Joseph O’Reilly
The NY Jets Defense came out slow to start against the Atlanta Falcons in week two of the preseason. After their slow takeoff, and 14 unanswered points from Atlanta, they started to look like the top 5 defense I believed they could be. Their early struggles could have been from the lack of first downs by Ryan Fitzpatrick and the first team offense. It took till the third offense drive for the first team-O to give the Defense any significant rest on the sideline. Fitzpatrick finished the day 13 for 19 for a 118 yards no touchdowns or interceptions. Although the Jets week one starters stat line looked better his results were much of the same. Lucky for the Jets their first round pick Leonard Williams had a coming out party with 5 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and a safety to top it all off. All in all the preseason improvement continues after the Jets 33-20 victory over the Falcons and resumes with the annual Jets vs Giants preseason showdown.
Player Highlight- #9 Bryce Petty
Petty’s play well surpassed last weeks performance going 12-19 168 yards and 1 touchdown. The rookie QB looked cool, calm, and collective the whole game as he went through his reads and got rid of the ball quickly. Although the Jets front office doesn’t believe he’s ready to take over just yet, i.e. Matt Flynn signing, they see the progress and are excited for the future. As for Petty, he sees his improvement and said “It’s progress every week and that’s what I got to keep telling myself, every day, to get better, and every week to get better. I can’t get complacent, I can’t get happy about this. I have to get back in there in the film room and go to work. I still have to get better at decision making. I think especially situationally in the red zone I have to throw catchable balls that only our guys can catch and allow us to score points and not put ourselves in jeopardy down there. We’re learning.”