Photo Credit: The Canadian Press
As the Jets entered their matchup against the Detroit Lions, they would have second-year quarterback out of BYU Zach Wilson return at the helm of the quarterback position again after Mike White could not go. It turned out that Mike White had fractured his ribs, and ten doctors would not clear him to play. So, after sitting out for the past three weeks, Zach Wilson would get another shot to get the word bust out of his resume. This game would be the big test for Wilson to see if he learned anything from flight school.
The Detroit Lions, coming into their matchup against the Jets, was red hot as they were 5-1 in their last six games, and Jared Goff has been playing some of the best football of his career. As the Lions keep playing the way they’ve been, playoffs seem more realistic as they keep winning.
To start the game, the Lions got the ball and were driving the ball downfield with plays to Amon St Brown and D’Andre Swift a lot on the first drive. Missing star interior defensive lineman Quinnen Williams for the Jets impacted their run defense, especially on the first drive, because the Lions were shoving their run game down their throats where they ended up on the goal line to start the game. Luckily, the Jets’ run defense finally stood up against the Lions’ run game and made a key stop on 4th and goal on the 1-yard line. Dan Campbell felt gutsy on the 1-yard line, but Quincy Williams and Will Parks came through to stop Justin Jackson from getting into the endzone.
Crazy to see Will Parks contribute to the Jets’ defense as he was filling in for Lamacous Joyner, who was also out for the Jets. Parks was released by the Jets earlier in the week but then brought back on the practice squad, only to be elevated to play in place of Joyner.
It was time to see the Jets’ offense with Zach Wilson in the driver’s seat. The first drive was not what anyone expected, as they were pinned at the one-yard line. As a result, they would go three and out and be forced to punt. The Lions would open up the game 7-0. This is where special teams now come as a significant factor, as the special teams unit has hurt the Jets in three crucial games this year. A lousy punt against the Patriots in week eight or the botched punt in week one against the Ravens all resulted in points for the opposing teams and would hurt the Jets in the end. Well, even though It’s not easy to punt from the 1-yard line, Braden Mann didn’t help the Jets in any way as his punt to Kalif Raymond, a former Jet, of course, was able to take advantage of a short Braden Mann punt and return it for a 46-yard touchdown which Raymond ran it back so easy where it was like walking through a grocery store on a late weeknight. Mann’s punt had no hang time, which was why the Jets’ special teams unit couldn’t get downfield quick enough.
Entering the second quarter
Zach Wilson was showing a glimpse of why he was chosen second overall by the Jets when he led the Jets on a four-play drive that had him complete a 33-yard pass to stud rookie Garrett Wilson and then a nice touchdown pass to tight end CJ Uzomah for 40 yards on a play action play out of the pocket. A good drive by Wilson and the Jets’ offense, as it certainly raised Wilson’s confidence.
On the Next Lions drive, they would go for it on a 4th and three as Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell figured, why not go for it as they do convert on a 12-yard pass to Amon St Brown. Almost midway through the second quarter, first down at the 11-yard line, Jamal Williams would find the endzone, but the touchdown would be called back due to a holding penalty on Evan Brown. Then a couple of plays later, Evan Brown would be called for another holding call to push the Lions’ offense back. The Lions would eventually settle for a Michael Badgley 31-yard field goal giving the Lions a 10-7 lead.
As the two-minute warning was approaching, as the Jets were trying to get some points on the board on offense, an intentional grounding call and a Zach Wilson sack would take the Jets out of field goal range and force them to punt.
After the Lions were forced to a three-and-out and forced to give the Jets the ball back with 25 seconds left, the Jets figured they tried to do something on offense even with little time left. On the first play of that drive, Zach Wilson found Jeff Smith for a 50-yard gain as Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah covered him. Wilson would see Jeff Smith again on the next play for a 15-yard gain. Jeff Smith came in for Denzel Mims, who left the game with a concussion. The Jets would enter halftime with a Greg Zuerlein 34-yard field goal tying the game up 10-10.
Zach Wilson would enter halftime throwing for 185 yards after having 77 total yards in his last start.
In the third quarter, the Jets get the ball back, Zach Wilson has been decent with the ball, but that would change after he threw his first pick of the game to Lions cornerback Jerry Jacobs. Wilson looked like he didn’t read the coverage as he was trying to be aggressive with the ball.
The Lions would eventually settle for a Badgley 34-yard field goal giving the Lions a 13-10 lead.
The Jets would soon find a spark on offense midway through the fourth quarter after failing to get into sync on offense in the third quarter. On a 2nd and 6, Wilson would find Garrett Wilson for a 33-yard gain that also included a 15-yard defensive pass interference that was declined. Now with the Jets at the 1-yard line, they try to punch it in with a Zach Wilson quarterback sneak which was ruled a touchdown at first, but after review, the call was overturned. So, the Jets would rush back to the line of scrimmage and get a play-action play going as Wilson was able to find CJ Uzomah for an easy 1-yard touchdown pass to give the Jets back the lead in the middle of the fourth quarter, 17-13.
Now, with the Lions having possession, in the first play of the drive, Brock Wright dropped a pass that was bobbled in his hands, but he would later redeem himself as he would have arguably the biggest play of the game as he caught a 51-yard touchdown catch and run on a 4th and inches. CJ Mosley had no business going with the flow of the play, as Wright was able to run right past him and score the touchdown. Either way, the Jets were in man coverage on the play, and either Jordan Whitehead or Quincy Williams was supposed to cover Wright, who was blocking but then leaked out and was able to score. The Lions were running deep routes on the opposite side of the ball to create yards after catch room for Brock Wright. The Jets have just fooled on the play all-around, as CJ Mosley after the game said:
“They got us.”
On the Jets’ last drive of the game, Wilson gets sacked on the first play for a loss of 9 yards, making a comeback look even harder. The Jets would then convert a first down a couple of plays later on a 22-yard catch to Garrett Wilson. Throughout the drive, Robert Saleh failed to use any timeouts, as he had three left. It made it harder for the Jets to get either in the red zone or in field goal range, as they barely had any time left to make something wrong. Eventually, the Jets would have to try to make life harder for themselves as they were going for a 58-yard field goal, which would end up going wide-right as Greg Zuerlein missed from 58 yards, resulting in the Jets losing at home to the Lions 20-17.
There’s much to take away from the Jets’ game against the Lions. To start, Zach Wilson did play decently, but there’s still a lot that he still needs to work on. The difference between Zach Wilson and Mike White is apparent; White makes football look easy, while Wilson makes it look not easy. Wilson, on some plays and mainly on the game’s last drive, is playing like it’s backyard football where he’s running all over the place trying to make something happen. He has shown inconsistency with his accuracy as he misses on receivers that are wide open, especially the one throw to Berrios on the last drive of the game. He seems to be more comfortable outside the pocket than staying in the bag, especially when they get him rolling on the play-action plays outside the pocket. The reason is that he could be scared to get sacked, so he’s more focused on looking at the pass rush instead of his reads. The Jets’ offense needs to do a better job sustaining drives; that can’t be all on Wilson. The offensive coordinator needs to fix his play-calling, where Wilson is set to succeed in drives that hurt the team. When asked about his interception, Wilson admits that it was forced:
“Bad decision… forced it.”
Wilson the explains how he didn’t do enough to put his team in a position to win, which was good to hear from Zach because he was able to take accountability.
Another takeaway was the terrible clock management on Robert Saleh’s part. It’s mind-blowing that he didn’t use any of his three timeouts at the end of the game to give the Jets less pressure of either getting into a good field goal position or scoring a touchdown. After the Garrett Wilson catch, Saleh was probably saving his timeouts so the referees couldn’t review the play, but it only ran out some time on the clock for the Jets.
When asked after the game about the questionable clock management, Saleh said:
“I can look back at it and say we should’ve used one. But at the same time, when you have three timeouts, time is not an issue whether you use one there or not.”
Credit to the defense for sticking it out till the end and playing lights out primarily throughout the game because the Lions’ offense was red hot coming into the Jets matchup. Not to mention that Sauce Gardner was not targeted a single time as the nearest defender. Saleh even said:
“We’re in the position we’re in because the defense plays their tail off.”
But if the Jets want to be considered Elite, they have to be able to play situational football and come up clutch when needed because the Jets’ offense isn’t going to bail them out most of the time.
Even though the Jets’ playoff hopes keep getting harder with losing three straight games, they’re still in it, but it will only be more challenging. Luckily, the Patriots lost off the error on their lateral pass attempt, and it ended up in the hands of former Patriots pass rush Chandler Jones to run it back for a touchdown after stiffing Mac Jones to the ground. But the Chargers beat the Titans off a game-ending field goal 17-14.
The Jets have to prepare for a short week as they play the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are coming off an upset victory against the Dallas Cowboys. The Jaguars have gone 3-2 in the last five games and now sit on a 6-8 record. They technically still have a shot at the division, as the Titans only are 7-7. This matchup is significant for the Jets as they need to win out to secure any hope of making the playoffs.
