Jets dominate Redskins for 2nd win in a row as Sam Darnold throws 4 TD passes

LANDOVER, MD. — The Jets have their first winning streak under Adam Gase.

The Jets dominated the Redskins on both sides of the ball, beating Washington, 34-17, Sunday at FedExField for their second straight win.

“It just shows all the hard work and effort that we put in is actually working,” linebacker Jordan Jenkins said. “We’re starting to turn the page and turn the corner and starting to see success.”

The opponents — the Giants and Redskins — are bottom feeders. But so are the Jets (3-7), and they’re showing improvement.

Sam Darnold seems to have grown the past two games. He threw four touchdown passes for the first time in his young career on Sunday. Darnold led the offense on five touchdown drives overall.

The Jets had a season-high 400 yards of offense and also recorded their first 100-yard rushing game, finishing with 115 yards on the ground.

“We had some better drives this game,” Gase said. “It was probably one of our more productive games.”

Safety Jamal Adams also has been a game-wrecker lately. He led the defense with three sacks, and has five in the last two games.

The win improved the Jets to 3-1 against the NFC East. They’re 0-6 against everyone else.

The Jets’ offense is showing vast improvement, granted they played a team that is a bigger mess than Gang Green. Washington is 1-9. There were “Sell the team” chants late in the game directed at Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.

But the Jets are starting to get better, and it has coincided with CEO Christopher Johnson telling the team that there would be no coaching change.

Johnson made the public vote of confidence this week, but he told the players before last week’s win over the Giants. The players know that Gase will be their coach for the remainder of this season.

The Jets seem to have raised their level of intensity and focus, especially on offense. They have scored eight offensive touchdowns the last two weeks.

“Once our offense is in a really good rhythm, it’s easy for me and a lot of the other guys on the offense to go make plays,” Darnold said.

Darnold completed 19 of 30 passes for 293 yards, the four touchdowns and one interception.

Tight end Ryan Griffin caught five passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. Former Redskin Jamison Crowder had five catches for 76 yards and a TD in his return to Washington. He said coming out with the win was the most important thing.

“We haven’t been consistent,” Crowder said. “We’d win and won’t play good for two or three games. I’m glad we were able to put back-to-back weeks together.”

The Jets’ defense held Washington and rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins down before allowing two fourth-quarter touchdowns. They allowed a season-low 225 yards of offense.

Gregg Williams’ defense sacked Haskins six times and picked him off once.

“Our defense played lights- out today and I think that’s a huge reason for the win,” Darnold said.

The defense wasn’t entirely happy because they give up big plays in the fourth quarter and two touchdowns after the game was decided. It was 34-3 when Haskins connected on a 45-yard touchdown pass to running back Derrius Guice.

It was the Redskins’ first TD in four games. It also was the first touchdown pass of Haskins’ career.

“I don’t like the way we finished,” Adams said. “I feel like we shouldn’t have given up those points. At the end of the day we did get the win but we definitely got to clean those things up.”

The Jets scored a touchdown on their first drive for the fourth straight game. Darnold rolled to his left and found tight end Daniel Brown for a 20-yard score. But Sam Ficken missed the extra point.

Two series later, Darnold hit Robby Anderson for a 6-yard touchdown.

The drive was extended when Jimmy Moreland was called for roughing the kicker on a 30-yard field goal attempt. It gave the Jets a first-and-goal. They capitalized on second down.

Bilal Powell did a lot of the heavy lifting on the drive, running for 42 yards.

The Redskins didn’t enter Jets’ territory on their first three possessions. But they were gifted great field position after back-to-back Jets turnovers.

Darnold threw an interception leading to a Dustin Hopkins’ 44-yard field goal. On the ensuing kickoff, Vyncint Smith fumbled and the Redskins recovered at the Jets’ 27. But Hopkins’ 29-yard field-goal attempt hit the right upright.

The Jets went ahead 20-3 after another scoring drive just before the half. Darnold took them 82 yards on three plays.

Darnold hooked up with Bell on a 21-yard pass play on first down. Tight end Ryan Griffin caught the next two — a 45-yard reception and 16-yard touchdown catch. The rout was on.

“It felt good,” Bell said. “We’re tired of the dramatics. We’ were able to go in here, start off fast and get a quick lead and sustain it over the course of the game.”