Jets Grounded: Another (Formerly) Winless Team Beats the Bungling Jets on the Road
The New York Jets came back down to earth on Sunday, a terrible game on both sides of the ball in a 22-6 loss at the Cincinnati Bengals. Coming into Cincinnati on a three-game winning streak, the Jets looked nothing like the team that had been lauded over the last couple of weeks for supposedly having turned a corner.
And in turn, the Jets made one of the worst teams in football look respectable.
The loss was not only humiliating for how the Jets played and got pushed around, but also in terms of perception. It was the first win of the season for the Bengals, who are now 1-11.
With the loss, the Jets are 4-8 and the result ensures for a fourth straight season that they won’t have a winning record.
It all started so promising and fell apart even faster. For a fifth straight game, the Jets scored on their opening drive, a 42-yard field goal by Sam Ficken giving the visitors a 3-0 lead. It quickly went down hill from there, the Jets next two possessions each ending when quarterback Sam Darnold was sacked.
A 17-6 lead by the Bengals at the halftime didn’t tell the full story of a team that looked dysfunctional and simply out of sync. The Bengals did a tremendous job of collapsing the pocket and pinching Darnold in, forcing him into quick throws under pressure as the offensive line had its worst performance in the past month.
Penalties killed the Jets, as typified by a holding call in the end zone with 5:33 left in the third quarter by left tackle Kelvin Beachum. The result of the call was a safety and a 19-6 lead for the Bengals. It was a play that typified a frustrating afternoon for the Jets.
The Jets came into the game winners of their last three games, the most impressive, a 34-3 performance against the Oakland Raiders last a week, a team that came into MetLife on Sunday holding one of the AFC’s two Wild Card spots. After hearing about their wonderful run of games in recent weeks, the Jets went out and put together another dud performance.
For a second time this year the Jets met a team that came into the weekend winless and it was the Jets who emerged on the losing end. In Week 9, the Jets met the then 0-7 Miami Dolphins and lost on the road, 26-18.
It was a disappointing day for Darnold, who was sacked four times. Darnold, after three straight solid starts, finished the game 28-of-48 for 239 yards.
