The New York Jets are headed in the wrong direction. The team got off to a strong start, but recently the offense has not looked good as mistakes and inconsistencies are setting the Jets back as the recently lost to the Buffalo Bills. Injuries are about to make a comeback difficult to manage as Ryan Fitzpatrick is set to have surgery and Zac Stacy deals with an ankle injury.
Stacy's season appears to be over after the running back suffered an ankle injury in Week 10. According to head coach Todd Bowles, Stacy fractured his ankle in the final play of the first half and a return is not expected at this point. While Stacy was not a star for the Jets, he was a key player in the run game and responsible with taking some of the work load off Chris Ivory. In his place, Stevan Ridley took the field and did not do anything. With Ivory struggling over the past few weeks, the Jets might have to make a roster addition to stay in the race. Montee Ball, Robert Turbin and Pierre Thomas are all available and might be the best option to replace Stacy over Ridley.
The Jets need an offensive spark. The team fell to 5-4 while slipping in the AFC East standings. If the team has any hope of staying in contention, they need to fix the sloppy mistakes and inconsistencies. Things might be tough as Ryan Fitzpatrick is set to undergo surgery to repair his injured thumb on his non-throwing hand. According to ESPN's Rich Cimini, Fitzpatrick is not expected to miss any games following the surgery which rules out the idea that Geno Smith would see another start.
Would starting Smith be a bad idea? Fitzpatrick started hot in Week 10, but he faded fast making poor decisions in the loss to the Bills. Some of that can be chalked up to play calling, but the quarterback went just 15 of 24 in passing for 193 yards and two interceptions to go with the two touchdowns. The quarterback told the media that he fully intends to play in the game against the Houston Texans in Week 11 regardless.
"We'll see how it goes, but that's the intention," Fitzpatrick said, via ESPN.com.
The Jets need to start getting some kind of momentum. Their offense has not been as effective as it was at the start of the year. The Bills' loss put that on full display. With 10 days to heal, Fitzpatrick should be fine for Week 11, but the rest of the offense will need to step up and help him.