Revolving door at quarterback ruined season for Jets, several other teams
The New York Jets’ season began with aging Joe Flacco starting at quarterback. It ended the same way.
And that was the problem.
Well, along with all of the other switching, struggling, injuries and inconsistency at QB in between.
It sent what appeared to be a Jets squad on the brink of ending the NFL’S longest active playoff drought to a 7-10 record, more disappointment and offseason uncertainty. One pivotal area — as it was for other clubs that fell short, such as the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers — was quarterback.
“It’s the head of the snake,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “And if you’re not getting consistent play or consistent movement from the head of the snake, it’s not going to be good.”
It certainly wasn’t for the Jets, who were downright snakebit — just as some say they’ve been since Joe
Namath delivered the franchise its only Super Bowl title after the 1968 season.
New York made five changes at quarterback: Flacco to Zach Wilson to Mike White, back to Wilson, back to White, back to Flacco.
The Jets certainly weren’t alone with that sort of revolving door: NFL teams combined to start 68 quarterbacks — the most in the Super Bowl era in a non-strike year. A league-record 13 teams used three or more starting QBS. In contrast, nine of 14 playoff teams had their preferred starter available for every game.
Like the Jets, Tennessee and Carolina went 7-10.
The Titans were 12-5 and the No. 1 seed in the AFC last season, when Ryan Tannehill started every game at quarterback. This season? He missed five starts overall after injuring his right ankle in late October and then again in December, so playing time went to rookie Malik Willis and little-used veteran Josh Dobbs, contributing to a fall from 7-3 and first place in the AFC South to a sevengame skid.
Not a coincidence. “This is a quarterback-driven league, and people are hired and fired every day over that position,” new Titans GM Ran Carthonsaid. “I want to spend more time evaluating that position.”
The Panthers went through a trio of starting QBS — Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker — and all three missed time because of ankle or foot injuries. That’s aside from rookie Matt Corral, who was lost in the preseason with — yes, you guessed it — a foot injury. The Panthers fired coach Matt Rhule after a 1-4 start before making a late playoff push under interim coach Steve Wilks. He was cast aside for new hire Frank Reich, who might take a QB with the draft’s No. 9 pick.
“Quarterback is, I stand by, the most important position in all sports,” Jets general manager Joe Douglas said. “But ultimately, it’s a team sport and you have to have a great group of people around them to support them.”
Tough to do when quarterback is the weak link.
Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel announced that he promoted Tim Kelly to offensive coordinator from passing game coordinator. Vrabel also announced several new hirings and changes to his existing staff, including the franchise’s first full-time female coaching assistant, adding Lori Locust as defensive quality control coach from Tampa Bay along with Justin Hamilton in the same position . ... The San Francisco 49ers are hiring former Carolina interim head coach Steve Wilks as their new defensive coordinator.
A person familiar with the choice said that Wilks will fill the void created when Demeco Ryans was hired as head coach in Houston. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the hiring hadn’t been announced.