FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Inconsistent. That's probably the best word to describe the Jets' offense through the first four games of the season. In some games, like Week 3 against the Lions, the offense looks solid. In other contests, like last week against the Bears, the offense failed to produce much of everything.

For offensive coordinator Frank Reich, the stats highlight a poor overall group.

New York ranks as the 25th-best offense in the league and the sixth-worst rushing attack in the game. The Jets' passing unit is ranked in the top 10, but failing to pick up a third-down conversion last week was another example of the recent frustration.

If the numbers show a struggling team, the tape only enhances those same issues.

For Reich and the offense, there are three things that the unit needs to fix going into Week 5's clash with the Browns. Otherwise, it will be another year in which the Jets fail to put up an offense inside the top 20.

1. Improved third-down production

After last week's abysmal performance, the Jets' offense dropped to fourth-worst in the NFL on third down. They saw many third-and-short opportunities against the Bears but even failed to pick those up.

For Reich, the reason for it is simple, he has to be better as a play-caller.

"I'm ultimately responsible for that," Reich said. "We had two short fields that yielded six points, and I think if that yields more than that, it allows us to apply a little bit more pressure than we did."

There are different reasons why a team fails to convert on third down. Some plays could start with a breakdown in blocks along the offensive line. A bad pass here, a missed read there and everyone always tends to have a hand in third-down struggles.

But when everyone is at fault, then it becomes a coaching issue. Reich needs to make sure his guys are more buttoned-up going forward.

A swap at running back

The Jets have loved Braelon Allen for years now. His size as a 6'2", 250-pound running back makes him an intriguing weapon for any offense. The problem for him is that he hasn't been productive.

Sunday's loss in Chicago was his best game, rushing 14 times for 59 yards and a 4.2-yard-per-carry average. Meanwhile, Isaiah Davis didn't receive a touch on Sunday.

New York's fascination with Allen or Davis has never truly made sense, especially when production between the two couldn't be further apart. While Allen has recorded a career yard-per-carry average of 3.7, Davis has averaged over 5.6 per opportunity.

In short, Davis is more efficient and more productive, even if the Jets won't play him.

(Isaiah) missed most of training camp and didn't practice. Then last week, we had a role for him. And Braelon's the number one guy going into the game. And again, where the number two back gets his carries and touches is kind of after the second or third first down in the drive, and we just never got to that point in the game.

With Breece Hall still dealing with a quad injury, the Jets must give up this idea of Allen being the team's lead back. He isn't efficient enough to do it. Davis must receive touches going forward.

3. Keep it simple

New York is without Hall, AD Mitchell and Omar Cooper Jr. Four of the team's top six targets have missed games over the last few weeks.

The easiest way to put up points is to get the ball to the other top targets: Garrett Wilson and Kenyon Sadiq. Getting the ball to your better players is an excellent way of keeping teams that may have more talent than you in bind.

Instead, Reich chose to focus his efforts last week on getting the ball to Allen, who, as we've mentioned, has never shown an ability to carry an offense on his own. Allen saw 16 touches in last week's game. Wilson and Sadiq combined for eight.

Inexcusable, yet Reich tried to do it.

We did want to get the run game going and kind of combat run game with run game, as coach talked about, complementary football, and kind of match that and keep our defense off the field. The problem was we didn't convert on third down.

Was that the problem? Just not converting on third down? Or was featuring a backup running back at all a bigger issue?

Good teams stay good because they get the ball to their best players and let them use their talent to succeed. Bad teams try to outsmart the good teams and, in turn, end up costing themselves.

The Jets are a bad team right now, and they will stay bad as long as Reich thinks he can outsmart other coaches.

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