Grading the Jets vs. Chargers in NFL Week 9
Sauce Gardner of the Jets breaks up a pass intended for Jalen Guyton of the Chargers during the second quarter at MetLife Stadium on Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OFFENSE: F
Just awful. Zach Wilson will get a lot of the blame, and deserves a lot of the blame, including for losing two fumbles. But he had a lot of help — from a porous line, receivers dropping passes, momentum-altering penalties and all other manner of dysfunction. Garrett Wilson also lost a fumble, giving the Jets a minus-three turnover differential. Zach Wilson was 33-for-49 for 263 yards but was sacked eight times, leading to the Jets totaling only 206 net passing yards. The Jets have been working on improving their third-down conversion rate. Maybe next time. They were 3-for-17 on Monday. And all this came against a below-average Chargers defense.
DEFENSE: B
Why not an A? Only because the defense failed to force a turnover, even though it had chances. The Chargers fumbled three times but recovered all three. Other than that: Wow! Justin Herbert was 16-for-30 for 136 yards passing, with no completion longer than 23 yards. The high-powered Los Angeles offense totaled only 191 yards. The two touchdowns the defense allowed came on drives of 50 and 2 yards, both set up by Zach Wilson fumbles. The challenge for the defense will be to stay together and motivated no matter how bad the offense looks.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D
There is no way to give a grade higher than this given what happened in the first quarter: a devastating 87-yard punt return for a touchdown by Chargers rookie Derius Davis. It started with a missed, diving tackle attempt by Irvin Charles, after which Davis pretty much ran through the middle of the coverage team. Punter Thomas Morstead, the star of the previous week’s victory over the Giants, boomed a 59-yarder on the fateful play, outkicking his coverage. Morstead averaged 50.3 yards on his seven punts, and Greg Zuerlein made field goals of 47 and 46 yards.
COACHING: D
Well, the defensive game plan certainly seemed to work. Other than that . . . not good. On offense, the Jets tried to go with a hurry-up offense that has served them well in two-minute drills, but it did not translate well. The running game did not produce a gain longer than 10 yards, and the offensive line is in disarray. Coach Robert Saleh’s biggest challenge now will be keeping his locker room together. He admitted it would be natural for his defensive players to be frustrated, but he expressed confidence they will not take it out on their less successful friends on offense. We shall see about that down the stretch.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
