With their season basically over, did the Jets finally get to see the real Aaron Rodgers?
With a chance to play spoiler, Rodgers had his first 300-yard passing game as a Jet in a see-saw game that would ultimately be decided in overtime. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to touch the ball in the extra session, as Miami tied the game late and won it on Jonnu Smith’s 10-yard touchdown catch from Tua Tagovailoa.
The Jets held a lead for much of the first half but allowed Miami to drive into field goal range in the final minute, enabling them to take a 15-13 lead on a 56-yard field goal from Jason Sanders with two seconds left.
Prior to that, each team had scored a touchdown and two field goals, with rookie Isaiah Davis scoring for the second week in a row on a 17-yard burst up the middle for New York. Miami had opened the scoring on a De’Von Achane two-yard touchdown run to cap a 70-yard opening drive.
New York took a 20-15 lead on their first drive of the second half when Rodgers found Davante Adams for a three-yard touchdown. They then extended that to 23-15 when Anders Carlson kicked his third field goal of the game following a Miami punt.
Miami tied the score with 9:04 remaining on Tagovailoa’s touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill and a two-point conversion to Jaylen Waddle.
The Jets drove downfield and took the lead with 52 seconds to go on a Carlson field goal, but a long kick-off return helped Miami get in range to tie it on another Sanders field goal with seven seconds left and they won the toss to lead to the winning score in overtime.
Here are the key takeaways…
-
Rodgers has been blighted by slow starts for much of this season, as he’s been held under 100 passing yards in the first half in nine of the Jets’ 13 games, including the last five in a row. However, he was sharp early in this one, completing 11 of 17 passes for 152 yards in the first half. Even so, it could have been better, as he had passes dropped by Davis and Jeremy Ruckert and a couple of other throws he’d like to have back.
-
In the second half, Rodgers continued to have success on the opening drive, but the Jets went 3-and-out on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter to let Miami back into the game. Rodgers hit key completions to Adams and Allen Lazard to set up the go-ahead field goal in the last minute as he ended up with a season-high 339 yards.
-
With Breece Hall unavailable due to a knee injury, the Jets shared the workload between the rookies Davis and Braelon Allen and each made good early contributions as they combined for 64 yards and a touchdown on 11 touches in the first half. This continued in the second half, as Davis had big catches on 4th down and 3rd down. The pair ultimately combined for 148 yards on 28 touches.
-
With Sauce Gardner out, the Jets struggled to stop Miami’s passing attack as Tagovailoa completed 15 of 18 passes in the first half. They also failed to generate much pressure with no quarterback hits before halftime. Even so, they held Miami to 0-for-3 on third downs and twice forced them to settle for field goals in the red zone to keep things competitive. Tagovailoa completed his last six passes in overtime to end up with 331 yards and two touchdowns.
-
The much-maligned Jets run defense held up well for the Jets, as they allowed just 44 yards on 19 carries. Linebacker Jamien Sherwood was everywhere as he ended up with 18 tackles, two tackles for loss and a pass defensed.
-
Garrett Wilson had been quiet over the past three games with just 100 receiving yards on 14 catches. However, he broke out in a big way in this game with a 100-yard game despite the fact he was covered by pro bowler Jalen Ramsey most of the time. Adams had a slow start with no catches in the first quarter but also ended up with over 100 yards. It was interesting to see them both producing just as Lazard made his return from injured reserve, even though Lazard himself didn’t register a catch until there were less than two minutes remaining.
-
Right tackle Morgan Moses suffered a wrist injury in pregame warmups and tried to play through it but ultimately the Jets opted to replace him with Max Mitchell. Last week, it had been Carter Warren who filled in when Moses was injured, as Mitchell had been a healthy scratch. With both active this week, the Jets opted to go with the more experienced Mitchell.
Highlights
Upcoming schedule
The Jets will be in action in the state of Florida again next weekend as the face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Dec. 15th at 1:00 p.m.