The New York Jets’ ability to lose in spectacular fashion knows no bounds — and yet another befuddling collapse took place on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
Blowing a 14-0 first-quarter lead, the Jets were outscored 26-7 in the final three quarters — including a 19-0 run — which ended with Zach Charbonnet’s eight-yard touchdown run with 5:31 remaining in the game to lift the Seattle Seahawks to a 26-21 victory.
The loss drops the Jets to 3-9 on the season, including eight losses in their last nine games, heaping further misery on a season that once began with playoff aspirations.
“The biggest thing is finishing,” linebacker Quincy Williams told SNY. “Close games like that, you have to be at your best when your best is required.”
Down their punter and place-kick holder, Michael Dickson, in the fourth quarter, the Seahawks went for it twice during what turned into their game-winning drive and were bailed out twice by Jets penalties. On a 4th-&-1 from Seattle’s 38-yard line, Geno Smith’s incomplete pass intended for DK Metcalf was flagged for pass interference on Quantez Stiggers, who was stepping in for the injured Sauce Gardner., to give the Seahawks a fresh set of downs.
Charbonnet was stopped behind the line of scrimmage on another 4th-&-1 from the Jets’ 33-yard line with seven minutes to go, but a horse-collar tackle by Solomon Thomas again gave the Seahawks new life. New York committed 10 penalties in the second half alone on Sunday.
“I want to say some things, but it is what it is,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, it’s on us. Can’t say it’s Vegas, can’t say it’s the refs. It has to be on us. We have to be detailed in close games. You can’t give them things.”
Three plays later, Charbonnet rumbled in from eight yards out to put the visitors ahead for good.
It was a game of vengeance for a pair of Seahawks, who spent the start of their careers with Gang Green. Quarterback Geno Smith passed for 206 yards with one touchdown, while defensive end Leonard Williams recorded two sacks and a 92-yard pick-six.
Both of Williams’ sacks came on the Jets’ final drive of the afternoon, which meandered into Seahawks territory but stalled on the 28-yard line. His final sack set up a 4th-&-15, which resulted in a pointless, lofted deep ball from Aaron Rodgers that fell harmlessly incomplete in an empty end zone.
Rodgers struggled once again, completing 21 of 39 passes for 185 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. The Jets have now guaranteed a ninth-straight losing season, but interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich is not expecting to make any more major shakeups, specifically with their quarterback.
“Not as of today,” he said when asked about the thought of benching Rodgers.
A promising second drive of the game that drove well into Seahawks territory looked as though multiple errors snuffed it out. On a 2nd-&-8 from the Seattle 30-yard line, the Jets committed an ineligible man downfield penalty and a false start. On a 3rd-&-13, Rodgers was sacked by Williams to seemingly take New York out of field goal range, but a facemask penalty awarded the Jets 15 free yards and a first down to get things back on track.
Rodgers went on to hit Devante Adams for an eight-yard touchdown to put the Jets ahead, but Anders Carlson’s extra point was blocked by Williams, the former Jet and Giant, to limit the hosts’ early advantage to 6-0.
New York would quickly build on the lead, though. Kene Nwangwu, making his season debut after being elevated from the practice squad, punched the ball out of the arms of Seahawks returner Dee Williams on the ensuing kick-off. Brandin Echols recovered the ball on the Seattle 26-yeard line to put the Jets right back in business.
Rodgers hit Isaiah Davis for a four-yard touchdown on the rookie’s seventh-ever offensive snap, with Breece Hall punching in a two-point conversion to put the Jets up 14-0 with 1:47 to go in the first quarter.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t get the win,” Davis said when asked about his first-career touchdown. “The touchdown was fun… but the most important thing was the win. We didn’t get that today.”
The Seahawks got on the board early in the second quarter when Smith hit tight end AJ Barner for a 12-yard score. Still, Nwangwu punched right back for the Jets with another game-breaking play, taking the ensuing kick-off 99 yards to the house to continue his brilliant season debut.
It was Nwangwu’s fourth-career kick-off return for a touchdown and the first by a Jets player since Dec. 26, 2021.
Seattle’s special-teams woes continued on the very next play when Laviska Shenault muffed the kick-off and picked it up but fumbled it away while falling untouched to the field. Carlson recovered the ball to give the Jets the right back on the Seattle 38-yard line, but Rodgers killed New York’s momentum when his short pass from the 9-yard line was deflected and picked off by Williams, who returned in 92 yards to the house to make it a 21-13 game with 7:39 left in the half.
With Seattle moving within five through a 54-yard Jacob Myers field goal in the second quarter, the Jets defense came up with a goal-line stop to stay ahead going into the fourth. The Seahawks ran six plays from New York’s 1-yard line but failed to score after the Jets sacked Smith on 4th-&-goal to get the ball back with 5:28 to go in the third.
However, the Jets fumbled away the momentum when Hall lost the ball inside Seattle territory. Myers made it a two-point game with a 43-yard field goal with 13:11 to go in the game.
