McCown, dominant defense fuel Jets
All that dismal 0-16 talk is over. And, the New York Jets ended it early with a stunningly dominant performance.
Josh McCown threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson, Bilal Powell ran for a score, and the Jets’ defense frustrated Jay Cutler and the Miami Dolphins in a 20-6 victory Sunday in New York’s home opener.
“Oh, man, it was awesome,” McCown said. “It was special.”
While a lot of the focus from many fans and media heading into the season was on whether the revamped Jets roster would be good enough to win any games , New York made Miami look like the team in the middle of a rebuild.
“We’ve always had confidence,”
said rookie safety Jamal Adams, who had one of the Jets’ three sacks. “We’re not where we want to be, but this is the start of it.”
McCown finished 18 of 23 for 249 yards, Chandler Catanzaro kicked two field goals, and the Jets (1-2) forced Cutler and the Dolphins (1-1) into mistakes all game. The Jets also avoided their first 0-3 start since 2003.
“Relief? Great feeling? Whatever you want to say,” McCown said. “When you win, it’s a great feeling. Internally, there’s a method that we go about and then there’s obviously an external narrative that people
have for this team. We’ve not bought that.
“So, for us, to say it’s a relief, it was not an expectation that it was going to be hard to win a game this year. We expected to win games. We expect to win a lot of games.”
New York just missed having its first shutout since blanking Cincinnati 37-0 on Jan. 13, 2010. Cutler threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to DeVante Parker on the final play. Cody Parkey missed the extra point, capping a miserable day for Miami in 88-degree heat at MetLife Stadium.
“They just beat the ( heck) out of us,” coach Adam Gase said. “That’s the best way to put it. We didn’t show up, didn’t play physical.”
Cutler, making his sec-
ond start for Miami, struggled to connect with his receivers throughout. Miami failed to convert its first eight third-down opportunities, not getting one until early in the fourth quarter, and finished 1 for 12.
Cutler was 26 of 44 for 220 yards with an interception and the TD toss. Miami was outgained in total yards 336-225.
“I think that game was a wakeup call for us,” Cutler said. “We can’t just roll it out there and expect it to happen.”
A solid drive on New York’s second possession stalled at the Dolphins 32, and Catanzaro shanked a 45-yard field goal attempt wide left, leaving the game scoreless.
The Jets finally took their first lead of the season on
Catanzaro’s 40-yarder with 7:17 remaining in the half.
New York went ahead 10- 0 on McCown’s perfectly placed pass to Anderson, who caught the ball in stride and sped into the end zone for a 69-yard score . The play came right after a long run by Powell was wiped out by a questionable holding penalty on center Wesley Johnson.
“Guys were all mad,” McCown said of the penalty. “And I was like, ‘Guys, let’s go get ‘em the next play.”’
Powell leaped into the end zone from 1 yard to make it 17- 0 on the Jets’ first possession of the second half. The drive was kept alive by defensive lineman Lawrence Thomas — lining up as a fullback throughout the game — catching a 15yard pass on third-and-1.