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The Jets won the toss and elected to defer.
Still confused by that considering they have a pedestrian defense at best, and a future Hall-of-Fame QB.
And as is often the case, the other team marched down the field and scored.
It looked like the Jets were going to hold the Jacksonville Jaguars to three when defensive end Will McDonald sacked Mac Jones on third down.
However, Sauce Gardner was called for defensive holding in the end zone.
Look, obviously tons of pass interference penalties are called in the NFL these days. It’s an epidemic.
And Jones had a lot of time to throw on its play, so the Jets back seven had to hold up in coverage for a decent amount of time.
Now if he was covering speedster Brian Thomas, who had 10 catches, maybe you could see holding on a long drawn out coverage situation (which actually happened later – when Gardner had PI on Thomas on a deep pass), but Gardner was called for holding 252-pound tight end Brenton Strange. It’s not like he was going to run away from him.
Gardner is a heck of a player, and did have a pick to ice the game late, but he needs to cut back on grabbing a little . . .
Speaking of Gardner, to his credit, he’s taken heed of the criticism of his tackling, and has been putting his “face in the fan” more in recent weeks. That is a coaching term for aggressive, fearless tackling.
One guy who showed that he has no problem “sticking his face in the fan” is rookie cornerback Quantez Stiggers, who tackled like a safety in his first start, finishing with four tackles, and they were impressive ones, the way he was throwing his body around . . .
The Aaron Rodgers-Davante Adams show in the second half of the Jets win over Jacksonville was a tour-de-force. Adams had no catches in the first half, and was targeted twice, and had a drop, and maybe two if you are a tough grader.
To then turn around and have nine catches for 198 and two touchdowns in the second half, is certainly a second half for the ages by Adams. And could have had three touchdowns, but he stopped short of taking another sure TD into the end zone for clock reasons.
Some people might wonder where this was earlier in the year.
It’s simple.
Most people assumed that the Rodgers-Adams tandem would pick up where they left off in Green Bay in 2021.
But it didn’t happen right out of the gate after the in-season trade.
Three years apart is a long time, and the Jets’ offense has been tweaked from the system run in Green Bay, so it’s not like Adams jumped right back into the same exact playbook, and his mind was in a different playbook the last couple of years. It would have been better if the trade was made in the off-season, so Rodgers-Adams could have had a camp together . . .
The Jets defense continues to make pedestrian quarterbacks look better than they are. Kyler Murray, Anthony Richardson and now Mac Jones.
Jones was 31 of 26 for 294 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran four times for 29 yards, thanks in part to the proclivity of the Jets’ front to be too aggressive (“All gas, no break) and run past the QBs giving them escape lanes.
The Jets did intercept Jones off twice, but the early pick by Jalen Mills was like a punt.
And once again Rodgers gave the Jets defense a lead in the fourth quarter, and the defense gave it back.
The Jets not only need a new scheme on defense after this season, but they need some significant personnel changes.
The previous regime made some mistakes, fell in love with certain players not worthy of that love on the field.
December 15, 2024
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