The Jets have spent the last two Mondays sitting with the same ugly feeling, but the two losses that created it were not built the same way.
New York opened the year with a win over the Tennessee Titans, then dropped a miserable overtime game to the Green Bay Packers in Week 2 before falling short again against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. On the surface, it’s just two straight losses. In reality, the way those games unfolded tells a very different story.
The Packers game was the one the Jets had to have. They were the better team and still came away empty, becoming the first team on record since 1941 to lose after posting a positive turnover margin, holding an opponent under 200 yards, and forcing that opponent into 100-plus penalty yards.
New York had a multi-score lead in the fourth quarter and still let it slip away in overtime, a collapse driven by bad late-game management from Aaron Glenn and Frank Reich folding as a play-caller in crunch time. Even Green Bay’s injury situation made the result sting more: Micah Parsons and Josh Jacobs were already out, Jayden Reed was carted off on the opening drive, and by the fourth quarter the Packers had just two of their five starting offensive linemen on the field.
Sunday in Detroit had a different feel from the start. The Lions were the better team entering the game and they looked like it for long stretches, with Jahmyr Gibbs turning into a nightmare for New York’s defense. He piled up 164 all-purpose yards and scored three total touchdowns, and for much of the second half it looked like Detroit would pull away comfortably.
Down 24-10 in the fourth quarter, the Jets finally made things interesting. Geno Smith hit Jeremy Ruckert for a four-yard touchdown, and after the two-point try failed, the margin was cut to 24-16.
The defense then came up with a stop on fourth down near midfield, giving the offense another shot. Smith and Garrett Wilson delivered, with Wilson making a terrific catch for the tying touchdown over former teammate D.J.
Reed. Smith then found Sterling Shepard on the two-point conversion, and the game was tied with 4:06 left.
There was already a highlight earlier from Kenyon Sadiq, who hauled in a diving 24-yard touchdown catch in the first half. He finished with seven catches for 105 yards, becoming the first Jets rookie tight end with a 100-yard game since Dustin Keller in 2008.
Smith’s line was strong across the board: an 83.3% completion rate on 36 attempts, 321 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, plus 8.6 yards per attempt. Wilson caught 10 of 13 targets for 107 yards and a touchdown, and added a 31-yard catch. The Jets also had a 300-yard passer, a 100-yard receiver and a tight end over 100 yards.
And still, they lost.
Detroit answered the tying score in less than two minutes, getting back in front on a Gibbs touchdown catch on a screen pass. The Lions needed only a four-play, 65-yard drive, and New York had no answer for Gibbs on the go-ahead score. The Jets did not help themselves either, missing 13 tackles on the day.
That is what separates these two defeats. Against Green Bay, the Jets gave away a game they should have won.
Against Detroit, they fought back against a top-tier opponent on the road, got themselves level, and still didn’t have enough to finish it off. The result was the same, but the shape of the loss was not.
That distinction matters because of what Week 2 cost them. If New York had closed out the Packers, it would be heading into Chicago at 2-1, and Sunday’s offensive showing would look like a major step forward rather than another painful loss. Instead, the Jets are 1-2, and that changes everything about how this comeback in Detroit gets viewed.
In Other News...
Jets Offensive Line Suddenly Has A Serious Problem On The Left Side
The Jets offensive line took a hit in the third quarter of the Week 3 game against the Lions when left guard Dylan Parham went down with a knee injury and was ruled out for the rest of the afternoon. It was an untimely blow for a player who arrived on a two-year offseason deal and had quickly become one of the better interior linemen on the roster, with Pro Football Focus grading him among the leagues top guards in both overall play and run blocking.
Jordan Meredith now looks like the most likely candidate to step in on the left side, which puts pressure on the Jets to keep the line stable as the season moves forward. Parhams status will loom over the next stretch of preparation, because even a temporary absence changes the feel of an offense that had been counting on him to anchor that spot. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Suddenly Have A Bigger Breece Hall Problem
The Jets were already dealing with a shortened margin for error in Week 3 against the Lions, and the injury list only grew once the game started. New York went in without several key starters, then watched Dylan Parham and Breece Hall go down during the action, adding more strain to an offense that could least afford it.
Halls thigh injury is the one that looms largest. He left with the issue and sounded unsure afterward about how serious it might be, while Braelon Allen stepped in as the lead back after Hall exited. For a Jets offense trying to piece itself together on the fly, the health of its top runner is now a storyline worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Fans Should Watch What A Rival Could Do With Their Ex QB
Jaxson Darts knee injury has put the Giants back in the market for quarterback help, and that search has quickly turned into a familiar New York subplot. One name popping up in the discussion is Justin Fields, the quarterback the Jets moved on from before the season and who is now with the Chiefs. For Jets fans, it is the kind of twist that turns a nearby rivals problem into a reminder of how quickly the quarterback carousel can spin.
The Chiefs could be in position to listen if the right trade offer comes along, especially as they weigh their quarterback depth and salary outlook. Fields has already changed teams once this year, and another move would add one more layer to an already strange season for a player whose future keeps moving along with the market around him. For the Jets, it is another reason to keep an eye on what the Giants do next, because one of the names in play is tied directly to their own recent past. [Read more 🡒]