NY Jets: Giants Beat Jets - The Unhappy Recap

The New York Giants defeated the New York Jets in MetLife Stadium tonight, 32-31. That doesn’t sound too bad, but the reality was ugly. Very ugly.

In the first quarter when both teams’ starters were in the Giants outscored the Jets 19-0. The Jets had zero yards of total offense in the first quarter. The Jets three drives in the quarter featured a blocked pass, a sack, a safety and a pick six by Christian Hackenberg in which he never appeared to see the safety who made the interception. That was about as complete a domination as you will ever see in the NFL.

By halftime the score was 29-3 and the rest of the game was a matchup of backups. Bryce Petty came on in the second half and played very well, going 15 for 18 for 250 yards, three touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. It was as good as we have ever seen Petty play, albeit against backups, as he looked in command of the offense and comfortable in his reads throughout. Unfortunately Petty’s night ended with a knee injury suffered late in the game. Hackenberg came back in and led a nice drive for a late touchdown, but the two point conversion failed as the Jets came up one point short in the game.

The game was costly for the Jets as they lost their best player, Leonard Williams, to a wrist injury, and they lost Bryce Petty, who at this point looks like their best young quarterback, to a knee injury.

Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the awful in this game.

The Good

Bryce Petty. Three touchdowns, no turnovers, a perfect passer rating, and command of the offense. This was a big day for Bryce Petty, who looks well ahead of Hackenberg on the development curve.

Bilal Powell. Powell put up 142 yards of offense, including an 85 yard catch and run touchdown. Powell picked up where he left off last year, dominating.

Ardarius Stewart. Stewart put up 82 yards receiving and two touchdowns, including a beautiful sideline tiptoe grab. A really encouraging day for the Jets rookie receiver.

Chris Gragg. Gragg faces an uphill battle to make the roster, but putting up 5 catches for 38 yards was a nice step forward on offense.

Sheldon Richardson. Richardson did not put up huge stats, but he was a force on defense, nearly unblockable. Another in a series of big performances this preseason.

The Outside Linebackers. Freddie Bishop, Josh Martin and Dylan Donahue were all active and put some pressure on the quarterback. They combined for 8 tackles and half a sack. Lorenzo Mauldin should be getting very nervous about his roster spot.

Lachlan Edwards. A very nice day of booming punts for Edwards. he averaged 51 yards per punt with plenty of hang time. Well done.

The Bad

Christian Hackenberg. Hackenberg was very bad against the Giants’ starters. He had no feel for pass rushers, was late with his passes, didn’t see the safety on his first interception, and ended up outscoring himself, 16 points for the Giants to 3 for the Jets. Hackenberg does not look in any way like a starting NFL quarterback at this time. On a positive note, Hackenberg did manage to lead the backups to a nice touchdown drive on a gorgeous pass to Frankie Hammonds in the final two minutes of the game.

Muhammad Wilkerson. Wilkerson has continued to look like the 2016 campaign was no fluke. I keep on waiting for him to break out, and he keeps looking invisible on the field. This is concerning.

Brandon Shell. He was beaten badly by Jason Pierre Paul on an inside move and did not distinguish himself in pass blocking.

Dexter McDougle. McDougle did not look nearly as good as he has the last two games and he missed two tackles with lunges at the ankles, turning what should have been nothing plays into nice gains for the Giants. A step backward for McDougle in his quest to make the 53 man roster.

Marcus Williams. Williams was often beaten in coverage and was late trying to pick off a Geno Smith pass on third down, turning what should have been a tackle and a short gain into a big play and a first down for the Giants.

Justin Burris. Burris had an interception when Eli Manning was hit as he was throwing, but was otherwise often beat in coverage by second and third string receivers.

Buster Skrine. Beaten often in pass coverage, as usual.

Darryl Roberts. Roberts was outbattled on a long catch by Travis Rudolph and was often beaten by second string Giants receivers. None of the Jets cornerbacks distinguished themselves tonight.

The Returners. Three kickoff returns with none making it to the 25 yard line. Dropped punts. An average of less than 5 yards on 4 punt returns. This was not a good night for Frankie Hammond, Marcus Murphy and Romar Morris.

The Awful

Bryce Petty. Petty was outstanding on the field, but he lands in the awful column because he was unlucky with a knee injury late in the game. Just when it looked like he might be seizing his opportunity to start for the Jets his knee buckled. Hopefully it will turn out to be minor, but you would hate to see him suffer a serious injury just as he seemed to be coming into his own on the field.

Leonard Williams. Williams left the field early with a wrist injury. Any significant injury to Williams would be a devastating blow to the Jets. Hopefully tests will reveal it is not serious.

What about you? What do think was good, bad and awful about the game? Let us know in the comments.