The Jets have gotten some of the NFL's worst quarterback play this season. Ryan Fitzpatrick has been the main culprit, but Bryce Petty hasn't been much better in the snaps he's taken.
Combined, Jets QBs rank 25th in passing yards, 25th in yards per attempt, 30th in completion percentage, 26th in touchdowns, last in interceptions, and last in passer rating.
And still, Jets coach Todd Bowles says that if 2016 second-round pick Christian Hackenberg were to get in the game, "we're probably getting killed in the first place." (That's a distinct possibility, given that they're 16.5-point underdogs against the Patriots as of this writing.)
There's a possibility that Hackenberg is on the 46-man active game day roster for the first time this season -- and only due to all the injuries the Jets are dealing with ahead of their Week 16 game against the Patriots -- but he's still going to be No. 3 on the depth chart behind Petty and Fitzpatrick. Bowles said he's not confident at this point that Hackenberg could execute the game plan, per ESPN.com.
Considering the success other young quarterbacks around the league are having, it's at the very least a little disconcerting that the Jets have two passers taken over the last two years that hadn't earned the confidence needed to start while Fitzpatrick was melting down this season. Bowles even went back to Fitz after giving Petty a chance in mid-November. Hackenberg, meanwhile, has yet to take a snap.
Some of that surely is because they just aren't ready. (Petty famously said that he learned how to identify the Mike linebacker and change his protections just this past offseason, and from playing "Madden." And Hackenberg did not appear ready at all during his college career at Penn State.) And some of it is likely because it's the tail end of a lost season and the Jets' already shaky offensive line is banged up at the moment. You don't want to throw a novice passer to the wolves.
