It’s troubling that the New York Jets head coach likened a recent addition to an all-time great.
Running back Breece Hall has led the New York Jets offense this season, but head coach Robert Saleh still expects a little bit more from his best player.
He specifically wants him to work harder to achieve the challenging yards instead of focusing only on scoring the long run.
“Breece is a special talent,” said Saleh. “When the ball is in his hands, we play better. Still, a back needs to recognize that there are dirty yards he needs to acquire. Right now, you’re trying to detonate explosives everywhere when you press. In the NFL, he usually has to find four or five yards after the offensive line blocks it for two or three yards.
And it means dropping your shoulder, becoming dirty, finishing runs, giving up on bouncing around all the time, and making people miss at the line of scrimmage. Ninety-five percent of runs are, after all, body strikes.
Despite being 14th in the NFL this season in terms of average yards per carry, Hall’s runs have been extremely boom-or-bust. His average yards per rush has also significantly decreased as the season has gone on. In that period, he hasn’t gained more than 50 yards through rushing in a game and hasn’t exceeded 3.6 yards per run on average for more than six weeks.
The only Jets player who has the ability to execute an offensive splash play that can win a game is Hall. In the passing game, he is still producing plays.
But Saleh seems to think that he is leaving some yardage on the field by constantly trying to go for longer runs.
That may hold some truth, but it’s more likely that the Jets’ passing game isn’t covering well enough to provide the running game with any cover, and their offensive line isn’t strong enough to open holes for him. Because Tim Boyle and Zach Wilson are having trouble making plays down field and completing throws, opposing defenses can pack the box, crowd the line of scrimmage, and devote all of their resources to stopping the run.
That is just one of the numerous disadvantages of having a passing offense like the Jets’, which is absolutely worthless.
The Jets’ other primary running back, veteran Dalvin Cook, is only averaging 3.2 yards per carry on the season and hasn’t shown that he can make big plays.
The most plausible explanation is that there is a problem with the Jets offense and Hall’s recent output. Simply put, the offensive doesn’t have enough good players or enough quantity to generate drives and make consistent plays.
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