Simply Poor: Four Things We Learned From the Jets in Week 13
In what might have been their worst performance of the season, the New York Jets didn’t see ghosts on Sunday. But what they saw was a motivated Cincinnati Bengals team that was efficient, intense and motivated.
Three things the Jets were very clearly not.
The Bengals mauled the Jets 22-6, ending New York’s three-game winning streak. It was a poor performance on both sides of the ball and a truly lackluster performance from the coaching staff.
With the loss, the Jets are now 4-8. The Bengals victory now lifts them to 1-11 on the season.
The Jets didn’t show up in the loss and got humiliated by the worst team in the NFL.
‘Four Things We Learned from the Jets in Week 13’:
Ficken is Solid – After a couple of rocky weeks kicker Sam Ficken had a pretty good day. Ficken had missed field goals in each of the last four games.
Ficken made field goals from 42 yards and then 39 yards, making both of his attempts.
Perhaps it is a sign of how the Jets played that their kicker was one of the stars of the game. But Ficken was a bright spot on the day. Consistency is still an issue for Ficken but he’s building his confidence and helping his reputation around the team’s facility with a performance on the road like this.
The Pass Rush Wasn’t There – After three weeks of strong play from the defensive front, the Jets struggled to bring pressure on Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.
It took till the Bengals first possession in the third quarter for Dalton to be hit. He was sacked just once in the game and only hit twice by the Jets defense.
And safety Jamal Adams, he of a recent streak of quarterback sacks, was held in check and overall neutralized on the afternoon. The Jets defense simply didn’t commit enough bodies forward in their blitzing to get to Dalton, who consistently was getting the ball out of his hands quickly to his hot reads.
After weeks of praise, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams seemed to lack imagination against the Bengals. The game plan was bland and ineffective.
Abandoning the Run – The Bengals held the worst run defense in the league coming into the game.
Conventional wisdom would then say that the Jets should make the ground game a priority.
Instead, the Jets got away from their running game, with only 17 rushing attempts and just 62 yards in total run offense.
Why the Jets didn’t stick with the run early is mind-boggling given Cincinnati’s struggles this year. This was a major failure on the part of head coach Adam Gase and part of the reason why the game got away from the Jets.
Had the Jets been committed to the ground game (they only had two rushing first downs), it might have helped to make things manageable for the offense. What a waste of an afternoon for the offense.
Darnold was Fine – But only fine.
The Jets second-year quarterback was good in that he didn’t turn the ball over but he was far from special. Darnold didn’t hit on any true connections down the field and most of his stuff was over the middle and hot reads.
It’s good that Darnold didn’t try to force the issue and create an even bigger mess. But this is the type of performance that sets his development back, even just a little bit.
On the afternoon, Darnold was 28-of-48 for 239 yards. He had no touchdowns and no interceptions. This was a game where Darnold needed to step up and make a play to lift his team out of their collective malaise.
Instead, the Jets quarterback was bottled up and ineffective.
