For about 35 minutes, it looked like the Jets had something here. The offense was moving the ball and Josh Allen was showing the world why he was picked behind Sam Darnold.
And the defense was holding strong with a pick-6 and keeping the Bills offense off the board.
Even without a reliable kicker, the Jets still looked pretty good for the first half of the game., especially on defense.
The way we played defensively,” said running back Le’Veon Bell, “those guys played great for the first three and a half quarters I feel like, first two and a half, offensively I don’t think we ever really got it clicking outside of maybe one drive, but the defense did a good job giving us the ball.”
But for the rest of the game, you could feel the sense of doom coming over MetLife Stradium. A field goal and then two touchdowns, which the Jets left unanswered and you knew the missed extra point and field goal by kicker Kaare Vedvik would come back to haunt Gang Green.
The final score: Bills 17 and the Jets 16.
“That was a little disappointing considering our defense was playing really well in the first half,” said head coach Adam Gase. “Those guys brought great juice and created turnovers. We were just inept on offense, making mistakes that we can’t make (if we want) to consistently move the ball. We have a lot to clean up there.”
Listen, the Jets didn’t lose because of their kicker, but they could have won if he did his job. The team lost, especially the defense that vanished in the fourth quarter.
But it was clear by the middle of the third quarter that Vedvik isn’t going to be with the Jets very long. Gase went for two on the team’s only offensive touchdown of the day and somehow made it.
It got so bad that Jet fans were chanting for Carli Lloyd, the female US Soccer player, who kicked 55-yard field goals in Eagles training camp.
Could the Jets make history and sign the first female player in the NFL?
One thing is for certain, Lloyd would be a better choice that Vedvik, who converted nothing today.
Gase left Vedvik’s future open, but no one would be surprised if there was another kicker on the team next week.
And sure Vedvik is the easy scapegoat here. The Jets should have won this game. It was against a team that was equal to lower talent-wise and they were playing at home. If they play on doing anything this season, they have to beat the Bills and Dolphins of the world.
That starts with Darnold, who had a career high 28 receptions today for 175 yards, but only one touchdown. No matter what his stats, Darnold needs to do more.” I think we just couldn’t really get into a rhythm, and I put that on myself,” he said. “But there are a lot of little details we need to clean up and we’ll see it when we watch tape.”
Well they will have an extra day this week, because the Jets play the Browns on Monday night. Remember the Jets marched into Cleveland last year and gave the Browns their first win since 2016.
Neither team wants to go 0-2, especially the Jets at home, but remember this is still one game.
“It’s Week One,” Darnold said. “Don’t get too frustrated. But this one’s going to sting. It’s a division game, and understand that it should sting, but come back to work tomorrow and keep grinding.”
And maybe keep controlling the games, you have in command.
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