New York Jets

Jets should continue unleashing Matt Forte

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The New York Jets won just two games this season in Weeks 2 and 7. It’s easy to see they’ll win a few more if they stick to unleashing running back Matt Forte.

The NFL has turned primarily into a passing league but teams that are able to establish their ground game, tend to enjoy many more wins in a season. The best teams, you know, the ones that consistently make the NFL Playoffs, have a good balance of running the football to compliment their passing game. The New York Jets are currently 2-5 and well, their only victories came when running back Matt Forte was able to do what he does best.

The Jets truly need to get it together, especially when it comes to their offensive game planning. Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey needs to stop depending on the passing game and change to a more run-oriented offense.

Since quarterback, Geno Smith is out for the season with a torn ACL injury, the Jets are now going back to Ryan Fitzpatrick. That’s right, the same quarterback that has 11 interceptions for the year and has been considered to be the worst at his position.

Due to this and the fact that the Jets are dealing with injuries at wide receiver, it’s best they stick with what works. Establishing the ground game will open everything else up and the Jets would be wise to continue unleashing Forte every week. Yes, he’s up there in age but again, the Jets can’t afford to rest him for the duration of the season when they have to do whatever it takes to win.

A loss to the Browns would be catastrophic and send this team so deep in a downward spiral, nothing would save them in the grand scheme of things. Hopefully, Gailey understands to stick to the ground game as Forte doesn’t even mind how many carries he gets, he just wants to win football games.

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Here is what Forte said, courtesy of the Media Relations Department of the Jets:

On if he liked the amount of carries he got today…

It doesn’t matter to me, I’ve said that before. Whether it’s running or catching the ball. It doesn’t matter if I get 30, 25, 20 or whatever it is or however it shakes out. I’m just trying to get positive yards, keep the chains moving, score touchdowns so we can score points and let our defense do what they do.

On today’s success with the running game…

It felt good. We popped a couple runs. There is always going to be those two or three-yard runs in there. It felt good to pop a couple of those runs in there. We’re still waiting on getting that big long one. We ran the ball pretty efficiently in the red zone. I was proud of that.

Overall, the Jets should change their offensive playbook to a more 70% run, 30% pass kind of scheme. It will put them in a position to win the time of possession battle and hopefully, win more football games.

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