Jets OC Mike LaFleur blames for sloppy play: “It’s 100% on me”

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Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur took responsibility for the failed fourth-down conversion attempt that ultimately led to the team’s Week 17 loss to the Buccaneers.

LaFleur blamed himself for not properly communicating to Zach Wilson that he should throw the ball to wide receiver Braxton Berrios instead of taking the quarterback sneaking down the middle on 4th and 2nd in the Tampa seven-yard line. Bay. The Buccaneers defense held Wilson winless and took over with 1:57 to go.

“It’s 100 percent on me,” LaFleur said Thursday. “I am disappointed in myself for two reasons: I pride myself on the communication and, in our unit, the execution … And I failed in both.”

The decision to go ahead on the fourth try made sense both analytically and situationally. With the Jets clinging to a four-point lead with less than two minutes to go, a fourth conversion would have given New York a better chance of finishing the clock or scoring a touchdown with minimal time remaining in the game. Instead, Tom Brady took over from the shadow of the Buccaneers end zone and ran the length of the field for a 93-yard rush to propel Tampa Bay to victory.

After the game, the blame game moved back and forth between Wilson’s decision making and the coaching staff’s communication. Robert Saleh ultimately pinned the game on himself and his staff, while Wilson acknowledged the option he had and his choice didn’t work.

The quarterback has an option based on the look he has to squeeze the ball, ”Saleh said after the game. “In this situation we wanted the ball to go to Berrios, but we did a really bad job as coaches in communicating that in the squad… Zach executed the game as planned.”

It was ultimately up to LaFleur to tell Wilson the plan to send the ball to Berrios, but apparently that didn’t happen. It’s on LaFleur more than anyone, and he made sure to explain it on Thursday.

“It’s clear, at the time, I didn’t relay what we wanted to do,” said LaFleur. “This is what is disappointing. Like I told the players, I know we picked the right game, but I couldn’t communicate so it doesn’t matter.

It is still not clear exactly how this communication error occurred. The staff had enough time to tell Wilson what they wanted and prepare him for failure if he gave him the opportunity to take the ball himself, especially against a defense that made him believe the sneak QB was open, as Jets X-Factor noted. André Golden.

But mistakes do happen, especially for a team with a rookie quarterback at Wilson, a first-time player at LaFleur and a first-time head coach at Saleh. The key to Jets progress is learning from them and moving forward. LaFleur took the first step in this process by accepting blame for what ultimately cost the Jets victory.

“I know I’m going to learn from this,” LaFleur said. “I learned from this. You cannot let the same game beat you twice. In this situation, I will make sure that it absolutely does not happen again. “

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