• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The New York Jets let one slip away from them Sunday afternoon, against the Cincinnati Bengals. New York’s streak of five straight home opener wins was snapped, as the Jets lost 22-23. There were many things to takeaway from this disappointing loss for New York, but here were the five most important stats that stuck out.[wpdevart_youtube width=”640″ height=”385″ autoplay=”0″ theme=”dark” loop_video=”0″ enable_fullscreen=”1″ show_related=”1″ show_popup=”0″ thumb_popup_width=”213″ thumb_popup_height=”128″ show_title=”1″ show_youtube_icon=”1″ show_annotations=”1″ show_progress_bar_color=”red” autohide_parameters=”1″ set_initial_volume=”false” initial_volume=”100″ disable_keyboard=”0″]vyJ8hshQ9hY[/wpdevart_youtube]

6) Defensive Front Was Phenomenal! (7 sacks/42 yards, 10 QB hits)

  • New York did a great job getting pressure on Andy Dalton early. At the end of the first quarter, the Jets had already sacked Dalton twice. Also during the first quarter, Dalton was pressured into a bad throw which was intercepted by Marcus Williams.
  • Leonard Williams has emerged as a stud in his second year out of Southern California. Williams finished the game with 2.5 sacks, 5 QB hits and just looked un-blockable all afternoon. The Jets also got six tackles (3 solo) from Williams.
  • The Jets defensive front also held the Bengals to just 57 yards rushing. New York as a team also recorded nine tackles for loss.

5) Poor 3rd Down and Red Zone Efficiency 

  • To win in the NFL, you have to be able to keep drives alive and convert in the red-zone. The Jets didn’t do either consistently Sunday afternoon.
  • The Jets only converted 4 out of 12 on third down opportunities. This makes it hard to establish a rhythm, and keep putting points on the scoreboard. This also limited the amount of red-zone opportunities for the Jets.
  • New York had five red-zone opportunities. and only two of which were converted for touchdowns. Ryan Fitzpatrick connected with both Quincy Enunwa and Eric Decker for scores.

4) “Too Many Busts” (Bengals – 324 passing yards)

(Photo Credit: Barry Holmes) Green torched Gang Green Sunday afternoon.
(Photo Credit: Barry Holmes) Green torched Gang Green Sunday afternoon.
  • Coach Todd Bowles said in his press conference that there were, “Too many busts”. Bowles was referring to the high amount of blown secondary coverage. Dalton took advantage of this, and tallied 324 passing yards.
  • A.J. Green was Dalton’s favorite target, and these two connected on 12 completions for 180 yards and a touchdown. Green most notably beat Darrelle Revis deep for a 54 yard touchdown, on man-to-man coverage. This brought up obvious questions for the state of “Revis Island”.
  • In the locker room, Marcus Gilchrist spoke about how their outcome was a result of “what happens when you’re not on the same page”. The Jets secondary got exposed, when the pass rush could not get to Dalton.

3) What Happened to Decker and Brandon Marshall?

(Photo Credit: Barry Holmes) Marshall and Williams pictured warming up Sunday afternoon.
(Photo Credit: Barry Holmes) Marshall and Williams pictured warming up Sunday afternoon.
  • Aside from a first half touchdown by Decker, the Jets got minimal contributions from their receiving tandem. Decker (2 rec/37 yds) and Marshall (3 rec/32 yds) combined for just five receptions for 69 yards.
    • The duo was targeted 15 times total.
  • Marshall and Decker made critical drops on the final drive of the game, which could’ve set the Jets up for a game winning field goal.

2) Matt Forte‘s Looking Good in Green!

  • Forte set aside all concerns, with an impressive Week 1 performance. The nine year veteran out of Tulane, showed power and shiftiness in his runs all afternoon.
  • Forte finished the game with the highest receiving yards (5 rec/59 yds) and rushing yards (22 car/96 yds) for the Jets.

1) Kicking is Key 

  • Nick Folk has been the consistent kicker for this Jet team for 10 years. Sunday, Folk went 3 for 4 on field goal attempts and had a 22 yard attempt blocked.
    • Cincinnatti went on to score 10 unanswered points after the blocked field goal.
  • Folk also missed an extra point in the second quarter, which proved to be the deciding factor in the game. Had Folk made that extra point, New York could’ve found themselves in an overtime situation. Instead, the Jets have an 0-1 record for the first time since 2010.

Barry Holmes is a Senior Writer for PureSportsNY.com. Follow him on Twitter @BHO732

(Featured Photo Credit: Barry Holmes/PureSportsNY)

 

 

 

By Barry Holmes

Graduate of Millersville University, with a BS in Communications focused in Broadcast. Senior Writer & Social Media Manager for PureSportsNY.

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