The New York Jets played the Indianapolis Colts in a Monday Night Football matchup. The Jets lost to the Colts 41-10 in front of the New York faithful at MetLife Stadium to drop to 3-9 on the season. These are the Jets Week 13 takeaways.
New York Jets Week 13 Takeaways
The Defense Was Nonexistent
Anytime an opposing team scores 41 points, a team’s defense usually takes all the blame. Although the Jets quarterbacks threw three interceptions, the Jets defense did not do their job well either.
This poor play came from almost all the positions. Andrew Luck was able to pass to five receivers for 289 yards. Darrelle Revis was exposed once again as Luck passed to T.Y. Hilton for 146 yards on the night. Backup quarterback Scott Tolzien came in and made one completion for 11 yards to cap off a total of 290 yards through the air for the Colts.
The front seven didn’t do a great job stopping the run either. Frank Gore was able to rush 20 times for 79 yards, followed by Luck three times for 26 yards. The total amount of rushing yards that the Colts had was 139. While that is not terrible for some teams, it is for the Jets. They came into this game allowing just 85.9 rushing yards per game. They are still ranked fourth in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game with 90.3, but this was a far cry from Week Seven when they held the Baltimore Ravens to only six rushing yards.
Finally, nobody on defense had any interceptions. They did have one fumble recovery, but still ended up on the short end of the turnover battle as the Jets turned the ball over three times compared to the one fumble by the Colts.
Ryan Fitzpatrick Will Be Benched the Rest of the Season
Head Coach Todd Bowles stuck with Ryan Fitzpatrick as starter for this game even after the Jets Week 12 loss to the New England Patriots. He started the game with two quick three and outs followed by boos from Jets fans. The Colts, on the other hand, were able to score a touchdown in each of their first two drives making it a 14-0 game before the Jets could even get a first down.
The Jets were trailing 24-3 with under a minute until halftime when Fitzpatrick made things worse with an interception. The Colts did fumble the ball for a loss which prevented them from scoring again. However, at that time the fans and Bowles had seen enough of Fitzpatrick. Bryce Petty came out in the second half as Fitzpatrick got benched yet another time this season.
Things did not come easy for the Baylor product as he had two interceptions on the night. His biggest highlight however, was a 40-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson. He finished the night with 11 completions on 25 attempts for 135 yards along with the touchdown and two interceptions.
After the conclusion of the game, Bowles told the media that Petty would be the starting quarterback for the remaining four games. He noted that starting Petty for these last four games was already the plan and even a blowout by the Jets wouldn’t have changed that.
The Jets Continued Their Struggles in Scoring Touchdowns
While the 41 points scored by the Colts outdid the Jets 10 points by a wide margin, the Colts did not blow out the Jets by much in the category of total yards. In the end the Colts accumulated 282 yards compared to the Jets 214. The biggest difference between the two teams was the fact that the Colts could actually score touchdowns. That’s all that matters in the end.
Luck threw for two touchdowns in the red zone which is something the Jets have struggled to do all season. He was also able to add two more touchdowns of slightly more than 20 yards. In addition, Robert Turbin added a rushing touchdown in the red zone.
While the Jets have marched down the field many times this season, they have struggled in the red zone. The Jets are last in the NFL in red zone efficiency. They only score 40.54% of the time when they are in the red zone. That is a huge drop from last year when they had a 66.04% efficiency which was the third best in the NFL.
That percentage will make or break a team. Successful teams can’t count on plays of 40 yards or more for touchdowns all the time. This week proved that notion as the Jets couldn’t do anything in the red zone in regards to touchdowns.
