Bengals 22, Jets 6: Holiday Hangover

As they say, all good things must come to an end. Today the Jets’ three game winning streak ended as they were dominated by a previously winless Cincinnati Bengals team. The Jets were beaten in every aspect of the game. Offense, defense, special teams - you name it, the Bengals thrashed the Jets. Give credit where credit is due, the Bengals played good, tough, smart football. They deserved to win. However, the Jets also deserved to lose. This was an embarrassing performance by Gang Green to end a feel good three game winning streak.

Lets take a look at the good and the bad in today’s game.

The Good

This will be a short list. There wasn’t a lot of good to be seen from the Jets today. Still, a few guys stood out.

Robby Anderson. With seven receptions and 101 yards, Anderson was the only Jets receiver that showed up today.

Blessuan Austin. Austin continued his fine play at cornerback. Austin allowed one completion into his coverage all day. He is looking like a real find for a sixth round draft pick.

The run defense. This can be said pretty much every week, but the run defense was once again quite good. 20 carries for the Bengals resulted in just 44 yards. Once again the Jets run defense shut down the opposition.

The Bad

Tom Compton. Multiple penalties, multiple sacks allowed - this was a nightmare game for Compton as Carlos Dunlap and the Bengals defensive line completely dominated him.

Kelvin Beachum. A holding penalty in the end zone resulted in a safety. Beachum was also beaten for a sack. Not a good day at the office for Beachum.

Jonotthan Harrison. Harrison also gave up a sack. Sensing a trend here?

Jets receivers not named Anderson. Jets receivers dropped at least five passes by my count. They also struggled all day to create separation against a suspect Bengals pass defense.

Arthur Maulet. Maulet was repeatedly burned in coverage as Andy Dalton chose to pick on him all day.

Marcus Maye. Maye was beaten multiple times in coverage, including on the Bengals only passing touchdown.

Maurice Canady. It’s not really fair to expect a guy picked up off waivers to perform as a starting cornerback in this league. Unfortunately that’s the situation Canady found himself in at times with Brian Poole and Arthur Maulet out at various points in the game with injuries. Canady was not up to the task, repeatedly getting beaten in coverage.

The Jets pass rush. Against a team with a less than stellar offensive line, the Jets pass rush brought almost no pressure on Andy Dalton all day. With a banged up and over-matched secondary, that allowed Dalton to have his way with the Jets defense.

Sam Darnold. Darnold was by no means the biggest problem today, but this was not a good performance. 5 yards per passing attempt, six points in the game, zero points in the second half, virtually zero offense in the second half, just one red zone possession all game, a 71 passer rating. Not great. Worse, Darnold reverted to some of his worst tendencies in this game, making bad decisions multiple times when under pressure. At least two passes should have been intercepted, and multiple times he threw weakly against his body on the run. The rest of the offense did Darnold no favors, but the poor decision making under pressure is a recurring problem that Darnold needs to get fixed.

Lachlan Edwards. Edwards had multiple weak punts and a weak free kick that repeatedly gave the Bengals great field position. A rare bad day for Edwards.

The coaching staff. Three of the hallmarks of a good coaching staff are avoiding letdowns after a big win, winning your games against the dregs of the league, and making second half adjustments when things in the first half go awry. The Jets were 0 for 3 on these things today.

With the loss the Jets drop to 4-8 on the season and all the recent wishful thinking about a playoff run can be put to rest. The last four games will be about developing Sam Darnold and other young players.