Jets' grades in Week 16 loss to Los Angeles Rams: Defense good, everything else not so much
Sauce Gardner of the Jets looks on during the first quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
OFFENSE: D
Davante Adams said it best: “I don’t know if I’d say we struggled offensively. I’d say we struggled to score, for sure. Which is kind of the same thing, I guess you could say.” Um, yeah. The Jets opened with a gorgeous 99-yard touchdown drive and managed only a field goal after that. They were 2-for-5 on fourth downs, with all three failures leading to Rams points. Aaron Rodgers finished 28-for-42 for 256 yards and a touchdown. According to ESPN, the Jets became the second team since 1940 to not have a single punt yet score fewer than 10 points.
DEFENSE: B
Even playing without Quinnen Williams for the entire game and Sauce Gardner for much of it, the Jets gave Matthew Stafford and the Rams fits on a cold day for a team from Southern California. Stafford had only 110 passing yards. Most of the Rams offense came from Kyren Williams’ 23 carries for 122 yards and a TD. The Jets offense repeatedly put the defense in tough positions, giving the Rams the ball three times in Jets territory on two failed fourth down tries and a fumble by Rodgers.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D
Xavier Gipson had a 42-yard kickoff return, but later he fumbled a punt that the Rams recovered to seal the victory. Anders Carlson missed an extra point and later a 49-yard field goal attempt that could have kept the Jets within reach in the final minutes.
COACHING: D
Jeff Ulbrich and his staff had the Jets playing hard again and putting up a fight against a superior Rams team, but the lasting memory of this one will be a series of fourth-down attempts that backfired. Most notably: Ulbrich went for it on a fourth-and-1 from his own 33-yard line in the second quarter. Breece Hall was stuffed at the line, and the Rams turned that into their first touchdown.
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.
