Identifying an area of improvement: 4th and short conversions

The Jets need to do better in short yardage situations

There are many reasons, big and small, that explain why the New York Jets have fared so poorly in recent years. Chief among them for last season, the defense regressed and the play of quarterback Aaron Rodgers left much to be desired.

While the Jets undoubtedly hope to improve on the chief issues, improving on the small ones can also matter. For example, the Jets have been pretty bad on 4th down conversions relative to other teams in recent years.

As shown above, while other teams ran success rates well over 80%, the Jets had a success rate of only 64% which ranked 11th worst in the league. Being able to convert these plays regularly not only prevents you from handing the other team a turnover, but also gives you the confidence to try on a great number of 4th and short situations, allowing you to potentially extend many drives across a season.

Recently, head coach Aaron Glenn mentioned a possibility of employing a running back rotation. If so, one way to improve the Jets play on down and short would be to employ running back Braelon Allen, who is very large and very fast and seems well-suited to fall forward to gain a yard or two when necessary. Similarly, they could opt to leverage new assumed starting quarterback Justin Field’s running ability on read-option plays. While this wouldn’t completely overhaul the makeup of the roster, it could allow for some improvement on offense, and sometimes a little bit can go a long way in the grand scheme. In this case, we could be talking about turning drives that are ending into drives that lead to points, which can easily tip games in a league where most games are close.

What do you think? How can the Jets improve their 4th and 1 success rate?