A ROYAL PAIN
Troubles with slow-staring ‘O’ follow Jets across Pond in loss to Falcons
FALCONS 27
JETS 20
LONDON — The Jets offense failed to capitalize on the magic of the Week 4 victory. After traveling across the pond to London to play the Falcons, Gang Green will fly home with a 27-20 loss added to their record on the season.
Based on last week, the Jets were trending upward. They snatched a victory over the Titans and Zach Wilson made jaw-dropping throws that caused the crowd to erupt. The Falcons had just fallen to 1-3 by blowing an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter against Washington.
So, this was an opportunity for the Jets to secure a win before the bye week, and they fumbled that chance.
The offense wasn’t good enough and self inflicted wounds hurt them as they finished with 230 yards. Wilson was subpar and threw for 192 yards with an interception.
Rookie quarterbacks often go through a roller-coaster ride and Wilson’s performance was on a down slope of that ride.
Wilson wasn’t reading the field well. He also held the ball and overall made a plethora of inaccurate throws.
“I can’t just come out and miss throws,” Wilson said. “They’re not throws that are hard. The coaches are putting us in good positions.”
One example of that was his interception with 10:27 left in the second quarter with the Jets trailing, 17-0.
Wilson threw to Keelan Cole on a corner route with the Falcons in cover two. Cole was open at the top of his route, but Wilson was late on the throw and that allowed Falcon safety Jaylinn Hawkins the necessary time to jump the pass.
Later in the second quarter, Wilson motioned Corey Davis to the right side of the field and put the offense in trips with Jamison Crowder, Davis and Elijah Moore. The Falcons were blitzing and were in man. Moore and Davis ran deep while Crowder ran a bubble route. Wilson threw the ball at Crowder’s feet and that killed an opportunity for a potential touchdown. Crowder was one-on-one with Falcon safety Duron Harmon and could have made Harmon miss.
“You always go back to your fundamentals,” coach Robert Saleh said “He’s working on it daily, I promise you, and he’s going to get better at it and he’s very deliberate about it.”
The main point of critique Sunday was the slow start of the Jets’ offense, which allowed the Falcons to jump out to a 20-3 lead.
That’s inexcusable because the Falcons defense was allowing a pitiful 32 points
per game. Yes, the Jets offense was averaging just 11 points, but the excuse was they played tough defenses in the Patriots, Panthers and Broncos.
The Falcons defense is not the same class, but their defense smacked the Jets offense right in the mouth early.
The Jets were held to — count it — six yards in the first quarter, which is on brand. They came into the game averaging 2.5 first-half points per game and they technically exceeded that ... by half a point after netting a field goal in the first half. The Jets had 80 yards at the half.
“I don’t know what it is,” Wilson said. “We have got to figure that out over this bye week, how to fix that. I’ve got to play better at the start as well.”
It’s impossible to win in the NFL when you basically take the first half off.
The Falcons scoring defense was the worst in the NFL coming in, but the Jets couldn’t take advantage of it.
“It’s a lot of self-inflicted things we’re going to ourselves,” Davis said.
Saleh also didn’t have an answer for why the offense has been so slow to start.
“I’m going to work my tail off over this bye week and see if there’s something that we can come up with,” Saleh said. “Study the tape. Look at all the decisions and execution and figure out what the answer is.”
The Jets could usually count on the defense, but it struggled for the entire game, allowing 450 yards.
Matt Ryan diced the Jets up for 342 yards and two touchdowns. The Falcons ran the ball with ease for 108 yards and a touchdown.
The Jets defensive line wasn’t able to get pressure as it logged only 13 pressures with zero sacks. So Ryan was comfortable for the most part.
The defense woke up in the second half and held the Falcons scoreless on their first three drives. Eventually, the Jets were able to score two touchdowns.
They got the deficit down to three points with 6:55 remaining in the fourth, but couldn’t stop the Falcons from marching down the field on the following drive, which opened with a 39-yard completion to Kyle Pitts. A few plays later, Ryan converted a third-and-12 to Olamide Zaccheaus.
The drive ended with a Mike Davis rushing touchdown, which sealed the door on a potential Jets comeback.
A slow start doomed the Jets and now they’re 1-4 and will have to go see Bill Belichick and the Patriots again on Oct. 24.