New York Jets: Creating the Blueprint for Optimal Offense in 2015

The only way to go is up.

The New York Jets have had one of the league's five worst scoring offenses in each of the past three years. Whether it's been Mark Sanchez or Geno Smith as the signal-caller, and whether it's been Brian Schottenheimer or Marty Mornhinweg calling the plays as the offensive coordinator, the Jets cannot seem to pull themselves out of the offensive doldrums.

But thanks to a parity-rich league that includes free agency and the draft, the only constant in the NFL is change. Thankfully for the Jets, a lot has changed in the past six months since the 2014 season drew to a close.

A new regime has given way to an offensive coordinator and a new group of pass-catchers. The Jets are still saddled with a similar quarterback situation to the one they had last year; Smith appears to be the front-runner to start, but could always be pushed for the job by veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick—who happens to be a favorite of the new OC.

It seemed like Smith would be the front-runner to start, but that's not necessarily been the case at practice. 

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Ryan Fitzpatrick getting some first-team QB reps in full team drills. #jetsota

— dom cosentino (@domcosentino) May 27, 2015"

Whether it's Smith or Fitzpatrick pulling the trigger for the Jets offense, they will have all the ammunition they need, and all the ammunition Jets quarterbacks have been clamoring for in recent years. That being said, while the passing game is becoming increasingly pivotal to offensive success, that's not the only way to move the ball—as Jets fans learned in the Rex Ryan era. 

But how should the Jets' offense look in order to achieve optimal production?

Passing Game

Formation	Snaps	NFL rank
4 WR	586	1
3 WR	1,669	5
Shotgun	1,643	3
2 RB	616	24
2 TE	341	32

One of the knocks on Geno Smith coming out of West Virginia was that he lacked experience in a pro-style offense as a product of a spread scheme in college. What was once considered a weakness could quickly become a strength, if offensive coordinator Chan Gailey has anything to say about it. 

According to ESPN's Rich Cimini, Gailey's offense has been predicated on spread sets and shotgun formations dating back at least to his days as head coach of the Buffalo Bills. 

Spreading out the field will play into Smith's hands, helping his reads by spacing out the field 

The Jets have assembled an offensive personnel grouping that should excel in spread formations. For the first time in a long time, the wide receiver position can be considered a legitimate strength of the offense. With Eric Decker, Brandon Marshall, Jeremy Kerley, DeVier Posey and Devin Smith all running patterns at wide receiver, the Jets have five receivers who are legitimate threats at their positions.

Some of those players are more versatile than others—Smith and Decker can man the perimeter or the slot, whereas Kerley is strictly a slot receiver and Marshall and Posey are strictly outside receivers. 

Player	Ht	Wt	Exp
Eric Decker	6'3"	214	5
Brandon Marshall	6'4"	230	9
Jeremy Kerley	5'9"	188	5
DeVier Posey	6'1"	210	3
Devin Smith	6'0"	196	R

No matter what you think of their versatility in terms of where they line up on the field, almost all the receivers (save for Jeremy Kerley) have one thing in common: They can all contribute in the red zone.

This year's group of pass-catchers has a lot of experience and a lot of size, which gives the Jets the ability to throw the ball in tight spaces to score points when needed. The Jets could use all the help they can get in the red zone, where they ranked dead last in touchdown percentage with a 36.2 conversion percentage.

Duane Burleson/Associated Press

Running Game

At least until the Jets are sure they can rely on their quarterback (whomever it may be) to manage the game and not cough up turnover after turnover, the Jets should be giving their opponents a steady dose of the running game. 

One might assume that new head coach Todd Bowles hired Gailey as the OC because of his reputation with the spread offense and the passing game, but that's not the case.

"Actually, no," Bowles said. "What appealed to me was when he was at Pittsburgh, he was able to run the football. When he was at Georgia Tech, he was able to run the football and obviously the passing game he had speaks for itself, so that makes him a balanced coordinator which was more what I was looking for."

Thus, while this year's iteration of the Jets offense won't be as much "ground-and-pound" as it was under Rex Ryan, the running game could still be a big component of the offense.

And with that in mind, the biggest component of the running game is likely to be a between-the-tackles approach. The Jets' running back depth chart is stacked with backs who bring a tough-nosed style of running. Between Chris Ivory, Bilal Powell, Stevan Ridley and Zac Stacy, the Jets have plenty of backs who can hammer the ball in short-yardage situations. 

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Source: N/A

One way the Jets can increase the efficiency of their between-the-tackles running game—or at least add another look to it—is by running out of spread formations. With multiple receivers on the field at a time, the Jets can take the focus off the middle of the field and open up holes for the back to run through. With only six defenders up front to defend six or seven gaps, there could be a gap unless the defense executes perfectly.

That being said, there's also some stress on the offensive line to execute their assignments to perfection as well. With the 10 and 11 personnel groupings, there will only be five blockers (six if there's an in-line blocking tight end), so everyone needs to man up on their assignment and drive him out of the way to create a lane. 

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release.