traffic in the end zone to conclude the first half was not only the second-longest reception of his pro career but it came off of the fourth Hail Mary TD pass of Aaron Rodgers' career.
"Those are the moments where you want to grab that momentum and run with it," Ulbrich said of the TD that cut the Jets' halftime deficit from 20-13 to a much more promising 20-17. "We're fortunate that we have the best Hail Mary thrower in the history of the game, and he made somebody pay again. When you catch those waves of momentum, you have to ride them and you have to finish a team ... which we didn't do."
Ulbrich said that adding his new head-coaching duties to the defensive coordination and playcalling that he retained was "a different challenge for sure. Just calling a game is a challenge in itself .But I have a great support staff with the eyes above me. The challenge was not overwhelming by any means."
The challenge of the schedule ahead, with resurgent Pittsburgh (4-2) on the road and hot Houston (4-2) at home sandwiched around a road game to play the Patriots in their home-and-home at New England. Ulbrich was an NFL player for a decade and has been a pro coach for a little more than another decade. He knows what comes next. As he said about the Jets' penalties but could apply to the run defense, penalties, field goal kicking and red zone offense:
"We've got to find a way to get that done. We've got to shine a light on whatever we're calling. We've got to fix it fast."
