S Jamal Adams sacked Daniel Jones early in the second half, grabbed the ball out of the quarterback's hands, then raced 25 yards for the touchdown to give the Jets a 21-13 lead. This score turned out to be the difference, as the Gang Green defeated their crosstown rivals, 34-27. Adams also had another sack earlier in the game and had a team best 9 tackles (8 solo).
QB Sam Darnold finally played a turnover free game. He completed 19 of 30 passes for 230 yards, 1 TD. Once again he was brilliant on the game opening drive, completing all seven passes and then scoring on a 2-yard run. The Jets extended their lead on their second possession of the game when Darnold connected with WR Jamison Crowder on a 23-yard touchdown pass.
The defense did an excellent job stopping the Giants' running game. Last year's Rookie of the Year, Saquon Barkley, had the worst game of his NFL career - 1 yard on 13 carries. Pass rush also finally came alive, as the Gang Green delivered 8 hits on Jones, sacking him 6 times. On the negative side, the Jets gave up two touchdowns of 30+ yards and allowed the Giants to convert 8 of 18 third downs. Despite being sacked 6 times and losing a fumble, Jones still had arguably the best game of his career - 308 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT.
After jumping to a 14-0 lead early in the game, the Gang Green's offense pretty much disappeared until the last quarter. The Jets punted on the next two possessions, gaining -2 yards on 8 plays. Then, they missed a field goal, as they failed to advance the ball following a turnover on downs by the Giants. Luckily, this time the opponent was just as bad, allowing Gase and Co. to come out with a win.
Speaking of Gase, he continued to struggle with his in-game adjustments. His playcalling was still predictable for the most part and RB Le'Veon Bell continued to be underutilized in the passing game (just 4 catches for 34 yards). Then, there were the two lost challenges late in the game. While the first one on a 3rd and one was kinda ok, the second challenge made very little sense. It was pretty clear that Jones did lot fumble, yet the Jets challenged for whatever reason and lost two coaching challenges along with two timeouts late in the fourth quarter.
Next Sunday the Gang Green will have a great chance to win another game against a pretty weak opponent. The Washington Redskins are 1-8 and have lost three games in a row. Their offense is led by a struggling rookie quarterback who's yet to throw a single touchdown in the NFL. This surely sounds like a winnable game but the Jets are well known for making bad teams look much better...