The Jets have continued to defy expectations, as they topped the Green Bay Packers by a 27-10 margin on Sunday afternoon.
The win, which is New York’s third in a row, now brings Gang Green to a 4-2 record, and matches their regular-season win total throughout the duration of last year. This matches their best start to a season since 2015, when they were also 4-2.
The franchise has not reached the playoffs since 2010, which represents the longest active drought in the NFL.
Head coach Robert Saleh said after the game that he wasn’t celebrating, as winning on Sundays needs to become the norm for the Jets.
“I’ll be honest, it doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “We’ve got to start expecting this.”
New York began the game slow, scoring the first points of the matchup on a field goal with 5:46 left to go in the first half, but substantially picked up their offensive firepower in the latter half of the contest.
The team managed to score two touchdowns while running just 2:30 off the clock to begin the third quarter.
Wide receiver Braxton Berrios began that offensive onslaught by scoring on a 20-yard end-around. When the Jets stopped Green Bay on the next possession, Michael Clemons blocked a punt and Will Parks got the ball and raced 20 yards into the end zone.
That gave New York the lead, and they never looked back.
“We have a good team. We have good players,” Saleh said.
Rookie running back Breece Hall, who had a major breakout game last week against the Miami Dolphins, scored on a 34-yard burst to open the fourth quarter, which made it 24-10 — marking the longest run from scrimmage in his young career.
Hall would lead the charge for the Jets offense in the running game, and recorded 116 yards over 20 carries and a touchdown. He also added five yards in the passing game.
“There’s no price for a home run hitter,” Saleh said, referencing the team’s decision to trade up in the 2022 NFL Draft to snag the Iowa State product.
Quarterback Zach Wilson, who made his season debut in Week 4, finished the game with 110 passing yards on 10 completions and 18 attempts, and did not throw a touchdown or interception throughout the game.
Most impressively for the Jets, the defense held up as well as they could’ve hoped for against the Packers and reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers had injured his right thumb while getting sacked as he prepared to throw a Hail Mary pass on the final play against the Giants last week, which prevented him from practicing Wednesday.
Whether bothered by the thumb or not, Rodgers hardly resembled himself for much of the game. He went 26 of 41 for 241 yards and nearly committed turnovers on each of Green Bay’s first two possessions.
On the game’s opening series, Rodgers threw a third-and-9 pass that bounced off a diving Robert Tonyan before New York’s Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner picked it out of the air and returned it 35 yards for an apparent touchdown. The touchdown was overturned when replays showed the ball hit the ground before getting to Tonyan.
Quinnen Williams sacked Rodgers on Green Bay’s next series to force a fumble that running back Aaron Jones recovered at the Packers eight-yard line.
The Jets managed to hold on the the commanding lead, and wound up victorious.
Gang Green will now head to Denver, where they will play the struggling Broncos in an afternoon game on Oct. 23.
