Tyrod Taylor will get his second start of the season in a place he’s familiar with.
In 2011, Taylor was drafted in the sixth round by the Baltimore Ravens, who the Jets will face in Sunday’s Week 12 matchup.
He spent his first four seasons in Baltimore, backing up Joe Flacco, and even won a Super Bowl with the club in 2012.
“It’s a full circle moment for sure,” Taylor said on Wednesday.” Thankful for my time in Baltimore, I learned a lot. From the coaches there to the players within that locker room.
“I learned a lot about football, learned about how to carry myself off the field. Just thankful for the four years that I spent there. It’s an opportunity for us, they have a very good team and we’re looking forward to stepping up to the challenge this weekend.”
On Wednesday, Jets head coach Aaron Glenn announced that Taylor would start against the Ravens in Week 12 instead of Justin Fields, who started the previous seven games. Taylor will attempt to jumpstart a Jets team that’s 2-8 and whose offense has failed to take off most of this season.
“It was purely my decision,” Glenn said. “I always have people that I talk to and just see how they handled situations, and that’s not even about the quarterback, to be honest.” It’s just a part of what I do during the week with some guys, coaches that I trust that’s been successful in this league, and some of those guys have been through the process of changing quarterbacks, some of the guys have been through the process of being 2-8, the situation that we’re in and how they handled that, and just a number of things.”
“But it was purely my decision. I felt like it was the time to do it. Again, I had good conversations with both of those guys and, listen, these situations are not always easy, but as a head coach, you have to do what’s best for the team, and I felt like it was best for the team.”
Following the Jets’ Week 11 loss to the Patriots, Glenn said he was “evaluating everything,” suggesting a change could be on the way. Gang Green ranks 29th in yards (281.5) and 25th in points per game (20.9). The team is also averaging 139.9 passing yards per game, which is dead last in the NFL.
Fields also ranks 30th out of 33 qualified quarterbacks in QBR (38.2), sandwiched between Arizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett and Raiders quarterback Geno Smith. This season, Fields has thrown for 1,259 yards, seven touchdowns, and one interception.
During his nine starts this season (missed Week 3 due to a concussion), Fields has at times been hesitant to throw the ball downfield and risk interceptions. In addition to his propensity to throw short passes, Fields has also tended to hold the ball too long inside the pocket.
During the Week 7 loss to the Panthers, Taylor replaced Fields after halftime, and he finished with 126 yards and two interceptions.
It was rumored that Glenn was set to start Taylor against the Bengals the following week. However, he was scratched a day before the game against Cincinnati due to a knee injury, and Fields continued to start, despite Jets owner Woody Johnson blaming him for the team’s 0-7 start.
The Jets defeated the Bengals, and Fields had his best game of the season after the team registered a season-high 502 yards.
Fields wasn’t available for comment about his benching on Wednesday. Taylor said he hasn’t necessarily discussed the situation with Fields, but the two have an open line of communication and the conversation will happen eventually.
“We spent time together in the offseason, as well as in season, too,” Taylor said. “Right now, my mind and my focus right now is just being able to get everyone on the same page on offense so we can go out and execute at a high level. But that conversation will come.
“All I can do is share the things that I’ve been through. Hopefully, that helps his experience and helps in the long run. He’s a tremendous player, and I think in this league he has a lot of good football ahead of him. Like I said, God has a timing for everything, I truly believe that.”
Since their victory against the Bengals, the Jets offense has combined for 414 total yards in their last two games against the Browns and Patriots.
Sunday will mark Taylor’s first start since the Jets Week 3 loss at Tampa Bay. He finished with 197 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception after nearly leading the Jets to a comeback victory.
“I think, at the end of the day, it boils down to a lack of consistency from an execution standpoint,” Taylor said about the offensive struggles. “I think that you’ve seen flashes throughout the previous weeks that we’ve had, but consistently we haven’t been able to put it together. That’s my approach this week, executing at a high level and doing it consistently to put ourselves in the best position to go out and put points on the board each drive, and ultimately win the game.
“No game is pretty, obviously, from a fan perspective, from a media perspective, you want it to be 300 yards passing, 100+ yards running. At the end of the day, it’s about getting the job done from the win column, and that looks different, but at the end of the day we have to be consistent on offense and all three phases. It’s not just a one-phase game. But to answer your question, on offense, we have to consistently play at a high level.”
