The New York Jets traveled to Indiana for Thursday Night Football in Week 9 to take on the Indianapolis Colts. While some thought this game could potentially stay close, the Jets defense didn’t show up, and they had one of the worst defensive performances in franchise history. Here is a review of the New York Jets week 9 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
While the Jets didn’t look as put-together on offense as they did in week 8, the obvious reason is that hero quarterback Mike White got injured in the first quarter. Josh Johnson answered the call for help, throwing for 317 yards and three touchdowns. They were able to move the ball as an offense, mostly through passing the ball, and the offensive line held up for the most part in pass protection, but it was not enough.
While they did give up two more sacks this week, this is still a considerable improvement from weeks 1-7. Remember, they were at one point giving up five sacks per game. The running game still has to catch up, but they have also come a long way. Averaging over four yards per carry is infinitely better than rushing for three yards per carry.
Another positive is that Elijah Moore is enjoying a bit of a coming out party, as he caught the first, then second touchdowns of his career. He finished with seven receptions for 84 yards, showing a little bit of what fans were excited about in training camp.
From a purely negative perspective, the defense was downright atrocious. Embarrassing, even. They looked like a glorified Division 1 defense. According to ESPN’s Next Gen Stats, the Colts averaged 6.1 yards per carry — oh wait — that’s before contact. BEFORE CONTACT. How on Earth does an entire defense give up 6 yards per carry BEFORE contact in the NFL?!
Jonathan Taylor ran rampant, going for 172 yards with an average of 9.1 yards per carry and two touchdowns. However, even when Taylor was not on the field, Nyheim Hines was gashing the Jets’ defense. He ran for 74 yards and 12.3 (!) yards per carry, and added a touchdown.
The passing defense was not much better, giving up 272 yards and three touchdowns to Carson Wentz. Wentz was efficient, and he didn’t turn the ball over. He even threw a touchdown to an offensive lineman. The Jets defensive line only had one sack, and only pressured Wentz six times all game. As was mentioned in this week’s preview, Quenton Nelson would be huge for this offensive line.
Regardless, this Jets unit needs to get their ‘you know what’ together, especially if the offense continues this resurgence. In recent years, one of the biggest gripes about this team is that even if their defense kept them in games, the offense was nowhere to be found. Consider the roles swapped.
While White only played a very limited amount, he looked as good as he did against the Cincinnati Bengals in week 8. He threw 11 passes, completing seven for 95 yards and a touchdown. With his status being that he can practice this week, as well as Zach Wilson potentially practicing this week, the Jets have a true quarterback controversy on their hands.
While Wilson was the second pick overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, he simply hasn’t been doing the things that you would expect of the second pick in the draft. Those same things are what Mike White is doing well, and it raises questions about how good Wilson really is at the moment. While he has only played six games in his career, watching White run the same offense at a much higher level is really interesting.
This is a two horse race, as Joe Flacco and Johnson are not being considered for the starting job. Even still, it will be interesting to follow how things are going in practice for the next week and a half leading up to their week 10 game against the Buffalo Bills.
This has been a review of the New York Jets week 9 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
