Rams at Jets: 3 things we learned
By Matt Kerns
With the Los Angeles Rams defeating the New York Jets 9-6 on Sunday, here are my biggest takeaways from the game.
There’s not much to take away from this one, as two bad teams battled it out in New York Sunday, but here we go.
1. Jeff Fisher is clinging onto his job for dear life
In two different scenarios with young quarterbacks, Fisher took opposite routes. With a young Steve McNair back in 1995, Fisher held McNair back, not starting him till 1997. That scenario turned out pretty well.
In 2006, the Titans drafted Vince Young out of Texas with the third overall pick of the draft. He was named the starter early on in the Titans 2006 season but it never panned out. Despite his career 31-19 record overall, Young struggled with off the field issues and consistency.
With Goff, who knows what will unravel. The kid obviously has talent but the Rams (mainly Fisher) don’t think he’s ready yet. That’s a testimony to what kind of coach Fisher is and his inability to develop a quarterback. Goff won’t get Fisher fired this year. And Fisher is safe for now, but how much more of Case Keenum can we take?
2. Despite his struggles, Todd Bowles made the right decision to start Petty
Bryce Petty came in today and made his first start since 2014 at Baylor. He struggled, undoubtedly, but he essentially played better than Ryan Fitzpatrick has this year. There’s not point in Fitzpatrick seeing the field ever again for the Jets, and as they sink, the Jets should do so with Petty.
Obviously, the Jets will want to see what they have in Christian Hackenberg so he’ll likely see playing time as the season winds down too. But for now Petty needs to continue to see the field and work with the offense. He could be the team’s backup next year and the Jets need to get tape on him in live games.
The Jets are possibly due for a rebuild in the coming seasons. Todd Bowles is widely regarded within the football world as one of the better football minds. He’s a good coach, but this team has no respect, no discipline, and lacks a true leader. They need to find that leader.
3. Neither one of these teams is going anywhere
Harsh? Maybe. But in all honestly, it doesn’t matter that the Rams were victorious. If you are a Rams fan, and wanting to see Goff, you probably should have been hoping for a loss actually. Keenum didn’t play very well, though, Fisher said afterward that he thought he did some nice things.
What nice things? He didn’t throw any touchdowns, or picks, but he didn’t do anything that particularly stands out. Fisher didn’t want to call out his QB, which is understandable, but he wasn’t being very honest with himself. When he does a personal player evaluation of Keenum’s play, I don’t think he’ll be throwing the word “nice” around.
Next: Falcons at Eagles: 3 things we learned
Both the Rams and Jets won’t be making the playoffs this year. And though Fisher nor anyone within the Rams locker room will admit it, the Rams have got to be thinking future. What’s the future look like for them? The same can be said for the Jets. Though their QB situation is in question, they don’t have that QB right now to build around (at least we don’t know for certain that they do).