The New York Jets landed in Texas just six days after losing star quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a torn Achilles. It seemed fitting—as Texas has seen star QBs go fall and backups shine, like Matt Saracen and Johnny Moxon. Alright, maybe those were just movies, but the Jets sure hoped backup Zach Wilson could rise to the occasion just like the fictional characters before him.
Gang Green looked to corral the Dallas Cowboys, who ran the Giants out of Metlife Stadium just one week ago. New York’s defense was put to the test on the opening drive of the game. Dallas received the opening kickoff, and it was the Tony Pollard show. Dallas drove down the field with Pollard touching the ball on eight of the 14 plays. The drive was capped off by a Dak Prescott touchdown pass to Jake Ferguson, putting Dallas up 7-0.
Wilson and the Jets' offense could not get much going to start this game. They went 3-and-out on their first drive of the game and punted the ball away once again to end the first quarter. Starting from their own 5-yard line, Dallas manufactured a 15-play drive capped off by a Brandon Aubrey 35-yard field goal, putting the Cowboys up 10-0.
The Jets’ offense showed some life two drives later. Wilson fired a missile into Garrett Wilson’s bread basket, who turned on the Jets—sprinting 68 yards for a monster touchdown. The Jets now had life only down 10-7 taking only nine seconds off the clock. Dallas’ offense, though, was grinding out long drives all day. Following the Wilson-to-Wilson TD, Prescott and company put together a 17-play, 54-yard drive that ended in another Prescott touchdown pass to a tight end. The Jets tacked on a field goal before the half ended, and trialed Dallas 18-10.
The second half proved to be all about defense for both sides. The Jets started the 3rd quarter punting after just 6 plays. To make matters worse, when the third quarter ended, the Jets punted twice and fumbled the ball—gaining a total of 13 yards all quarter.
Dallas went on to kick a pair of field goals in both the 3rd and 4th quarters while the Jets. After only gaining 13 yards all 3rd quarter, Wilson threw three interceptions to ice the game for the Cowboys. The Jets fell to Dallas 30-10 just six days after losing Rodgers.
Takeaways:
While the Jets could not do much on offense all game, Wilson was the least of their problems. New York rushed for just 64 yards in the game. Worse than that, the three running backs (Dalvin Cook, Breece Hall, and Michael Carter) combined for just 24 yards on 10 total carries. For this team to be successful without Rodgers, they are going to have the run the ball more. Yes, teams will stack the box to force Wilson to throw, but you cannot settle for only 10 rushing attempts from your running backs all game.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Jets stuck with zone defense which kept allowing Prescott to find holes and complete passes to CeeDee Lamb. With an elite corner like Sauce Gardner, it was confusing to see them go with zone instead of man-to-man.
Up next:
The Jets will welcome Bill Belichick and the rival New England Patriots to Metlife Stadium on Sunday. New England is 0-2 but still, as of this moment, comes into the game as favorites. With Kansas City looming the week after, this will become a must-win for a team that still has playoff aspirations.
