PETT’ CEMETERY
Dolphins bury Bryce, hapless Jets
That’s gonna leave a mark. Dolphins defenders Cameron Wake (91) and Ndamukong Suh sandwich Jets QB Bryce Petty during a 34-13 rout of Gang Green on Saturday at MetLife, during which owner Woody Johnson stormed out of the stadium. Petty suffered a chest injury on the play and did not return.
If you decided to do some last-minute Christmas shopping or wrap some presents or spend your Saturday night doing anything other than watching the Jets, good call.
The Jets were dismal in prime time again, getting blown out 34-13 by the Dolphins in front of a MetLife Stadium crowd filled with Miami fans.
If you’re scoring at home, the Jets have been outscored 75-23 in their past two home prime-time games after the embarrassment against the Colts two weeks ago.
Jets owner Woody Johnson is not expected to fire second-year coach Todd Bowles after the season, but the thought has to be going through his mind watching these catastrophes. The Jets (4-10) have lost five of their past six. The Dolphins (9-5) kept their playoff hopes alive.
The game actually started out better for the Jets than any recent one, and they were trailing by just three points at halftime. Then, the Dolphins scored three touchdowns in four minutes in the third quarter and Jets quarterback Bryce Petty got blasted and knocked out of the game, bringing Ryan Fitzpatrick back in, a perfect punctuation to this mess.
Petty had a bad night in his second straight game as the starter. He went 20-of-36 passing for 235 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Petty relied mostly on short dumpoffs to running back Bilal Powell ( 10 catches, 65 yards). The worst part of the night for Petty came on the first play of the fourth quarter, when an unblocked Cameron Wake and Ndamukong Suh met at Petty, crushing the second-year quarterback on a 28-yard pass to Robby Anderson. Petty left the game and was replaced by Fitzpatrick. The Jets announced Petty had “the wind knocked out of him.”
The Dolphins held a 13-10 lead at halftime, but blew the game open in the third quarter. The first touchdown came on the latest special teams gaffe in a season full of them by the Jets. Dolphins safety Walt Aikens ran past Jets running back Brandon Wilds to block Lachlan Edwards’ punt, then returned it 11 yards for a touchdown and a 20-10 lead with 10:30 left in the quarter.
Matt Moore, who had not started a game in five years, marched the Dolphins down the field after Petty’s second interception of the game. Moore hit Jarvis Landry for 31 yards and Dion Sims for 28 yards before finding Sims for a 1-yard touchdown pass, his second of the game. The score came 2 minutes, 43 seconds after the blocked punt touchdown.
The onslaught continued with a 66-yard touchdown pass from Moore to Landry on their next series, making it 34-10 just 1 minute, 11 seconds after the previous touchdown.
Powell, starting in place of Matt Forte, carried the Jets for most of the first half, tallying 113 yards from scrimmage before halftime. Whenever Petty got into trouble, he found Powell as a safety valve.
Petty had s ome good moments in the first half. He got the Jets on the scoreboard first with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Anderson on their first drive.
Though Petty made some nice throws in the first half, he also made a couple of mistakes. He fumbled on the Jets’ second drive of the game and it likely cost them points. On third-and-4 from the Dolphins’ 14, Petty coughed up the ball when an unblocked Wake sacked him. Suh recovered the ball, ending a scoring threat by the Jets.
Wake continued to haunt Petty, who did not see him when he dropped into coverage on a second down at the Miami 27 in the second quarter. Petty threw it right to Wake, who recorded his first career interception, ending a Jets scoring threat.
On the series before the Petty interception, the Dolphins marched 52 yards on eight plays. On third-and-1 from the Jets’ 1, Moore connected with Sims for a touchdown on a play that was initially ruled incomplete, but overturned on review. Andrew Franks missed the extra point, though, keeping the Jets in front, 7-6.
That was the first of two successful challenges by Dolphins coach Adam Gase. The Jets appeared to pick up a third down at midfield on a pass from Petty to Powell. Gase threw the challenge flag and the refs moved the ball back and gave the Jets a fourth-and-1. The Jets lined up in shotgun and handed it to Powell, who got stuffed by linebacker Kiko Alonso. Bowles challenged the call, but replay confirmed Powell was down.
The Dolphins took advantage. On third-and-9, the Jets blitzed Moore, who sailed a pass deep to Kenny Stills, who beat rookie cornerback Juston Burris, for a 52-yard touchdown and a 13-7 Dolphins lead.
Petty did lead the Jets on a nice two-minute drive that ended with Nick Folk 48-yard field goal 22 seconds before halftime, cutting the deficit to 13-10.