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)
