On Sunday, the New York Jets took on the Cincinnati Bengals at MetLife Stadium. Last season, the Jets had a bit of late-game magic to stun the eventual AFC Champions. That was not the case this year, as the Jets fell to 1-2 and lost to the Bengals 27-12. This was Cincinnati’s first win of the season. The pattern for the Jets not being able to handle prosperity continues as they laid an egg against a somewhat struggling Bengals team after beating a solid Browns team a week ago. Successful teams in the NFL are able to duplicate success week after week and keep the losing to inferior opponents at a minimum.
In terms of the offense, they were abysmal. Backup QB Joe Flacco proved to the crowd at MetLife why he is indeed the backup and not the starting quarterback. He completed 28 out of 52 passes for no touchdowns and 2 interceptions while also fumbling twice. The Jets' offense as a whole failed to score a single touchdown the entire game. Both poor play by the offensive line and critical drops on 3rd and 4th down plays late in the game did Gang Green in. The only silver lining is that Zach Wilson will be back next week and he’ll hopefully have something to prove here in Year 2 and give Jets fans hope whether it be for the rest of this season or the future.
The defense on the other hand started out slow but got much better as the game went on. However, the early mistakes coupled with the inability for the Jets to generate any offense made the difference. One such play comes to mind when DE John Franklin-Myers had a terrible roughing the passer penalty on 3rd down when the Jets would’ve gotten the ball back but that kept the drive alive and the Bengals would go on to score a touchdown. Moving forward, these penalties need to be corrected along with starting out fast and not waiting until the second half.
Next week, the Jets will travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers. The Steelers like the Jets are also 1-2 on the season but will not appear to have an advantage at the quarterback position. This is a very winnable game for the Jets just as long as they are able to score touchdowns, protect Wilson, and keep the penalties at a minimum. Also, the Steelers will be without TJ Watt so Wilson likely will not have to worry about constantly facing pressure from the Steelers' defensive line. Don’t worry Jets fans…it is still early in the season and with Wilson coming back, maybe your team can get something going.
-Jack Henry Cicio
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