The New York Jets have a myriad of things to clean up as they prepare for the defending NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers.
3.5: Sam Darnold‘s true Y/A
Take out the 69-yard catch-and-run to Jamison Crowder (which was caught at the line of scrimmage) and the Jets’ garbage time touchdown drive (in which Darnold went 8-of-9 for 58 yards), and Darnold’s stat-line looks like this: 12-of-25 for 88 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.
That’s 3.5 yards per attempt and a 40.1 passer rating. Darnold was also sacked three times for 13 yards, bringing his net yards per attempt average (includes sack yardage) to a brutal 2.7 outside of garbage time and one throw to the line of scrimmage.
How hard is it to win with that type of performance? Since 2010, teams whose quarterback(s) have posted a sub-41.0 passer rating and less than 3.0 net yards per attempt have a record of 3-53.
Rough outing for Darnold in his season debut.
5: Solid plays by Bless Austin
Austin forced an Allen fumble, made two tackles shy of the sticks in the passing game, stuffed a run short of the goal line inside of the 10-yard line, and made an impressive three-yard tackle for loss on Allen in the run game.
2: Quarterback hits by a front-seven player
Marcus Maye and Brian Poole combined for three sacks via the blitz, but the actual non-manufactured pass rush was nonexistent.
Josh Allen dropped back to pass over 50 times, throwing 46 passes and scrambling on a handful of plays. Yet, the Jets could only pick up two quarterback hits and zero sacks via a front-seven player. Tarell Basham and Quinnen Williams each had one hit.
8: Impressive plays by Marcus Maye
Previously the Vice President to Jamal Adams, Maye was elevated to the presidential chair upon Adams’ impeachment and banishment to Seattle.
In his first game wearing Adams’ shoes, Maye looked more than capable of replicating Adams’ production. Maye made eight notable plays:
- 2 sacks (both were legitimately solid finishes)
- 2 run stuffs at the line of scrimmage
- 2 passes defended (one breakup and the end zone, one deflection on a blitz)
- Tackle holding Buffalo to 3-yard gain on a first down pass play
- Forced fumble (halted Buffalo’s opening drive inside of the Jets’ 30-yard line)
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