The New York Jets played the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, looking to sweep the season series against their AFC East rival. Instead, they were outscored 17-0 in the fourth quarter en route to an absolutely crushing defeat. Here are the biggest takeaways from the Jets week seven performance.
Week Seven New York Jets Takeaways
Buster Skrine
Buster Skrine played so terribly on Sunday, he gets a section all to his own. How bad was he? Skrine allowed a 30-yard pass play to Kenny Stills on the first drive of the game, leading to a touchdown. On the next drive, he committed a boneheaded pass interference penalty, extending the Dolphins drive which would eventually result in a touchdown. In the second half, he allowed two touchdown passes as the Dolphins rallied to tie the game. It was, without an ounce of exaggeration, among the worst performances by a professional cornerback in recent memory. Morris Claiborne continues to be a solid number one cornerback, and Darryl Roberts has played well in the number three spot. It’s time to promote him to the second string cornerback, a role now occupied by Skrine.
Undisciplined Football
The New York Jets were penalized a whopping 12 times on Sunday, gifting the Dolphins 124 yards. Todd Bowles has preached the importance of playing disciplined to the media for weeks now, but clearly, his pleas are falling on deaf ears. A holding call or two is one thing. But the Jets penalties were often unnecessary, frustrating, and just flat out stupid. In addition to the aforementioned Skrine mistake, Wesley Johnson also pushed a player in the back for no apparent reason, nullifying a ten-yard rush. Darron Lee, who actually had one of his better games, grabbed Jay Ajayi‘s facemask as the Jets had him cut off, giving a free 15 yards to the offense. The Jets aren’t good enough to overcome mental errors. On Sunday, it showed.
Josh McCown
Josh McCown was the game’s most important player, for reasons both good and bad. For 59 minutes and 13 seconds, McCown played incredibly well. Not just for a stopgap, or a Jets quarterback, but for any quarterback. He had at that point thrown for three touchdowns, no interceptions, and moved the ball up and down the field effectively against a respectable defense. And then came that last drive. The game was tied with 47 seconds left, and McCown threw a pick right to Reshad Jones that sealed the game. The interception was simply inexcusable. McCown never saw the underneath safety, and lofted it right to the safety. For all the good things McCown has done, his boneheaded mistakes have been equally horrendous. An interception against the Patriots was a killer blow, allowing for the game to be tied heading into halftime. This interception was, obviously, the worst of all, resulting directly in a loss for the Jets.
