NFL Preseason
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The way the Jets have run their offense this summer — in preseason games and during training-camp practices — it would be fair to suggest they’re passing on passing.
It’s not hard to see the vision: a running quarterback in Justin Fields, a trio of talented running backs, an offensive line that has thrived at run-blocking. Run it down your throat. Old-school, smashmouth football. On Saturday night against the Giants, during the second drive of their second preseason game, the Jets showed what they can look like when it’s working. There they were handing it off on a third-and-8, Braelon Allen bursting through a hole and gaining 11 yards for a first down. If you can get first downs running on third-and-long, why pass it? Then there was another run, and another, and another. Fields dropped back to pass it and had running back Breece Hall open in the flat, but instead opted to scramble up the middle for five more yards. And then came another run, and another, and one more.
“Coach harps on showing our DNA and our brand of football,” Allen said. “When the offense takes the field, that’s the goal.”
After 10 straight runs, Fields attempted a pass. The Jets were at the 20-yard-line, third-and-2, when he tried a quick slant to Garrett Wilson — it fell incomplete (more the product of a good play on the ball by Giants corner Cor’Dale Flott than a bad throw, but still incomplete). The Jets settled for a field goal. The drive was an impressive show of the ground game, but this is the part of the season when the quarterback could use some practice, well, throwing the ball. At some point, Fields is going to have to do just that to win a regular-season game.
