Jets-Steelers Game Preview | Interim HC Jeff Ulbrich Confident 'Preparation' Will Lead to 'Stacking Wins'
WR Garrett Wilson: ‘We Need Our Actions to Start Translating to Winning Games’
Oct 18, 2024 at 04:14 PM
John Pullano
NYJETS.COM CONTRIBUTOR
Hours after the Jets lost a tightly contested home game to the Buffalo Bills, 23-20, Monday night, GM Joe Douglas made a blockbuster trade with the Las Vegas Raiders to acquire All-Pro WR Davante Adams.
The move bolstered a New York roster littered with playmakers on both sides of the ball. After 3 consecutive losses, the Jets (2-4) continue to operate with a sense of urgency they'll need to string wins together to get out of an early-season hole. That starts with another primetime bout, versus the Steelers (4-2), at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday Night.
"Our team is still learning every week and we should be a little better than the week before as time goes by," WR Garrett Wilson said. "Otherwise, we're not going about stuff the right way, not approaching the practice week the right way. Hopefully, we keep this thing rolling and spread the ball around, but we need our actions to start translating to winning games and we got to do it now."
'We'll Take Advantage of It'
After totaling 26 points in losses to the Broncos and the Vikings in Weeks 4 and 5, the Jets' offense showed promise in the loss to the Bills last Monday. But Despite gaining 393 total yards, their second most in a game this season, the Jets lamented missed opportunities.
The Green & White finished 1 of 4 in the red zone against Buffalo and had three trips inside the 20-yard-line yield just 3 points. With the addition of Davante Adams, the best red zone receiver in the league the past 5 seasons, Garrett Wilson and Aaron Rodgers are eager to see what they can accomplish.
"Hopefully they will have to guard us a little more true and we will be able to run it in a little bit more because they have to devote more people to edges," Wilson said. "We have got to take advantage of whatever look we are given. If they want to play man coverage out on the edge and give us some light looks, I feel like we'll take advantage of it."
Wilson, who is coming off consecutive 100-yard receiving games, has faced the 7seventh-highest double-team rate in the NFL through the first 6 games, according to Pro Football Focus. Adams has been dominant in all parts of the field since entering the league, but from 2020 to 2023, he led the NFL in red zone receptions (67) and red zone touchdowns (34).
"Yeah, it's a really cool problem to have having Adams and all those guys, and it's going to give us an opportunity to have more flexibility with where we move these guys around," interim HC Jeff Ulbrich said. "Sometimes it'll be based upon the route concept, sometimes the matchups, but it gives us a lot of freedom to play around with where these guys line [up] and just make sure we're just moving the target, moving the target, as often as we can."
The Jets have converted TDs on 33.3% of their trips into the red zone the past 3 games after converting at a 75% clip in Weeks 1-3 (6 of 8). Conversely, the Steelers have been stingy in the red zone, ranking No. 4 while allowing a TD on 38.9% of possessions inside their 20.
QB Change Brewing in the Steel City
As good as the Steelers defense has been, No. 2 in points against (14.3) and No. 6 in takeaways (11), their offense is in search of a spark, and HC Mike Tomlin could be looking to backup QB Russell Wilson for that lift.
With Justin Fields starting the first six games, the Steelers rank No. 28 in passing (166.8 yards per game) and No. 20 in scoring (20.7 ppg). Pittsburgh has ridden its disruptive defense led by All-Pro linebacker T.J. Watt (4.5 sacks and 4 FF) to a tie atop the AFC North with Baltimore.
Wilson took first-team reps in practice this week ahead of Fields, who has thrown for 5 touchdowns and rushed for 5 scores this season. If Wilson, who is coming off a calf injury that sidelined him for the first 5 games, starts, it will be his first start since Week 16 of last season when he was a member of the Broncos.
"Yeah, I would say from the past game perspective, not much will change in our preparation," interim HC Jeff Ulbrich said. "[OC] Arthur Smith, his passing game is very conducive to an athletic quarterback, as we've seen over the years. … Where you have to count for Justin Fields is the scrambling and the quarterback runs because he'll have designed runs that aren't necessarily Russell's forte, so having an answer for the quarterback runs and then at times just accounting for this scrambler and you can do that a lot of different ways."
The Jets' defense will match up without nickel Michael Carter II (back) and S Chuck Clark (ankle), and could be without CB D.J. Reed, who is battling a groin injury he sustained versus Buffalo.
Shorthanded in the secondary, the Jets need a solid effort from their run defense, which yielded 149 yards to the Bills in defeat. And the job won't get any easier against the Steelers' No. 9 ranked rush offense. Last week, in its 32-13 victory over Las Vegas, Pittsburgh ran for a season-high 183 yards as RB Najee Harris led the way with 106 yards and 1 TD.
A Sense of Urgency
With a win, the Jets would move a game within .500 at 3-4 and jump to 3-2 in the AFC. A loss to the Steelers would mean a fourth consecutive defeat and a 2-3 mark in the conference while Pittsburgh would climb to 5-2 and 4-1 in the conference. Jeff Ulbrich, entering his second game as interim HC, is confident his team will respond to the challenge.
"I think there is a sense of urgency," Ulbrich said. "There has to be. That's just the nature of this league. At the same time, 2-4, we are by no means out of this thing. By no means. I know the character of that locker room. I know the way we will respond. I know that. I thought last week's process was right. I thought the way we were prepared was exceptional. We have to start stacking these weeks of exceptional preparation. I promise you it will start to pay off on Sunday."
