New York Jets players are populating the top of the NFL leaderboards after a dominant win over Miami Dolphins
The New York Jets‘ 40-17 win over the Miami Dolphins was powered by a litany of impressive individual performances, which, when all tossed into the pot and mixed together, resulted in a delicious pot of Dolphin stew.
Some of these individual performances powered players into the upper echelon of the NFL rankings in a few key statistical categories. In particular, these three Jets players skyrocketed up the leaderboards after their games against Miami.
QB Zach Wilson
Thanks to an excellent run game, the Jets did not have to rely on Zach Wilson too much. Wilson had an efficient day in which he only threw 21 passes but completed 14 of those (career-high 66.7%) for 210 yards. Wilson set a new career-high with 10.0 yards per pass attempt.
Granted, 79 of those yards came on one pass to a wide-open Breece Hall. But it was a nice in-stride throw that maximized Hall’s YAC potential, putting him in a good position to gain yards after the catch; which he got plenty of. The big completion set up a Michael Carter rushing touchdown.
Wilson is producing yardage at an efficient rate so far this season. Through two games, Wilson has completed 32 of 57 passes (56.1%) for 462 yards. That’s an average of 8.1 yards per pass attempt, which currently ranks sixth-best in the NFL out of 35 qualified quarterbacks (min. 50 pass attempts).
What’s even more promising is the fact that Wilson remains a top-tier yardage producer even when accounting for sacks. Wilson ranks seventh-best among 35 qualified QBs with an average of 7.3 net yards per pass attempt (NY/A), which includes sacks and sack yardage. Wilson has only taken three sacks this year, giving him a sack rate of 5.0% that is less than half of his 2021 rate (10.3%).
It’s only two games, so we need to see more of this before we know it’s for real. But if Wilson can continue producing yardage this efficiently, the Jets will rack up a lot of wins.
RB Breece Hall
Breece Hall enjoyed a breakout game against the Dolphins in which he showcased all of the special traits that prompted the Jets to trade up for him in the second round of the draft. Hall toted the rock 18 times for 97 yards and caught two passes for 100 yards in a 197-yard explosion.
Hall’s dismantling of the Dolphins officially places him among the league’s elite running backs this year. On the season, Hall ranks sixth among running backs in scrimmage yards, joining some elite company:
- 1. Saquon Barkley (676)
- 2. Nick Chubb (630)
- 3. Derrick Henry (529)
- 4. Austin Ekeler (527)
- 5. Christian McCaffrey (512)
- T6. Breece Hall (488)
- T6. Aaron Jones (488)
It’s Hall’s two-way prowess that has him ranked so high on this leaderboard. Not only is he averaging an efficient 4.9 yards per carry on 11.2 rushes per game, but he is also catching 3.4 passes per game and averaging 12.5 yards per reception on those grabs.
EDGE Carl Lawson
Carl Lawson was the subject of some scrutiny earlier in the season, as he was not quite as omnipresent in the backfield as fans hoped. Well, that scrutiny has ceased. Lawson is back to producing like his old self – and, ultimately, his season-long production to this point is exactly where the Jets want it to be.
Lawson amassed seven quarterback hits against the Dolphins, setting a new Jets franchise record since the stat was first tracked in 2006. The previous record was five, shared by Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams (which, notably, John Franklin-Myers tied in this game with five QB hits of his own).
This outburst by Lawson puts him at 14 QB hits on the season, ranking second-best in the NFL behind Nick Bosa’s 16. Lawson is joined by tremendous company at the top of the list:
- 1. Nick Bosa (16)
- 2. Carl Lawson (14)
- 3. Micah Parsons (12)
- 4. Matt Judon (11)
- 5. Montez Sweat (10)
- T6. Trey Hendrickson (9)
- T6. Preston Smith (9)
- T6. Josh Allen (9)
Michael, in your opinion, how does Lawson take thwart next step and convert some of these to sacks? I know he has never been a high sack guy but would be nice to see a little more conversions.
I think his short arm length might always be a limiting factor in his sack production. Melvin Ingram is another guy with short arms who has always been an outstanding pass rusher but hasn’t been the greatest sack monster.
Even so, right now Lawson has been in on 3 sacks in 5 games, so he’s on pace for 10. Would be a great number.
Zach threw the ball well yesterday. I know he was wide open but that ball to Breece was a strike which as you mentioned allowed him to continue running. The out to Davis was also impressive, and I think Conklin should have come up with that catch that bounced off the defender’s head. Based on how the game was being called it should have been PI.
Lawson is coming off a major injury that isn’t easy to get back from and it will continue to take some time. Clearly you can see he’s getting more comfortable. The thing about yesterday is, we all said he will help Q. That strip sack Q picked up is a perfect example. That’s the type of complimentary DL play the team needs.
There is one particular writer on this site I debated with about Hall. They claimed it was a “controversial pick”, which I contested. There was never controversary, everybody knew he had a dynamic skill set there was a question that perhaps they should have gone with a different position. That question is clearly answered. He’s explosive, they Jets needed playmakers.
Agree. That 20+ yard out throw that Wilson made to Davis was VERY impressive…
I usually like Trent Green but I have no idea what he was talking about yesterday. It’s as if they woke up Saturday and were told they were broadcasting the Jets/Dolphins game. He said nothing about that throw, yet he droned on about when they had two different penalties for facemasks…A. as if it mattered…B. it was years ago. That rule has reverted back to 15 yards for several seasons.
He just added nothing to the game and was off base on so much stuff.
One great bonus with Hall that makes picking him look very shrewd is that it takes the some of the onus off of Wilson to be the be-all, end-all. As a Jets fan, the more I see young players like Hall and G. Wilson, Vera-Tucker, and Carter doing their thing, the less I obsess about how well Zach is doing, and you can see the same thing lately in the tone of the media coverage and fan comments. A lot of them are focusing on all the young talent, and, “oh, yeah, Zach is doing well, too.” Douglas and LeFleur clearly realized the need to relieve that pressure and scrutiny, and they have succeeded.
Fantastic point. In past years, all of the focus has been on the QB since he’s had to be incredible for the Jets to win. Now, the Jets can win (and in this case, win by a lot) without the QB being at his absolute best. It’s refreshing. I feel like the Jets’ QB woes have made us forget that football is a team game.