Tyrod Taylor will attempt to beat the team that drafted him, while also trying to help the Jets offense get out of the black hole they’ve been in all season.
That’s the task at hand on Sunday afternoon for the 36-year-old signal caller, who was drafted by the Ravens in 2011 and played his first four seasons in Baltimore as Joe Flacco’s backup.
Unlike in previous weeks, Jets coach Aaron Glenn confirmed that Taylor would start on Sunday after the news surfaced on Monday that they were making the change from Justin Fields.
“Obviously, offensively, you want your passing game to be better, and listen, that’s not totally on him,” Glenn said of moving on from Fields. “There’s a number of things that go into that. That’s myself, that’s the routes that’s ran, that’s dropped balls, that’s including him. I just feel like we have to do something to get this team going offensively in the passing game, and I just felt like it was time to make that decision. And, listen, I do still feel strongly about Justin. That has not changed, but I do feel at this point that we have to make a change.”
This quarterback change was a long time coming. Since the season-opening loss against the Steelers, in which he finished with 218 passing yards and registered three touchdowns, Fields’ play has been abysmal in the majority of his nine starts.
The Jets currently rank last in the NFL with 139.9 passing yards per game. That would be the lowest passing total any team has finished with since the 2022 Bears (Fields was the QB).
Facts are facts and it never came together for Fields after he signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Jets in March. The Jets began this season 0-7, and owner Woody Johnson chastised Fields for his poor play and lack of downfield passing during the team’s first seven games.
Glenn actually benched Fields at halftime during the Jets’ Week 7 loss to the Panthers. It was rumored that Taylor would start the following week against the Bengals, but a knee injury prevented that, and Fields continued to start, and his struggles persisted.
In his past two games against the Browns and Patriots, Fields finished with a combined 170 yards, two TDs and one interception. To put that in perspective, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye passed for 281 yards and a touchdown in the 27-14 victory against the Jets last week.
“I think the first thing I do is I look inward at myself and go, ‘What is it that I can do better?’” Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said. “There’s definitely some things that I can do.
“I always want to look at myself first and see am I making sure that I’m putting him or any of them, in general, in the right position, at the right time. And I just got to continue to evaluate that on a daily basis, but we’re in the situation we’re in, and we’re going to move forward with that this week.”
The Jets put all of their eggs in the Fields’ basket and they did not draft a developmental quarterback who could compete with him. Instead, they kept Taylor, who has played in the league for 15 seasons but is clearly not the answer for the future. Now, the Jets will look for a long-term solution at quarterback next offseason.
In the meantime, Taylor will look to right a ship that’s been off course since the season began. In addition to their dreadful passing attack, the Jets offense is 29th in yards (281.5) and 25th in points per game (20.9).
Unlike Fields, Taylor will push the ball downfield, but that could also lead to more interceptions for the Ravens this weekend. However, Taylor can run an NFL offense and be a good enough point guard to distribute the ball to his playmakers, including Breece Hall, whom Fields targeted just twice in the loss to the Patriots.
Fields’ play was not conducive to winning games, which is why Glenn had to make the move.
“Taking advantage of the opportunity is everything,” Taylor said. “Just the opportunity itself, obviously thankful for, but being able to go out there and be able to lead this locker room, lead this offense in a way that represents what we talk about daily in our meetings, and the way that I know I’m capable of doing, it means the world to me.
“I take tremendous pride in getting things right and doing things the right way day in and day out to be able to take advantage of the opportunities in the way they present themself.”
In these final seven games, Glenn will look to continue establishing his culture while also trying to win a few down the stretch to build positive momentum heading into the offseason. But plenty of Jets fans want the team to tank games because they want a new golden child at quarterback next season in either Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, Oregon’s Dante Moore or Alabama’s Ty Simpson.
“That’s what I like about him, he’s not wavering,” Jets guard John Simpson told the Daily News about Glenn’s message and leadership this season. “He has a vision and he knows what he wants this program to be.
“I think guys are bought in and I think when he gets settled in and really figure s–t out, we are going to be fine.”
The Jets will also be playing with heavy hearts this weekend after cornerback Kris Boyd was shot outside a Manhattan restaurant early last Sunday morning. Boyd, 29, was hospitalized and is in stable condition after posting on his Instagram story that he was starting to breathe on his own.
Despite being on injured reserve since August due to a shoulder injury, Boyd has remained a constant presence around the Jets facility.
“Him telling me how to work the seam on punt returns means a lot to me,” Jets cornerback Qwan’tez Stiggers told The News. “It would mean the world to him, to us, to go out there and get a win for him. We’re praying for him.”
