Another week, another prime time game for the New York Jets. Gang Green headed out to Vegas to take on the Raiders who had some momentum after Antonio Pierce took over for Josh McDaniels as head coach.
From the first drive of the game, you could tell Max Crosby and this Raiders’ defense would be a challenge for Zach Wilson. While it was a struggle, New York got points on the board with a Greg Zuerlein field goal. Aiden O’Connell took to the air most of the Raiders' second drive with Davante Adams as his main target most of the way. Adams had four receptions for 59 yards on the first two drives, leading Vegas into the red zone. New York's defense held the Raiders to a Daniel Carlson field goal and we had a 3-3 game.
Wilson and the New York offense started to move the ball down the field on their second drive of the game, but a big CJ Uzomah holding call forced another Zuerlein field goal to put the Jets up 6-3 with a minute to go in the 1st quarter. As they have done all year, the Jets' defense stepped up after the offense could not find pay dirt. Jordan Whitehead picked off O’Connell to set Zach Wilson and company up at the Vegas 26 heading into the 2nd quarter.
Another holding penalty pushed the Jets back. On 3rd-and-7, Wilson took off and nearly brought it to the house diving for the pylon, however it was ruled that he was out at the 3-yard line. Breece Hall powered into the end zone on the very next play, but a holding call on Uzomah once again negated the touchdown. Gang Green could not recover from that and Zuerlein tacked on his third field goal of the night making it 9-3 New York.
Each team traded punts with the Raiders holding possession of the ball with the clock winding down. Carlson knocked down a 54-yard field goal to end the half making it 9-6 New York.
The 2nd half saw a lot more of the same from both offenses’. Neither could move the ball and traded punts until Vegas drove far enough into Jets territory for Carlson to hit a field goal tying the game at nine late in the 3rd quarter.
Josh Jacobs set the Raiders up on a huge 40-yard run and the 4th quarter began with rookie tight end Michael Mayer making a spectacular catch to put Vegas up 16-9. Hall got New York back into Raiders’ territory but, you guessed it, the drive stalled out and Zuerlein hit another field goal to cut the deficit to 16-12 with just under 12 minutes left in the game.
The Raiders drove the ball deep into Jets' territory before Jacobs fumbled to give Wilson and company a change to drive down and win the game. Wilson led the Jets all the way to the Vegas 20, but was picked off after not seeing the linebacker on a pass intended for Allen Lazard. New York did get the ball back but could not complete a Hail Mary and time expired with the Jets falling 16-12 and dropping to 4-5 on the year.
The biggest takeaway is that this team can not get out of its own way. Several big plays in this game we negated by penalties and the offense could not finish. While this defense is one of the best if not the best in the league, you need to get into the end zone. Even if the Jets pulled off a 12-9 win, it is still very clear that this team has a long way to go in order to be a true contender.
New York travels to Buffalo to next Sunday as they look to get back on track against a Bills team that they have already beaten this year.
