A late Tampa Bay score will force a comeback effort from the New York Jets’ second unit
A late 33-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Trask to Trey Palmer has given the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a 10-6 halftime lead against the New York Jets in the teams’ Saturday night preseason showdown at MetLife Stadium.
Gang Green earned its points through a pair of Greg Zuerlein field goals, the longer triple coming from 38 yards out.
Jets (6)
PASSING: Zach Wilson (9-of-13, 70 yards)
RUSHING: Zach Wilson (2 carries, 41 yards)
RECEIVING: Jason Brownlee (3 rec., 39 yards)
Buccaneers (10)
PASSING: Kyle Trask (16-of-23, 122 yards, 1 TD)
RUSHING: Sean Tucker (7 carries, 37 yards)
RECEIVING: Trey Palmer (1 rec., 33 yards, 1 TD)
Win One For the Gipson
One of the many reasons why this Jets offseason felt so refreshing was that the football-loving public raved about players more or less guaranteed to make the opening day roster rather than marveling at the undrafted free agent class.
Nonetheless, Xavier Gipson is starting to make a name for himself in the return game. The Stephen F. Austin alum got off to a rocky start with a muff on his debut in Canton but later took back a Cleveland punt 45 yards. Saturday’s first score was set up by Gipson’s 31-yard tally that put the Jets in Buccaneer territory.
Many immediately fell for Jason Brownlee, but Gipson is making a solid case to stay as the Jets’ sixth receiver (should they choose to maintain such a position). To his credit, Brownlee impressed during his own opportunity, standing as the Jets’ top receiver (3 catches for 39 yards) and picking up a majority of his yardage on a 26-yard open-field tally.
THIRD. DOWN. IS. @Bryce55H. TIME. pic.twitter.com/wNQ0QMFjYb
— New York Jets (@nyjets) August 19, 2023
Davis’ Web
Ashtyn Davis has gained a bit of a cult following among some Jets fans for his ability to up the physicality but the outlier has placed him on the roster bubble. Davis, however, took advantage of an extended opportunity during the first half-hour on Saturday: tackles can be an overvalued stat in today’s but the third-round pick from 2020 manned the edge brilliantly, earning three takedowns on attempted Tampa breakouts into the open field.
Each of that trio plundered yardage from the Buccaneers. Davis earned one more tackle in the final minute, taking down Sean Tucker short of a first down, and one more TFL on Tampa’s would-be final scoring drive at the end of the half.
.@ZachWilson & @AllenLazard connect for the third-down conversion 🤝 pic.twitter.com/ABptrN0Ts9
— New York Jets (@nyjets) August 20, 2023
Zach (Rushing) Attack
Zach Wilson’s running out of time to knock items off of his 2023 bucket list, as the best-case scenario is that he only sees the field during Aaron Rodgers-induced mop-up duty.
.@ZachWilson WITH THE MOVES!!!
📺 #TBvsNYJ on WCBS pic.twitter.com/QLzqGwoPUC
— New York Jets (@nyjets) August 20, 2023
While Saturday’s visit from Tampa Bay staged Wilson’s sleepiest effort of the trio thus far (as the Jets seemed to put an emphasis on giving Zonovan Knight an opportunity in the rushing wars rather than downfield opportunities), the third-year man earned a slight graduation present on the Jets’ second scoring drive.
While expressing more aerial confidence, Wilson has been relatively statuesque in the pocket after hurting himself on a scramble last summer, an injury that only hastened his downfall. Watching him re-discover his mobility to the tune of a 35-yard breakout that put the Jets in kicking range has to be one of the most inspiring moments of the summer to date.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
