Jets Quarterbacks Receive Poor Reviews For Giants Game

The New York Jets’ 31-12 loss to the New York Giants on Saturday had its ups and downs.

Quarterback play wasn’t among the strengths for Gang Green on the day. Undrafted rookie Brady Cook was the only Jets quarterback to throw a touchdown pass. Cook was 6-for-11 with 74 yards passing and a 105.9 QB rating.

Adrian Martinez and, more importantly, Justin Fields weren’t as solid. Martinez’s 12-for-21 line wasn’t terrible by any means, but he threw an interception. Fields barely did much at all as a passer: 1-for-5 for four yards (featuring a couple of inaccurate throws).

Shockingly, Fields and Martinez received flak for their performances (if you didn’t catch the sarcasm there, you probably aren’t aware of how dramatic and passionate New York sports fans and analysts can be).

Jets QBs receive bad reviews

New York Jets quarterback Adrian Martinez drops back to pass during the first half against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Jets Wire’s Sharif Phillips-Keaton listed Martinez among the Jets players who lowered his stock with Saturday’s showing.

“Justin Fields is going to be the starting quarterback when the Jets' regular season begins, but Martinez is competing with Tyrod Taylor and Brady Cook to be Fields' backup,” Phillips-Keaton wrote. “Martinez did not have his best performance against a Giants defense that can be tough on a quarterback and with just one preseason game left, he has to hope that he did enough to earn a roster spot.”

The Jet Press’ Justin Fried, in identifying the “winners” and “losers” from Saturday’s game, placed Fields in the latter category.

“The Jets' passing game with the first-team offense was a mess on Saturday,” Fried wrote. “Justin Fields completed his first pass — a four-yard check-down to rookie tight end Mason Taylor — and then proceeded to throw five straight incompletions before being taken out of the game.”

“The Jets clearly plan to emphasize their running game, as evidenced by their offensive approach with Fields in the preseason, but it's going to be difficult to survive such a one-dimensional offense,” Fried continued. “Fields and the passing attack need to be better than they were this weekend.”

Sadly for the Jets, there aren’t any lies detected in Fried’s analysis (although it does appear Fields threw four — not five — incompletions).

From a Jets fan’s perspective, watching the first-team offense operate on Saturday was maddening. Fields and Co. severely underwhelmed in two series and were then removed from the game. It felt like Jets head coach Aaron Glenn should have left the first-team offense in for at least one more series, just to walk away from the game with a better taste in the mouth for the franchise.

Then again, it’s just preseason. The games don’t count. Health is what matters.

If and when Fields delivers in Week 1 against his former team the Pittsburgh Steelers, anything that happened in preseason will be dust in the wind.

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