Missed. ONE word describes the New York Jets and New York Giants week six games. Followed by a few more words, because this is a blog, not a sound byte.
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After Week 6 of the NFL season, New York teams are now 5-6-1 collectively. Actually 10-7-1 if you count Buffalo, but we do not count Buffalo around these parts. Both the New York Jets and New York Giants MISSED in week six, losing in different ways. Can you you believe the Giants are truly still in first place?
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How competent are the New York Jets this season? Can the New York Giants win their division? Todd loves the Giants and Dan loves the Jets. They both must take the proverbial podium and speak truth into the microphone. Also proverbial.
New York Jets and Giants Week 6
Who SHOULD be the New York Giants starting quarterback?
Todd Salem: As the NFC East continues to crumble, a loss for New York doesn’t drop them out of first place in the division. No one thought this team would compete once Jaxson Dart went out, but their divisional peers are helping them out in that regard.
In terms of the Giants themselves, are they trying to be a team that wins a division, or are they simply playing out the string of the 2026 season until Dart is back? Because if it’s the former, Jameis Winston has to be the team’s starting quarterback. Right!?
Winston was bad in the second half of Week 6. He got benched, and JJ McCarthy had a bit of a spark to him as the Giants attempted a comeback. The comeback ultimately fell short, but McCarthy showed some gutsy throws and made a very important scramble late in the contest.
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Winston has his flaws, including a lack of athleticism in the pocket. But he is an experienced veteran that can make all the throws. McCarthy had one good half, and that included throwing a wild interception right from the jump. He has the athleticism Winston lacks but has low awareness. He has arm talent but little accuracy. He created a spark for one half of one game against a bad defense.
Fellow spark-creator Cam Skattebo began the game benched as punishment for fumbling issues and never ended up garnering a single touch. In fact, the entire running game was putrid yet again. I tend to think that perhaps that had more to do with New York’s struggles to hold an early lead than any errant passes Winston threw.
McCarthy is young and has upside. If the team really wants to see what it has in him, he should start the rest of the year. But just know that they may be sacrificing a division title in that course of action.
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Dan Salem: You CAN NOT sacrifice a division title in order to see what a cast-off quarterback may be able to develop into. Chances at titles don’t come around often and the Giants in particular really need a positive season to kickstart the Harbaugh era. Losing to New Orleans hurt, but the only thing standing in New York’s way from winning the division is itself.
That being said, the BEST way to win a division title is to play your best guys with the most upside and highest ceiling. We all know what Jameis Winston is and is not, but nobody knows what JJ McCarthy might be. We only know that he is currently exactly like Jameis Winston, but more mobile. Even before Harbaugh chose McCarthy to start, I was saying the job was his, or at least it should be. There is literally nothing for the Giants to lose by starting him, but everything to gain.
When New York added McCarthy I immediately wondered if he’d find success in new surroundings and challenge Jaxson Dart for this job. I assumed McCarthy would be the starter sooner rather than later because he offers unknown hope of getting better. Winston does not. McCarthy could even improve so much as to beg the question of who should be New York’s starting QB next season. That is a longshot, but at least it’s an option by letting him play. Exciting times are ahead for the Giants.
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Is Frank Reich holding the New York Jets back?
Todd Salem: I was relatively high on the Jets offense entering the season. Geno Smith was underwhelming yet solid for a team in transition. They had multiple quality running backs, a fun, young wide receiver corps, and two high-ceiling tight ends. The offensive line looked good too.
After six weeks, the team has battled injuries, like anyone, but all those things remain true. And yet, New York is scoring just 18.6 points per game without having faced an elite slew of opposing defenses. On Sunday, it once again felt like the offense was lagging behind, especially as they settled for four field goals.
After the game, head coach Aaron Glenn addressed offensive coordinator Frank Reich, saying he’s done a good job. I’m not sure I agree. When the team approaches the redzone, they can’t get touchdowns. NY ranks dead last in the NFL in redzone touchdown rate at 37.5% according to Team Rankings. The samples are still small, but the number 31-ranked offense is closer to 14th than it is to the Jets at 32. That’s how far behind the entire rest of the league they are currently.
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When the clock is against them, or the sticks are against them, they can’t find success either. To me, that feels like a coaching issue more than a talent issue. Once Breece Hall and Adonai Mitchell return from injury, this team will have its full allotment of skill players. And over the course of the season, with the exception of Kenyon Sadiq getting a little banged up, those two and Omar Cooper (who returned healthy this week) are the only players who have missed large chunks of time.
Hall is certainly important, but Braelon Allen is a good player and looked good Sunday. Cooper had a breakout game, essentially playing Mitchell’s part. Smith also had a pretty good game, spreading the ball around, hitting deep shots.
If you wanted to tell me that the issue actually is all the skill players are just not quite good enough to fill their individual roles, I don’t agree, but I’d listen to the argument.
As we mentioned, Smith is a placeholder, ho-hum quarterback. That type of player doesn’t raise the ceiling of an offense. Maybe you want to argue Garrett Wilson is more of a number two receiver than a true ace, meaning the WR corps are lacking. With that, Mitchell is more a third or fourth option, as is Cooper. And the tight ends haven’t proven anything despite their talent and athleticism. As we go each step down the ladder, the team as a whole feels like it could be pretty easy to bottle up, especially with Breece Hall on the sidelines, since Allen is not a playmaker in the passing game.
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That all sounds logical until you realize that the group as a whole still has all that offensive talent. Not every team in the NFL has archetypes for every roster spot. In fact, nearly no one does. It is the coaching staff’s job to coach to a roster’s strengths. It doesn’t seem like Reich is doing that.
Dan Salem: I’m torn on this debate, because Reich seems to be dialing up everything perfectly in one moment, only for it to completely stall out in another. The Jets offense will be dominating for eight minutes straight, only to poop themselves and settle for three points the next. My gut instinct says he is learning on the job, which sounds crazy considering how much experience he has, but is also not crazy since he was in college football last year and is basically starting over with a new team.
Ask me this question again when the season is over, because I’m seeing consistently good things from the offense right now, but also a bunch of missed opportunities. Those missed opportunities have likely resulted in two losses that should have been wins, but we are only six games into the season. The Jets have beaten the teams we expected them to and lost to all four teams we thought they would. BUT two of those losses were nearly wins, so the numbers must even out for us to say Reich and New York are doing a good job.
I really despise overanalyzing coaches with such a small sample size. Give a head coach two full seasons, or at least one full season with his own chosen coordinators and players. Give a coordinator at least one full season. The NFL plays a pretty long season now and September is truly a warmup period, yet we continue to nitpick results like any single week matters. I’m happy with Reich and the Jets thus far. Keep it going and keep improving.
Meet our Sports Writers:
Dan Salem is Lead Editor and Co-owner of BuzzChomp. He’s an award winning Actor, Director and Producer. Visit M Square Productions for his film work, or get lost in his old-school comedy on Pillow Talk TV. You can follow him on X, TikTok and Instagram. His latest film ‘Alone’ is now on Amazon.
Todd Salem is a Staff Writer and Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp. He’s also a champion of fantasy football and fantasy baseball, dominating leagues for over two decades. Comment below on his unfiltered opinions.
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Photo Credits: jetsxfactor.com via Getty Images and twincities.com (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
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