Jets Start Their Gagging Early In The Season, Blow 16-0 Second-Half Lead To Bills

Adam Gase had a chance to set the tone for the Jets’ season. He was in position to win the first game with an impressive defensive performance, make everyone stop with the eyeball jokes, and show that he was different than former head coach Todd Bowles. Instead, Week 1 looked like more of the same.

The score was low, but the Jets were handling the Bills pretty well through three quarters. Linebacker C.J. Mosley snagged a pick-six off a deflection, and the defense swarmed running back Frank Gore for a safety. QB Sam Darnold was sloppy, but he connected with his new running back Le’Veon Bell for a touchdown and two-point conversion. The only significant concern was new kicker Kaare Vedvik, who missed his only field-goal and point-after attempts in the first half. New York led 16-3, but then Mosley injured his groin and was ruled out for the fourth quarter. That’s when everything fell apart.

Bills QB Josh Allen, with the help of his running backs, put together an eight-play, 85-yard drive at the top of the final quarter to cut the lead to 16-10. The Jets responded with a six-play drive that concluded with a punt. Buffalo took the ball back, compiled an 80-yard drive that ended with Allen’s ugly but successful touchdown pass to John Brown, and never trailed again.

The Jets had a chance to regain the lead, but Darnold could barely complete a pass. Even when Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes’s illegal-use-of-hands penalty provided New York with a fresh set of downs, the second-year QB went 0-for-4 and turned it over on downs. And so, the Jets accomplished this ignoble achievement:

“We didn’t do a good job of finishing what we started,” Gase said after the game. No shit, you googley-eyed moron!