ORCHARD PARK — The story of the Jets’ loss to the Vikings last week was their lack of production in the red zone.
The Jets scored only one touchdown on six red-zone trips at Minnesota, settling for too many field goals. But the coaches said it is not time to panic.
“At the bye week we were 13th in the NFL in red zone, which isn’t … you know you always striving to be top five and all that stuff, but it wasn’t a problem,” head coach Robert Saleh said. “Unfortunately, with red zone, there’s so few opportunities from week to week that it’s the most volatile stat, in terms of just one bad game can just derail all your statistical rankings. So, you got to stick to your fundamentals, stick to your process, stick to your practice habits. Can you practice it more? Sure, but it was close, we were close to having a 4-of-6 day, you could look at it the other way, but it just didn’t work out and you got to give that team credit, too. Minnesota did a really nice job in the red zone, but I don’t think it’s something to hit the panic button on yet.”
The Jets are currently tied for 26th in the NFL in red-zone offense, converting 48.6 percent of the time. They will have a tough test Sunday against the Bills, who are third in the NFL in red-zone defense.
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Saleh said the Jets would not alter their practice plan to address the red-zone issues because he believes they already practice red-zone situations more than any other team in the league.
Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said the unit was just a little off against the Vikings.
“We got down to the 20, it was a collection of errors, so we got to get that fixed as coaches, the execution was just a little bit off,” LaFleur said. “Not crazy off, but anytime you’re 1-for-6, if you’re 1-for-2, it’s not good enough in the red zone, let alone 1-for-6. You’re going to kick field goals, … you’re going to lose ballgames in this league against good teams.”
The Jets elevated LB Marcell Harris from the practice squad for the game.
