A few takeaways from the Jets Week 7 loss to Dolphins
By Jack Monaghan
With Week 8 almost upon us, here are a few takeaways from the Week 7 loss handed to the New York Jets courtesy of the Miami Dolphins.
It was all going well for the New York Jets as they held a two-touchdown lead over the Miami Dolphins in the early stages of the fourth quarter in their Week 7 matchup. That’s when the Jets lost the lead and their cool. After Jay Cutler went down with a rib injury, Gang Green’s defense couldn’t stop Matt Moore from finding Kenny Stills twice and the offense went quiet.
With the game tied at 28 and less than a minute to go, the Jets put the ball in the hands of their 38-year-old quarterback who had thrown for three touchdowns and ran for another. However, this time, he made the critical mistake throwing a pick to Bobby McCain and setting the Dolphins up in prime position for a game-winning field goal. The Jets got the ball back with 22 seconds left but with no timeouts, their fate was seemingly sealed and Robby Anderson put the icing on the cake with a 15-yard penalty that backed the Jets up inside their own ten after he fired off his helmet in frustration when the ball wasn’t thrown his way.
Anderson claimed after the game that he wasn’t aware of the rule stating that a player cannot remove their helmet while on the field of play, but that’s no excuse to lose your cool like that in the middle of a crucial moment. Anderson’s 15-yard penalty was the last of 12 the Jets committed throughout the day for a grand total of 124 yards. That’s too much for most teams to overcome and nearly impossible for a Jets squad that lacks talent in so many areas.
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Todd Bowles said his team needs to find a ‘killer instinct’ at the end of games and what we saw in the closing quarter of Sunday’s loss looked like a team that completely forgot how to execute and was waiting for the other shoe to finally drop. The Jets vaunted defensive line that had underperformed for much of the year finally broke out in a big way highlighted by Muhammad Wilkerson‘s interception that set up McCown’s 1-yard touchdown run to give the Jets a 21-14 lead heading into the locker room.
The offense was impressive for much of the day as well with Jermaine Kearse, Anderson, and Austin Seferian-Jenkins all finding the end zone while Bilal Powell and Matt Forte kept the chains moving on the ground. At 3-4, the Jets are still in much better position than most people thought they would be almost halfway through the season and have a chance to climb back over .500 with their next two games at home against the Falcons and the Bills, which will obviously be much easier said than done.
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Atlanta currently sits at 3-3 and while they have lost three games in a row are still a potent offensive team with a defense that ranks 9th in the NFL. Buffalo has been one of the early season surprises as their off to a 4-2 start and are getting great quarterback play from Tyrod Taylor. They already knocked off the Jets in their Week 1 matchup at Orchard Park.
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Stopping the run against two premier backs in Devontae Freeman and LeSean McCoy like the did this past week against Jay Ajayi will be the key to getting their season back on track. The next few weeks will be a trying test for these young Jets as were about to find out what their true colors really are.