The most common take among NFL players is that short weeks -- a game on Sunday and a quick turnaround for a Thursday night encounter -- are a strain on body and mind.
For the Jets, however, Thursday's game against the visiting Houston Texans (6-2) offers an opportunity to get their minds right and provide a chance to right the ship and end a five-game losing streak.
"I think guys are looking forward to a short week, and short week to get this taste out our mouth and go out there and compete with the Texans," RT Morgan Moses told reporters on a Microsoft Teams hookup on Monday, less than 24 hours after the Jets' loss to the Patriots.
The Houston game will be the Jets (2-6) second go-round on "Thursday Night Football" this season. In Week 3, the Jets used the quick turnaround to cobble together a two-game winning streak after beating Tennessee on Sunday and then the Patriots four days later.
"Yeah, I would say it works in our favor, right?" said TE Tyler Conklin. "I think it's a good opportunity to get a really bad taste out of your mouth. So instead of having to wait a full week to do so."
During his time at the microphone on Monday, CB D.J. Reed articulated his frustration, which he says he shares with his teammates and Jets fans who looked forward to the 2024 NFL season with great anticipation and expectation.
"I know the Jets fans," he said. "I know, man, I know this season is probably crazy watching this because I know, like the talent of this team, like it doesn't make sense. So, I know that's how the fans feel, most certainly I know that they're probably flabbergasted.
"You know, my mindset and my perspective on life is to finish whatever I started. And you know, right now, we're 2 and 6, which is horrible, it's horrible, but my mindset is we could still win out. That's my mindset, which, you know might sound crazy to a lot of people, but that's how I approach it. I feel like we can still win out, because we have the team to do it. So does everybody feel like that? I don't know, but that's how I feel. I still think it's possible. I still think, obviously, we can't lose, but I still think it's possible to make this right. And it just starts with winning this Thursday night game."
CB D.J. Reed: 'It's a Player Thing'
Veteran cornerback D.J. Reed got to the heart of the matter on Monday when he said, speaking of the defense, that "we want the game to come down to us."
That was exactly the situation on Sunday against New England after QB Aaron Rodgers led a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive the consumed 4:37 and gave the Jets a 5-point lead, 22-17, on Braelon Allen's 2-yard TD dive -- though the subsequent 2-point conversion failed after the Jets were penalized for delay of game.
"If you want to ask my analysis on the game for the last drive, it just comes down to execute, we got to execute." Reed said. "A lot of stress on us in the secondary as far as what we got to do. And we have the guys talented enough to do it, so we just got to execute the plays, and we got to make those plays like we normally make. And unfortunately, we weren't able to."
He added: "We don't want the game to be on the offense's hands. We want that, that pressure to be on us, like that's what we live for. So we got to go out there and execute, and we can't give up a touchdown, and we end up giving up a touchdown and losing the game."
Reed said the players must accept responsibility for the outcome of a game where the Jets lost despite outgaining the Pats 336 to 247 and averaging 2 more yards (5.9 to 3.9) per offensive play.
"I don't think it's a coaching thing," he said. "You know, coaches only call plays. Players got to execute it. I think that the guys on the field control the outcome of the game. That's what I believe. Obviously, coaching is important, but the guys that are on the field, we got to get the job done on offense, special teams, on defense. And right now, we're not doing it, I don't know what it is. We're not doing it. We're not executing. That game should have been won. I'm gonna be real, like that game should have been a win. Should have been, but it's the NFL. You got to come out there on that Sunday, and you got to come with it, because, you know, they're an NFL team, but that game should have been won.'
Tyler Conklin Contributes on National Tight Ends Day
Sunday was an unofficial holiday in the NFL -- National Tight Ends Day -- and although Tyler Conklin of the Jets didn't have much to celebrate in team terms, he did have another solid game.
The "holiday," which emerged in 2018 when San Francisco TE George Kittle and QB Jimmy Garoppolo sheepishly proclaimed it, this season it came in Week 8. And this year tight ends had 177 catches, a single-day record, according to NFL Research, when 14 different tight ends scored TDs.
And for the second week in a row, Conklin found paydirt for the Jets, fighting off pressure from at least three defenders and grabbing a TD pass from QB Aaron Rodgers in the first quarter on Sunday. After 8 games, Conklin is fourth on the team with 26 receptions (on 38 targets) for 240 yards (9.2 per) and 2 TDs. He is third on the team with 12 first-down grabs. Against the Pats he had one of the Jets' five explosive plays of 20-plus yards when his 27-yard collaboration with Rodgers opened the fourth quarter.
