The New York Jets suffered their fourth loss in six games to start the 2024 season, falling to the Buffalo Bills 23-20 on a night where they missed countless chances to take control. Just like all other defeats, the loss was largely due to the severe underperformance of several accomplished players that the team believed it could count on at the start of the season.

Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich spoke frequently about “accountability” after being thrust into the role last week. Well, here’s his chance to show he really believes it.

If Ulbrich wants to save this Jets season, he will get these two team-destroying veterans off the field before they cost the Jets any more games. Forget the money invested in them, forget their experience, forget their name recognition – make them responsible for the best in the team.

Greg Zuerlein

Zuerlein missed two crucial field goals in the second half, both from less than 50 yards. It’s another terrible start to the season for Zuerlein, who is now 8 of 12 and has made three of his four misses from under 50 yards. His misses cost the Jets two wins.

Zuerlein had a great 2023 season for the Jets, making 92.1% of his field goals and 5 of 6 from beyond 50 yards. This earned him a two-year, $8.4 million contract with the team in the 2024 offseason.

Although Zuerlein has played well in 2023, the idea that he is a highly reliable veteran kicker has always been far-fetched. Zuerlein has been extremely inconsistent throughout his career.

Zuerlein’s career field goal percentage of 82.6% is three points below the 2024 NFL average of 85.6%. In fact, 2023 was his first season since 2018 with a field goal percentage above 83%. In his 13 career seasons so far, Zuerlein has only topped 83% five times. He also missed an NFL-high 9 extra points in 2020-21 with the Cowboys, his final two seasons before moving to New York. Additionally, despite being known for his leg strength, Zuerlein has only made 56% of his career attempts from beyond 50 yards.

Zuerlein is not one of those holy kickers who should be followed with unshakable faith into the fiery depths of the earth. He’s a below-average kicker who happened to get hot last year. And now he’s having another one of his boring seasons. This is by no means unusual for Zürlein; He had three seasons in his career in which he made less than 75% of his field goals. He is well on his way to a fourth place finish.

At the very least, the Jets need to bring some kickers in for a tryout this week and see if anyone stands out as a likely upgrade. Zuerlein has done nothing in his career to warrant the Jets’ blind belief in his improvement. He’s not above being held accountable for costing the Jets multiple wins.

Tyron Smith

Tyron Smith is already deep into his career at 33 years old, but the Jets still assumed they were getting an elite left tackle when they signed him in March of this year. The likely future Hall-of-Famer was a second-team All-Pro in 2023. His stats and film were both elite. A lineman best known for his elite technique, he seemed like the type of player who would age well into his 30s.

Every NFL player hits a wall at some point — Father Time maintains his record winning percentage of 1,000 — but no one expected Smith to fall The hard within a year. A drop from elite to good would have been possible. Even moving up from Elite to Decent would have given the Jets offense a real chance of survival. But Smith is neither good nor decent. He is a huge liability that drags the entire offense along.

Without Zuerlein, Smith was the most expensive jet on the field last night.

Smith allowed a devastating blindside sack on third-and-15 from the edge of field goal range, costing the Jets potential points and forcing a punt. Rodgers also lost the ball and was lucky to win it back. Later, Smith allowed another third-down sack to force a punt, although fortunately it was saved by a confusing roughing the passer penalty (which Rodgers himself admitted was wrong).

The worst offense was a holding penalty near the goal line that negated a Braelon Allen touchdown that would have given the Jets a 26-20 lead (let’s not assume Zuerlein made the extra point). Fans can complain about the performance all they want, but Smith definitely called a penalty on the play and it had no effect on Allen’s run, making it even more frustrating. The Jets failed to score a touchdown and Zuerlein missed the ensuing field goal attempt. Smith immediately took six (possibly seven) points off the board.

This continues Smith’s terrible start to the season. According to Pro Football Focus, he ranks second among left tackles with 5 sacks allowed (he would be first with 6 if the phantom roughing call hadn’t been made). Smith also has the third-most pressures allowed among left tackles with 16.

It’s shocking how completely out of character these numbers are for Smith. His 5 sacks are already the most he has allowed in a season since 2015, and we’ve only played six games. He only allowed 3 sacks in 13 games last season. In terms of pressure, Smith is just 5 shy of his total of 21 in 13 games in 2023, and he’s on pace for a career-worst 45, which is 15 more than his worst point total in recent ones 11 seasons (30).

The icing on the cake is Smith’s five penalties, which ranks him seventh among left tackles. He is the only left tackle in the NFL with more than 5 penalties and 5 sacks allowed.

The most troubling aspect of Smith’s game is how hard he gets hit. He is completely incapacitated by the speeding around the corner and often doesn’t even manage to touch his man. As the blind side protector of a 40-year-old quarterback, that’s an unplayable weakness. Aaron Rodgers won’t last much longer if Smith continues to allow Rodgers to take blind-side hits at full speed that he’s not prepared for.

The Jets selected Penn State tackle Olu Fashanu with the 11th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, hoping he could develop behind Smith in 2024 and assume the role of their future left tackle in 2025. The short-term plan was for Fashanu to take care of the likely event that the extremely injury-prone veteran misses time.

Smith was fortunate to stay on the field, but no one expected him to play so poorly if he stayed healthy. It’s time for the Jets to consider using Fashanu for the other emergency situation: Smith getting washed up.

The Jets’ season is in a tough spot. Aaron Rodgers is their only hope. And that hope will disappear very soon if Tyron Smith continues to play as a left winger. New York can’t pretend Smith is figuring things out.

Smith’s issues were a bit concerning in Week 1, but he was playing against a great Niners team, so he deserved some leniency. Then it was Week 3 against a dismal Patriots team. Very worrying but only three games. Maybe he’ll figure out how to deal with his loss of athleticism. But now it’s six games. At this point, Tyron Smith is in 2024. He’s crazy. He won’t adapt or figure things out. His athleticism is completely ruined and there’s nothing he can do about it.

It’s time for Ulbrich to make the decision that’s best for the team. Fashanu could also struggle at left tackle, but Smith definitely Will. We’ve seen him be one of the worst left tackles in football for six games.

With TJ Watt and the Steelers around the corner, Rodgers will be lucky to get out of Pittsburgh alive if 77 protects his blind side again. It’s time to pass the torch to Fashanu and live with the results.