NY Jets Helmet Stickers: Week 2

With another week in the books, it’s time to pick the three best of the many excellent performances by Jet players this week...is a sentence I hope I one day get to utter. It’s hard to see many positives from the 45-20 shellacking that the Jets received Sunday. At least the Raiders are a good team? At least the Jets broke into the 20 point range? At least no one died? This is going to be a tough year for helmet stickers, but here we go:

Bronze Star: WR Jermaine Kearse (4 receptions, 64 yards, 2 TDs)

Kearse earns another star in his second performance as a Jet, corralling 2 touchdowns on 4 receptions. I have to say that Kearse has been better than I expected thus far, as he looks like the only potential starting receiver on the roster (Enunwa excluded.) Two touchdowns would usually earn higher praise on a roster like this one, but garbage time against the Raiders secondary is pretty much easy money.

Silver Star: S Jamal Adams (4 tackles, 3 solo)

Jamal Adams didn't get a whole lot of production out of this game, but I thought he played a very impressive game. His partner in crime, Marcus Maye, recorded more tackles and helped account for some awful linebacker play, but Adams really stood out on my second viewing of the game. Adams did a lot of dirty work, reading plays well and getting into the right position. John B did a great job breaking down one of those plays in his film review. I didn't think Adams stood out much in week 1 and week 2 appeared the same, but after watching the film, it's clear that we've got a player on our hand.

Gold Star: T Brandon Shell (1 sack allowed)

If you had told me at the end of the 2016 season that we would be leaving Brandon Shell one on one with Khalil Mack for the majority of a game this season, I would have assumed we were trying to assassinate whichever unfortunate quarterback had agreed to contract terms with us. Let's be honest, Shell hasn't always looked elite. Okay, let's be more honest, Shell hasn't really looked like a starter thus far. Nevertheless, Shell held his own against arguably the best defensive player in the league. If this were Joe Thomas, this would be a pretty good day at the office. For Brandon Shell, it's more than gold-star-worthy.

So there you go. After two weeks, the point totals are as follows:

Jermaine Kearse 4 points (1 gold, 1 bronze)

Brandon Shell 3 points (1 gold)

Jamal Adams 2 points (1 silver)

Kony Ealy 2 points (1 silver)

Chandler Catanzaro 1 point (1 bronze)