This is statistically on pace for the third worst offense in Jets history in PPG, ranking and yardage-wise. In a 17 game schedule vs. 16 game.

Remove the Giants and Patriots, this is the worst offense in football. The Giants are starting some dude from Cedar Grove and the Patriots have the past 20 years to relish.

Franchise-wise, this team is generally bad on offense compared to most others. Less than half of the Jets seasons have been in the top half of the NFL in yardage and/or points since its 1960 founding.

But really, for all intents and purposes and just from a time standpoint, there is pre O’Brien and post O’Brien.

The reason for this split is because the offense averaged above mid-pack in yardage during O’Brien but just below mid-pack in points. It was also a 7 year time frame of stable QB play. No QB lasted longer or sustained a consistent level of play for the Jets than O’Brien. Which as a fan who saw him is depressing but that’s subjective.

So starting with the eternal Browning Nagle in 1992, following O’Brien:

The offense has been ranked in the top 15 in points 6 times. It has ranked top 15 in yardage 5 times.

In my opinion, the real crime here isn’t ownership’s inability to get winning teams on the field. It’s an almost supernatural penchant to field extremely bad offenses.

Look at what you have to do statistically to analyze this in any meaningful way:

Ken O’Brien, with a 50-59-1 career record and 58% career completion percentage, and two Pro-Bowl appearances across his career is effectively the delineation point.

Compare it to the division: Marino Kelly Brady Bledsoe

And that’s not even factoring Miami this year and Josh Allen leading the NFL in TDs.

As an aside, I also have to admit that I romanticized Pennington. Those offenses were surprisingly bad. Maybe I just remember it being better before he hurt his shoulder because he didn’t turn the ball over and they played “complementary football.”