The New York Jets offensive weapons are dropping like flies. As long as they do not get beat deep, they should be able to win the game
The New York Jets offense is falling apart. They came into the season without a wide variety of weapons for rookie quarterback Sam Darnold to deal with. Now, they are starting to lose weapons.
The team lost Quincy Enunwa last week and is now searching for an answer to replace him. This was a player who got 43 targets in five full games. Last week, Jermaine Kearse and Deontay Burnett replaced him. They combined for one catch on four targets.
With a quarterback down his top pass-catching option, he would typically look to his pass-catching running back to check the football down to. However, he just lost Bilal Powell for the season.
The pass-catching options for the rookie quarterback are slim pickings.
The Jets are going to put Kearse and Charone Peake out there, but are also going to line up Robby Anderson. When looking at every receiver on the roster, Anderson is virtually the only competent one left.
However, his effectiveness has been limited. Anderson has run hot and cold this season mainly because he has only had his real success come on one route.
Anderson is a lanky receiver with speed and ball tracking abilities. He can explode down the field with go routes and take the top off for touchdowns.
However, the deep ball is a risky proposition given that it takes a while to set up, it is a tougher pass, and it can only be used based on the coverage.
Darnold is 3-8 throwing the deep ball to Robby Anderson this season. While the two have combined for five incompletions and two interceptions, the three receptions all went for touchdowns. Anderson has three touchdowns this season.
The fact is that if you do not get beat deep, Robby Anderson cannot hurt you. Given who the rest of the weapons are, the Chicago Bears should make it a point to avoid getting beat by Anderson.
Let Trenton Cannon and Jermaine Kearse beat you.
So far this season the Chicago Bears have been more suscepetible to being beat deep than any other area. They rank 16th against the deep ball. If they can show that they are competent in this area, they should have a decent day shutting down the Jets offense.