Jets console Breece Hall, but he needs someone to have his back contribution-wise
Jets running back Breece Hall runs during the first half against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
BALTIMORE
When Breece Hall fumbled at the Ravens’ 2-yard line with 6:51 left in the game, the other Jets acted almost as if he had scored the touchdown that could have made it a one-score contest.
They ran straight for him, patting him on the helmet and shoulder pads. Even the defense was there. Coach Aaron Glenn came out to put his arm around the running back as they walked toward the sideline together.
They obviously weren’t celebrating with him, though. They were consoling him.
“I love that player,” Glenn said. “He’s my guy. He’s my guy. And you know what? [Expletive] happens.”
Added tight end Jeremy Ruckert: “Without him, we’re not even down there . . . All you can do is put your arm around him and let him know we all have his back.”
Emotionally, yes, they certainly did. Physically they did too. Hall joked that Glenn’s embrace as they walked kept him upright because he was “dog tired.”
But did they have his back in a football sense? Nope. Not even close.
For most of this season, Hall has been not just the best but often the only playmaker the Jets’ offense has had to rely on. That’s certainly been true since Garrett Wilson’s knee injury. It was Hall who almost singlehandedly led them to the wins over Cincinnati and Cleveland, who kept them in the game against the Patriots and nearly allowed them to pull off an upset on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.
That fumble ended those hopes for the Jets, not because it gave the Ravens the ball — there still was plenty of time left to make a stop or record a sack or even create a takeaway to keep the lights on — but because there was no one else who was capable of making such a play.
So when the Jets got the ball back after forcing a punt with 3:11 left, still down by only 10, Hall didn’t get the ball, so the offense went nowhere. There were no designed runs and Hall wasn’t targeted on any of the remaining passes.
The Jets’ last three possessions all ended on turnovers: the Hall fumble, a turnover on downs with 1:41 to play and an interception with five seconds left.
It was sweet to see how Hall’s teammates rallied to lift his spirits, but until the Jets can find someone to pick up some of the production from him, to support him in that way, it won’t matter much at all. This one-man show the Jets have become is not a sustainable model for success, and this 23-10 loss was yet another illustration of that.
Hall finished with 44 rushing yards on 16 carries and four catches for 75 yards, leading the team in both categories.
He touched the ball on 35% of the offensive plays (which still feels low) and his 119 total yards accounted for 42% of the net yards gained (which feels too high). Of the six longest plays in the game for the Jets, Hall had three of them.
Yes, Ruckert was correct. Without Hall, the Jets would not have come close to the end zone when it still was a 10-point game and they had a chance to cut it to three midway through the fourth quarter. It was Hall’s remarkable catch, spin and cross-field run on a checkdown to the left that gained 40 yards and brought them to the 17. And it was his 15-yard run after a holding penalty that took them to the 12.
That’s when Hall took a handoff on the right side, darted between a few would-be tacklers, was met with a pile after gaining 10 yards, tried to spin and push the scrum forward . . . and lost the ball. Marlon Humphrey ripped it out of his arms and Alohi Gilma recovered it at the 3.
“He’s a damn good player for us, and man, he’s going to fight for every yard,” Glenn said. “And we all know that once you fight for every yard, you have to be able to protect the ball . . . That was one of those times when they made a good play and they took it out.”
Because he was pushing with his back toward the goal line at the time, he left the ball in a precarious position, Hall said.
“I have to be better,” he said.
That’s very true. The turnover was a game-changer. And this was not his first time making such an error. Way back in Week 5, his fumble in the red zone against the Cowboys cost the Jets critical points in an eventual 37-22 loss.
You know who else has to be better, though? Everyone. Everyone else.
Right now they are not.
Hall said he appreciated the way his teammates and coaches came to his psychological aid after he lost that football on Sunday.
“They know I don’t like to make mistakes, that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “They know I beat myself up a lot. I’m very hard on myself. They kind of gave me a moment.”
What Hall would have preferred there, no doubt, was not space or sympathy or encouragement, but for any of them to make an impact on the later stages of the game to help the Jets win.
In football, that’s what it means to really lift up someone when they are down, to have their back. These Jets offer only the figurative and verbal kind of support.
Maybe one day someone will do that and the Jets really can start to celebrate. Maybe Hall will even be around to see it.
Until then, consoling one another is turning out to be the thing they do best.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
