Jets grades vs. Denver Broncos in Week 6 in London
Jets quarterback Justin Fields is tackled by the Broncos defense in the second half of an NFL game Sunday in London. Credit: AP/Kin Cheung
OFFENSE: F
This was worse than an F. Managing only 82 total yards (the fewest by any team this season) and having minus-10 net passing yards is embarrassingly inept. The Jets’ best play was a run by Breece Hall off a fumbled snap that nearly put them in field-goal range for the game-winning attempt . . . before they were sacked out of it. Justin Fields looked lost on his dropbacks and took nine sacks. Can’t blame this one on penalties (two) or turnovers (none).
DEFENSE: B+
They definitely played well enough to win. They notched their first takeaway of the season when Jarvis Brownlee Jr. poked out an early fumble that was recovered by Andre Cisco and the defense forced the safety that gave the Jets the lead in the third quarter. Jermaine Johnson’s sack late in the fourth should have given the Jets a chance to at least try a game-winning field goal. There were only two bad plays all game: The coverage breakdown on the TD pass that ended the first quarter and the 26-yard completion on third-and-8 that set up the go-ahead field goal in the fourth.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A
Kene Nwangwu’s 72-yard kickoff return in the first quarter set up a field goal, and then he and Arian Smith downed a punt at the 3 in the third quarter that set up the safety for the lead. Nick Folk was 3-for-3 on his field goals with a long of 52. The Jets even ran a successful fake punt on a direct snap to Hall, although all it led to was them just running out the clock on the half. Which brings us to . . .
COACHING: F
That management at the end of the first half was atrocious. It began with the inability to get a snap off before the two-minute warning after converting a first down with 2:25 left. Then, after the fake punt with 1:00 left, they ran only three plays for 9 yards before simply watching the final 27 seconds tick away. At the end of the game, Aaron Glenn needed to give Folk a chance to win it even if it would have been a 60-yarder. The tough decisions won’t end with the clock at zeros: Now Glenn’s choice of sticking with Fields or turning to Tyrod Taylor at quarterback will be the coaching storyline for the upcoming week.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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