The New York Jets fell to 2-4 after a 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 6.
There were a lot of reasons the Jets lost on Monday Night Football, but the most notable of which was their kicker choking the game away.
Greg Zuerlein finished the day going two of four with two painful misses. The last three Jets drives of the game were a missed 32-yard field goal, a missed 43-yard field goal, and an interception by Aaron Rodgers.
It didn’t take long for fans on social media to question whether or not the Jets should decide to move on from their veteran placekicker.
“Cut him tomorrow,” one fan responded.
Zuerlein Issues Aren’t Unique to This Bills Game
He didn’t perform well in this Buffalo game – point blank, but this has been a problem.
In Week 4, Zuerlein had the chance to play hero.
The Jets had the ball at their own 40-yard line with 1:27 remaining in the game down 10-9. Rodgers and this Jets offense moved the ball to the Denver Broncos’ 32-yard line with 47 seconds remaining in the game.
Zuerlein missed the kick, the Broncos won the game, and the Jets lost it.
If he hits the kick against Denver and makes his field goals against Buffalo, the Jets would be 4-2, not 2-4.
In the Week 3 New England Patriots game, Zuerlein missed a 45-yard field goal.
Go back to the preseason and Zuerlein looked sloppy. Against the New York Giants, Zuerlein missed another two kicks from 33 yards and 47 yards respectively.
This past offseason, the Jets inked Zuerlein to a two-year deal for $8.4 million, which featured $4.2 million in guaranteed money. If the team decided to move on from him, it would have to eat $4.1 million in dead cap money in 2024, per Spotrac.
Jets Coach Delivers Strong Vote of Confidence
Despite the public pressure outside of the organization to make a move on Zuerlein, that doesn’t appear to be the direction the team is going to go.
After the game interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich provided a very loud vote of confidence for his placekicker.
“Where we got to get better, when we got scoring opps, we gotta score. This entire locker room, this entire organization, and I’d hope this entire fan base has great belief in Greg. We are going to have winning moments in this season where he will win games for us. We know that and I believe that 100%,” Ulbrich said on Monday, October 14. “I mean everything you take a hard look at but I’m not concerned with Greg. I know the track record of this man and I know he’s going to catch his rhythm here and we’re going to roll.”
Historically speaking Zuerlein has been an incredibly reliable kicker with a monster leg. However, the psyche of placekickers is extremely volatile. One day they are an elite kicker that can’t miss and the next day they can’t the broadside of a barn.
Ulbrich is deciding to stick with his guy which makes sense for an interim coach coming off of his first game. However these blown games are going to be the difference between making the playoffs and not.
