Dolphins 34 Jets 13: Another Home Blowout

The Jets have been blown out quite a bit this season. Tonight we added another one to the greatest hits collection. The Dolphins won 34-13 at MetLife Stadium, dropping New York to 4-10. Two games remain until this season mercifully ends.

The Jets actually bottled up Jay Ajayi in check with only 51 yards on 19 carries. When a defense allows Matt Moore of all people to throw 4 touchdown passes, good run defense doesn’t help a whole lot. Let’s talk below about what happened.

The Bad

Offensive Line: I’ll start here just because this was not a pretty effort to say the least. I’m not really surprised Brian Winters and Wesley Johnson had a rough night against Ndamukong Suh, but this is a reminder that even though these guys are exceeding expectations, they aren’t exceptional starters. Ben Ijalana had all kinds of problems protecting the edge. There were also multiple colossal breakdowns, such as Cameron Wake being unblocked on the fumble and the premature snap that got Bryce Petty injured.

Bryce Petty: I don’t want to be too hard on Petty because he’s a project player who isn’t ready and probably never will be. This was not a very encouraging night, though. He had three turnovers, all of which were on him. The first one was simply not protecting the ball when being hit, which probably cost the Jets an early 10 point lead. He was fooled by a zone blitz and underthrew an open deep receiver for his two interceptions. A lot of his deep passes floated. He also seemed like he was checking down by default. He completed more passes to Bilal Powell than to all of his wide receivers combined. If you were excited by the 49ers game (which even during the comeback was not superlative quarterbacking), this one should bring you back to earth and show how far Bryce Petty still has to go.

Brandon Marshall: He just isn’t winning his assignments or making the contested catches he was a year ago.

Juston Burris: Leaving a rookie fourth rounder on an island is probably too much to ask, but he was turned around on a long touchdown. Yes, he did have an interception, but that was on a badly underthrown ball where he was again beaten long.

David Harris: Harris clearly is not a cover guy, but he was beaten on a long pass that set up a touchdown and on the touchdown himself early in the game.

Brandon Bostick: His whiff on a block cost the Jets a big fourth down conversion.

Brandon Wilds: This game got out of hand on the blocked punt, and it was Wilds who missed his block.

Marcus Williams: That tackle was not pretty on Jarvis Landry’s long touchdown.

Calvin Pryor: Neither was Pryor’s attempt to make a tackle.

The Good

Bilal Powell: Part of his success was due to Petty force feeding him passes, but Powell looked agile and quick out of the backfield both as a runner and a receiver. He turned nothing into something a lot. It still isn’t clear why it took 14 weeks and an injury for him to get a real chance, but this game shows he deserved it.

Leonard Williams: He was a big part of shutting down Ajyai, tying for the team lead with 6 tackles. He also was part of three stops from the one yard line the Jets made.

Robby Anderson: He got the game off to an exciting start with a nifty 40 yard catch and run for a touchdown. He also led the Jets with 80 receiving yards.

Quincy Enunwa: Enunwa added 5 catches for 64 yards and looked explosive with the ball in his hands.

Nick Folk: A 48 yarder in that weather is no easy kick. Folk nailed it right before the half that seemed to give the team some hope.

..................................................

Two weeks are left in the season. The bad news is a trip to Foxborough awaits.