Jets' grades vs. Browns: Coaching, special teams put the 'F' in TNF
Jets quarterback Trevor Siemian passes against the Browns during the first half of an NFL game Thursday in Cleveland. Credit: AP/Ron Schwane
OFFENSE: D
Things started well with the first Jets touchdown of the season on an opening drive. After that, there just wasn’t enough firepower to keep up with the Browns and the offense never found the end zone again. Trevor Siemian threw a pick-6 late in the first quarter that gave the Browns a 20-7 lead. Breece Hall was the most explosive player for the Jets with 126 all-purpose yards. With the scoring gap growing, though, the Browns' stout defensive front began to smell the playoff berth at stake for them and dominated up front. The last gasp occurred with 5:21 remaining when Siemian scrambled on fourth-and-7 and gained about 6 1/2 yards, turning it over on downs at the Jets’ 32.
DEFENSE: D
The Jets had gone 33 straight games without allowing a 300-yard passer until old pal Joe Flacco came along and torched them for 309 (he had 296 at the half). That he did it without primary target Amari Cooper on the field made it all the more impressive. Another former Jet, Elijah Moore, had a big game with five catches for 61 yards and a TD before leaving with a concussion just before halftime. The Jets opened the game as if they had David Njoku on their fantasy teams, allowing him 117 receiving yards on the first two drives. At a few points, they moved Sauce Gardner in to cover the tight end. Njoku finished with six catches for 134 yards. Jermaine Johnson provided the highlight with a pick-6 off his own deflected pass. Johnson might have had a second TD on a fourth- quarter fumble return, but the play erroneously was blown dead and all the Jets got out of it was possession.
SPECIAL TEAMS: F
Why deviate from having Xavier Gipson return kickoffs? It led to Izzy Abanikanda fumbling his first attempt and being replaced with Gipson anyway. The unit kept crumbling in the second half with a 31-yard field-goal attempt that was blocked after the Jets couldn’t get the right people onto the field. Even when they did something right, it went wrong: a punt by Thomas Morstead on the final play of the first quarter bounced three times inside the 1, but no one could down it before it trickled over the goal line for a touchback.
COACHING: F
It’s very late in the year to be making sloppy preseason mistakes such as having too many men in an offensive huddle or lining up with the receiver not covering the tackle, yet the Jets did both of those on the same possession in the second quarter. On the opening drive of the third quarter, the Jets couldn’t get the right personnel onto the field for a field-goal attempt and took a delay-of-game penalty before the kick was blocked. In the fourth quarter, the Jets wanted to try to convert a key fourth-and-6 that might have helped them close the gap. Instead, they took a delay of game and wound up punting. In all, there were 12 penalties against the Jets for 74 yards.
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.
