The Jets walked out of Week 2 with the kind of loss that sticks. After building a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, they let the Packers claw all the way back and lose in overtime, turning a game that felt there for the taking into another familiar letdown for New York’s fanbase.
That naturally puts the quarterback under the microscope. But on this afternoon, Geno Smith was not the reason the Jets lost.
Smith wasn’t sharp enough to call it a clean outing, yet he was more than functional. He went 27 of 41 for 247 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions.
That came with a 65.9% completion rate, 6.0 yards per attempt, an 82.4% adjusted completion rate, and a 90.2 passer rating. Among quarterbacks who had played before Monday Night Football, he ranked eighth in adjusted completion percentage and 18th in EPA per dropback at +0.02.
He also had to operate without much help on the ground. The Jets’ backs totaled only 36 yards on 21 carries, a miserable 1.7 yards per attempt.
That made the passing game carry more of the load and left Smith dealing with longer third downs than he should have had to face. Even so, the offense was far better on third down than it had been in Week 1, converting 8 of 19 chances after going just 2 of 12 in the opener.
Smith did enough to keep the Jets in position. He helped drive a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown march in the third quarter that put New York ahead 14-7. And late in the fourth, he pushed the offense to midfield with a shot to finish the game in regulation.
That’s where the story turns away from the quarterback and toward the decisions around him. With the Jets needing just two yards for a first down after two completions to Garrett Wilson, the offense went away from the passing game and into two straight inside runs.
Both were stuffed. The drive died on turnover on downs.
There were moments earlier where Smith could have been cleaner, sure. But the final stretch made the bigger point: once the passing game started clicking, the ball came out of his hands. He couldn’t make up for the play calls that followed.
Aaron Glenn also had a chance to give Smith another possession before overtime, but chose to let the clock expire with Green Bay holding the ball, even with two timeouts available. The Packers drained more time, took a delay-of-game penalty, and still got off a Hail Mary with two seconds left.
Then came overtime, and the Jets’ opening possession unraveled quickly. Smith was sacked on back-to-back plays, a false start pushed the offense into third-and-30, and New York punted on the next snap. Green Bay then finished the game with a field goal on its next drive.
Smith has had games in which his aggressive style has hurt his team. This one wasn’t that. Sunday’s loss landed elsewhere.
In Other News...
David Bailey Is Making Jets Fans Ask One Big Early Question
David Bailey has given Jets fans plenty to notice in the first two weeks of his NFL career. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 draft has recorded a sack in each of his first two games, something no Jets player had done since Shaun Ellis, and it has helped give the rookie an immediate footprint on a defense eager for difference-makers. For a team that invested so heavily in him, those flashes matter, especially this early.
Still, the broader picture is a little more complicated. Pro Football Focus has not been nearly as bullish on Bailey's pass-rush work, grading that part of his game below average so far, while his strongest contributions have come against the run. So the early return has been mixed, which is hardly alarming in September, but it does leave one obvious question hanging over the rest of his rookie season: how quickly can Bailey turn the splash plays into the kind of all-around impact the Jets expected when they made him their top pick? [Read more 🡒]
Packers Fans Got Caught In Foxs Most Infuriating Broadcast Mess
Week 2 brought a familiar kind of football frustration, only this time it came from the screen instead of the field. FOX Sports ran into a broadcast error across multiple early games, with audio feeds not matching the action viewers were actually watching, and the mishap was jarring enough to distract from the afternoon slate before the network moved on to its primetime coverage. For Jets fans who tuned in expecting a straightforward Sunday of football, the glitches turned the telecast into part of the storyline.
The Packers-Jets game had its own extra wrinkle in overtime when FOX briefly lost the scorebug, adding another layer to an already messy broadcast window. The network fixed the audio problems before the night game, but it still has not offered a public explanation for how the early mix-up happened, leaving viewers with the same lingering annoyance that tends to follow a bad broadcast more than a bad quarter. [Read more 🡒]
Arian Smith Is Becoming A Jets Roster Problem They Can't Ignore
Arian Smiths role was already looking shaky, and Week 2 only added to the concern. In the Jets loss to the Packers, he played just one offensive snap and spent most of his afternoon trying to make his mark on special teams, where a missed tackle on a punt return stood out in an otherwise quiet outing.
For a player still searching for a foothold, the timing is a problem. Smith has dealt with drops and limited production since arriving in New York, while the Jets have already stocked the practice squad with veteran wideouts Sterling Shepard and Tyler Johnson, giving the team other options if it decides the margin for patience has finally run out. [Read more 🡒]