Final Score: Buccaneers 13, Jets 6

In the New York Jets’ third preseason game of 2023 the Jets lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 13 - 6.

After a first half which saw the Jets offense struggle to move the ball and the Jets defense struggle to get off the field on third and fourth downs, the Jets found themselves on the short end of a 10 - 6 score at halftime.

The Jets opened the third quarter with Tim Boyle in at quarterback. Boyle led the Jets on an impressive drive down to the Buccaneers’ six yard line before throwing an interception.

The Buccaneers then went on a drive which resulted in a long missed field goal attempt.

The Jets came right back with Boyle driving the team down to the 22 yard line before stalling. Greg Zuerlein then missed a 40 yard field goal attempt. The two teams finished up a scoreless third quarter and went into the fourth quarter with the score still tied at 10 - 6.

The Buccaneers opened the fourth quarter with a drive for a field goal, helped along by a Jets secondary that had trouble all night on third and long situations. That made the score Buccaneers 13, Jets 6.

A bunch of futile drives by both teams followed. Neither team could score the rest of the way, with the Buccaneers missing a short field goal and the Jets never really threatening. The game effectively ended on a Travis Dye fumble with the Jets turning the ball over with no timeouts remaining and just 46 seconds left in the game.

That made the final score Buccaneers 13, Jets 6 in a dreary performance by the Jets.

Results of preseason games aren’t very meaningful, but individual performances matter.

On offense I thought Mekhi Becton played well at right tackle and both Xavier Gipson and Jason Brownlee did some nice things in the fight for the last spot at wide receiver. I thought both quarterbacks Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle played like backups, with neither impressing. Zack Kuntz had a rough day with two costly holding penalties. Zonovan Knight had a rough outing with a dropped pass, a lost fumble and bad judgment in bringing out a kickoff return from deep in the end zone.

I thought the defensive line played well with Jalen Holmes standing out with two sacks. The backup secondary players had a rough night, repeatedly giving up big plays on third and long. Derrick Langford in particular stood out and not in a good way, repeatedly getting burned in coverage.

With the loss the Jets go to 1-2 for the preseason. Now the Jets move on to their final preseason game before the real games start. Next week the Jets take on the New York Giants. Following that game final cuts will start to trickle in as the Jets and all other NFL teams fine tune their rosters in preparation for the start of regular season action.