Joe Flacco deserves blame for his Bills struggles, but he’s probably getting too much

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Mike White didn’t miss many shots in the Jets’ Week 14 loss to the Buffalo Bills, but the two brief spells when Joe Flacco replaced him cost the Jets dearly.

Let’s see where things went wrong during Flaccos’ brief stints on the pitch in Western New York.

Flaccos’ first trip to the field ended in a passing attempt, an incompleteness for Tyler Conklin.

On the play, Conklin runs a seam route.

In a scoreless game in the second quarter, a completion here would have put the Jets within goal range with a great chance to open the scoring. Flaccos’ pass fell incomplete. The veteran quarterback received a lot of flak for failing plays, but I’m not entirely sure it was his fault.

It appears Flacco kicked the ball believing Conklins would go his way on the numbers. However, the tight end is redirected in the early stages of his run.

Conklin doesn’t do a great job fighting through contact and runs his way inside the numbers.

You could blame this on a lack of chemistry. Perhaps the two could be more on the same page about how Conklin would adjust his route with early contact. Still, these two played together a lot at the start of the season when Flacco was in the lineup. Either way, the throw is outside the receiver and an opportunity is a loss.

Mike White quickly returned to the game after that play. However, White exited the game a second time in the third quarter with the Jets trailing 14-7. What followed was the only piece in that sequence that I think you could legitimately say was a Flacco disaster.

Flacco takes a fall in five steps. He seems set to launch his first option, Elijah Moore, which creates the separation. However, Flacco double clutches.

One of the problems with Flacco when he started the first part of the season was his refusal to be aggressive. He was very hesitant to throw the ball to receivers who weren’t very open. He then looks at his second option, Garrett Wilson, who has just been roughed up by TreDavious White.

Flacco comes late to his checking option, Michael Carter, but at this point he goes straight into a big shot and fumbles.

It’s easy to get on backup tackle Mike Remmers since the man he was blocking hit Flacco. In all honesty, it wasn’t a great reputation for him. Still, I have to put most of that on Flacco. He didn’t send the ball quickly to an open receiver. Then he was delayed in his progress. He just held the ball too long and fumbled on it.

The Jets got the ball back after a field goal from Buffalo led 17-7 late in the third quarter. Their training stalled, although I think it was less bad Flacco and more good defense.

First and long after a penalty, the Jets ran Elijah Moore on a 10-yard drive and Garrett Wilson on a corner drive from the slot.

The play here basically puts white in conflict. If he follows Moore, Wilson will be open deep. If he follows Wilson, Moore should have room to operate.

White steps back to take Wilson. That leaves Moore.

Matt Milano just does a great job deflecting the throw.

It’s easy to forget there’s another team trying to make plays, and sometimes they do their job well. Find out how much ground Milano covers.

This raised the second and long.

Here, the bills are just in the perfect call. Flaccos’ two best options have defenders around them.

Flacco has to hit his checkdown, Moore, for his only achievement of the day.

An excellent defense rallies football to limit the gain.

When I was watching the game live, I was struck by how much damage Flacco’s snaps did to the Jets considering how few of them. After reviewing, I feel like Flacco probably had a little too much grief.

I still think it’s fair to say his snaps were pretty damaging for the Jets. Yet of the plays that implicated him, I think only one was really his fault. One appears to be a bad road from Tyler Conklin. The other two were just really good defense.

Now whoever was on Flacco is hard to excuse because he failed on so many levels. Still, I would say now that he deserves the heartache for that game, not the entirety of his time on the pitch.

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