Jets 17 Browns 14: The Winning Streak Continues

The Jets beat the Browns today in Cleveland 17-14. New York is now over .500 for the first time all year and has a showdown next week with the Patriots. The Jets are riding a three game winning streak into that game.

Let’s talk about today’s victory over the Browns below.

The Good

Demario Davis: Davis played a strong game in his return to Cleveland with 6 tackles and a sack. He also had the hit on Kevin Hogan that resulted in an errant throw Morris Claiborne picked off. That was arguably the most important play of the game.

Buster Skrine: I thought this was a nice effort for another former Brown. Skrine was helpful as a tackler in run support and didn’t give up much in coverage.

Darron Lee: Lee never played for the Browns, but he did play his college ball in Ohio. I think this was what the Jets had in mind when they drafted Lee. When he saw daylight, he shot gaps and got to the ball.

Marcus Maye: Maye was again solid as the last line of defense, and his goal line interception proved to be a critical play.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins: His day got off to a slow start as he was flagged and failed to come up with a pair of catchable contested balls. He ended up having some important grabs in the second half, including the go ahead touchdown in the third quarter.

Eric Tomlinson: He threw a few big blocks and even handled Myles Garrett once man to man. He also had a 34 yard catch. The Browns didn’t do much to cover him, but he can only work with the circumstances presented to him.

Jeremy Kerley: Kerley again was a useful outlet, registering 4 catches.

Jermaine Kearse: Kearse’s touchdown was about as easy as one can have, but he caught it.

Lachlan Edwards: Who had him developing into such a consistent punter before the start of the year?

The Bad

Josh McCown: Like last week, I think the statistics do not adequately tell the story. If you only look at the box score, you might think McCown had a solid if unspectacular game. While his second half was much better than his first, the Jets were lucky to be in this game at halftime. McCown looked lost with his reads and threw a bad interception. As the schedule gets tougher going forward, this team isn’t going to win unless the quarterback play gets a lot better soon.

Morris Claiborne: I know people are going to respond, “How can you say that when he had such a big interception?” Simple, he was beaten frequently in this game. Sometimes the Browns hit passes against him. Other times they failed to take advantage of opportunities he presented. Even on the interception, it appeared the man he was covering was open. Davis’ hit forced the bad pass.

Jamal Adams: The one series where he failed to make a third down tackle short of the sticks and then was beaten in coverage for a touchdown will stand out. That said, Adams did still have 9 tackles in a rough game. He also had an important third down tackle that saved a first down in the red zone and may have prevented a big touchdown.

Muhammad Wilkerson: You seldom heard his name aside from the two 15 yard penalties he took.

Rontez Miles: He whiffed on a third down tackle that allowed the Browns to get into field goal range on a third down in the first half and took a penalty later.

Marcus Williams: It was a rough day in coverage for him. We can see why he has fallen so far down the depth chart.

Offensive Line: Under 2 yards per rushing attempt won’t get the job done.

Freddie Bishop: Like Claiborne, he was credited for a turnover on a play where he appeared to be beaten. He didn’t do a great job setting the edge for much of the day.

Robby Anderson: I’ll have my eye on him on my second viewing because I didn’t think he was running effective routes on the first viewing.

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Next up come the New England Patriots. Improbably, the Jets are in the hunt for first place in October.