Three takeaways from the Jets' Week 13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks
Kene Nwangwu of the Jets celebrates his second-quarter kickoff return touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
1. Aaron Rodgers looks old
He turns 41 Monday and played like it on Sunday in the Jets’ 26-21 loss to the Seahawks.
Rodgers said this was the best he felt and moved all season. The results were the same, though. He threw 39 times for only 185 yards. He didn’t engineer a scoring drive after the first quarter and the Jets didn’t score after halftime for the third time this season. This was the fifth time Rodgers had the ball in his hands late in a game to lead a tying or winning drive, and the Jets have lost all five.
Rodgers is not the same quarterback he was in Green Bay. He’s older and making more mistakes. He missed open receivers multiple times, and the most glaring was overthrowing Garrett Wilson on a fade when the Jets could have gone ahead 28-7. Rodgers said he accounted for the wind too much. “I got to hit that,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve played in wind before.” He threw a 92-yard pick-6 to Leonard Williams on the very next play.
The Jets could decide to give someone else a chance at quarterback, given that Rodgers hasn’t done what they thought he would do for them.
2. The defense was sloppy and undisciplined (again)
The Jets were flagged for four penalties on one very important drive — three on fourth-and-1 plays and one on third down. The drive ended with Zach Charbonnet scoring what proved to be the winning touchdown on an 8-yard run.
As bad as the offense has been, the defense has let down with the game on the line too often this season, and this drive was almost comical.
The first penalty was 12 men on the field on fourth-and-6 from Seattle’s 33. Punt returner Xavier Gipson ran on the field because the Jets expected the Seahawks to punt it, but they had lost their punter to injury. Then on fourth-and-1, rookie Qwan’tez Stiggers was called for pass interference on DK Metcalf. Stiggers was in because the Jets’ top three cornerbacks had left with injuries.
Later, on fourth-and-1, they stopped Charbonnet for a 1-yard loss, but that was negated by Solomon Thomas’ horse-collar tackle.
Finally, Geno Smith threw incomplete on third-and-6; it originally was ruled a fumble but reversed. It didn’t matter because Will McDonald lined up offside. Charbonnet scored on the next play. What an ugly series for Jeff Ulbrich’s defense.
3. Kene Nwangwu should have been playing sooner
The Jets just elevated Nwangwu from the practice team on Saturday and he provided a big spark on special teams. He had a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and forced a fumble on a kickoff that the Jets recovered.
The Jets haven’t gotten much in the return game from Gipson and Izzy Abanikanda. Nwangwu deserves to be the Jets’ primary kick returner going forward. “I feel like every time I touch the ball, I am going to score with it,” he said.
He began the season with the Saints but was waived after a failed physical, and the Jets signed him to the practice team in September. Nwangwu was a second-team All-Pro with the Vikings in 2022 as a kick returner. He returned three kicks for touchdowns his first two seasons, including one for 99 yards, and matched that in his first touch for the Jets. “That’s my job. Scoring,’’ he said. “So it was a really cool moment for me.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
