Ah, the heartbreak. It’s way too familiar a feeling for New York Jets fans.

After an energizing Week 1 win over the Tennessee Titans, fans have felt the grueling pain over the past two weeks. The team endured an awful overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 2 before New York’s two-possession comeback against the Detroit Lions fell short on Sunday.

For two straight weeks, the Jets’ fanbase has woken up Monday morning disappointed. Despite that same awful feeling lingering, it’s important to separate the two games.

Week 2 and Week 3 weren’t the same for the Jets

Look, two consecutive one-score losses after an exciting Week 1 win are painful for a fanbase that just watched a 3-14 season that had the worst December in NFL history.

There is a huge difference between these back-to-back losses, though.

Against Green Bay, the Jets were the better team. They became the first team on record (since 1941) to lose a game with:

  • Positive turnover margin (+1)
  • Holding the opponent to less than 200 yards (199)
  • Opponent having 100+ penalty yards (133)

The loss was a product of atrocious late-game management by Aaron Glenn. Frank Reich also folded as a play-caller in crunch time, too. The Jets had a multi-score lead in the fourth quarter before they fell in overtime, making it a bona fide collapse.

The Packers were also completely depleted. They did not have Micah Parsons and Josh Jacobs entering the game and were further banged up throughout the afternoon. Their WR1, Jayden Reed, was carted off on the first drive of the game, and had they ended up having just two of their five starting offensive linemen on the field by the start of the fourth quarter.

That was a game the Jets certainly should have won. Sunday’s loss to the Lions felt very different.

Detroit was the better team on Sunday, and they were the better team entering the game too. They are much more established than New York in nearly every area, from the depth chart to the coaching staff.

For much of the second half, it looked like the Lions were going to run away with the win. Jahmyr Gibbs, one of the NFL’s most explosive playmakers, was a problem. He scored three total touchdowns and completely gashed the Jets’ defense, generating 164 all-purpose yards on top of the three TDs.

In the fourth quarter, the Jets were trailing 24-10. It felt like the game was over. Then, Geno Smith gave the Jets a chance.

He connected with Jeremy Ruckert for a four-yard TD before the team went for the two-point conversion but failed, still trimming their deficit to 24-16. After the Jets’ defense stopped the Lions from converting on fourth down near midfield, the offense got a chance to tie it up, and they seized the opportunity.

Garrett Wilson made a terrific catch for the game-tying touchdown over his former teammate D.J. Reed. Smith found Sterling Shepard on the two-point conversion, and it was a tie game with 4:06 left in the fourth quarter.

Kenyon Sadiq had already made one of the plays of the day with his diving 24-yard touchdown catch in the first half. Sadiq ultimately logged seven catches for 105 yards, becoming the first Jets rookie tight end with a 100-yard game since Dustin Keller in 2008.

Smith finished the game with an 83.3% completion rate on 36 attempts for 321 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions, while averaging 8.6 yards per attempt. Wilson caught 10 of his 13 targets (76.9%) for 107 yards and a touchdown, along with a huge 31-yard catch.

So, the Jets had a 300-yard passer in Smith, who threw three touchdowns, didn’t throw an interception, and completed over 80% of his passes. They also had a tight end go for over 100 yards alongside alongside a 100-yard wide receiver.

And yet, they still lost. Offensively, you couldn’t have asked for much more. Wilson continued to flash what he can do when he has an accurate quarterback throwing him the football, while Sadiq looked like a player the Jets can build around.

Sunday’s performance could go down as Smith’s best of the season. He played more than well enough for the Jets to win.

Following the game-tying Wilson touchdown, Detroit needed less than two minutes to get back ahead with a Gibbs touchdown on a screen pass. The Lions’ offense is explosive, but there is no excuse for New York’s defense to allow a four-play, 65-yard drive with nobody accounting for Gibbs on the go-ahead TD.

One would be hard-pressed to look at Sunday’s game and say the Jets gave away a win. They fought back against a top-tier team on the road, but they simply didn’t have enough to secure the win. Yes, there are certainly issues to address, especially the tackling, having missed a whopping 13, but this simply wasn’t the same kind of loss as Week 2.

This isn’t to say Sunday was a “moral victory,” or something fans should celebrate, but it was a different type of game. A loss is a loss, but that context matters.

That’s exactly why last week’s game was so crucial.

If the Jets had just finished the job against the Packers, they would be heading into Chicago with a record of at least 2-1. There would be plenty to critique from Sunday’s game, but there would also be room to appreciate the massive offensive improvement.

Instead, they’re 1-2. Going from 2-1 to 1-2 entering Week 4 is a huge difference; it completely changes the reaction to Sunday’s loss in Detroit, even if it happened the same way. An encouraging comeback wouldn’t change the fact that the team still lost, but the Lions were always going to be a difficult test.

On Sunday, the Lions beat the Jets. In Week 2, the Jets beat themselves. There is a clear difference.