As the Jets only trailed the Ravens 10-7 in the third quarter, coach Aaron Glenn made two curious decisions.
On their first drive of the second half, Glenn decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Jets 42-yard line.
As they lined up for the critical play, Breece Hall — the top Jets offensive threat in the absence of Garrett Wilson — couldn’t be found on the field.
Offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand called a play for John Metchie III, but the pass fell incomplete and gave the Ravens good field position.
Baltimore went on to turn a seven-play, 42-yard drive into Derrick Henry’s second touchdown of the game and a 17-7 lead.
On Monday, Glenn skirted the question as to why Hall, who finished with 119 yards from scrimmage, was on the sideline and how he manages personnel rotations.
“We trust all of our guys that we have on the field,” Glenn said. “You look at Isaiah [Davis] and his yards per carry, he’s doing a really good job running the ball, too. I think he’s also a threat with the ball in his hands. And then with the receivers that we have out there, we trust those guys to go make plays. … We trust Metch to go and win that one-on-one situation. But the guys that we have on the field, man, we trust those guys to go out there and make plays. We know for a fact they can make plays for us.”
Hall is the leading Jets rusher with 766 yards and two touchdowns on 168 carries across 11 games.
He is second on the team to Wilson with 301 receiving yards and one touchdown.
Even if the play wasn’t called for him, Hall’s presence would have had an effect on the Ravens defense.
He was a threat all game until a costly fumble in the fourth quarter overshadowed his performance.
Another week, another game without an interception for the Jets.
Quincy Williams’ defensive-minded answer as to why the Jets have trouble closing out games pointed directly to the lack of turnovers and having only one takeaway all year.
Why that has been so difficult, though, still stumps the 29-year-old.
“I can’t really answer that because it’s something that we talk about every day, something that we work on at practice,” Williams said. “We do see those visions of us doing it in the game, just having one our way, but it’s just us being more cautious on those things.”
The Jets are the first team to not have an interception in 11 games.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
