Jets vs. Colts: Postgame Grades, Notes and Quotes for New York

Ryan Fitzpatrick jogged from the New York Jets sideline to the huddle in Monday night’s matchup against the Indianapolis Colts with no fear in his eyes. There was no hesitation and no worry. After spending a decade in the NFL, New York’s quarterback knew just what needed to be done in this situation.

And he wasn’t the only one.

Indianapolis had just scored a touchdown to pull within three with 10 minutes to play. The Jets needed to answer. The best way to do so? Don’t get worked up.

“We had to go out there and do something,” Fitzpatrick said. “With the veterans in the huddle, there was a confidence out there.”

Fitzpatrick marched the Jets on an eight-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a 15-yard touchdown to receiver Brandon Marshall. The score all but sealed New York’s 20-7 victory over Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“That was a big drive for us offensively,” Fitzpatrick said. “We knew we had to rely on everyone in that huddle to make plays. We did a good job stepping up there.”

While Fitzpatrick—who finished 22-of-34 for 244 yards, with a pair of touchdowns and one interception— may have put the game out of reach on New York’s longest drive of the day, it was the team’s defense that dominated the Colts offense and kept New York in the game.

Facing Colts star Andrew Luck, the Jets applied constant pressure and never let the young signal-caller get in a rhythm. Luck finished 21-of-37 for 250 yards, with one touchdown, three interceptions and a fumble. The Colts offense as a hole turned the ball over five times and didn’t score until the fourth quarter.

Unofficially, the Jets hurried Luck on 16 of his 37 dropbacks. Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis led the impressive defensive effort with four tackles, an interception and two fumble recoveries.

“Defensively, I think we came out and stuck to the game plan,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “We got some breaks, but our guys made plays. The guys made plays.”

Despite the fact the Colts were without their top three cornerbacks and lost a fourth when Vontae Davis suffered a concussion early in the first half, New York’s offense was a bit stagnant. Receivers Eric Decker (eight receptions, 97 yards, touchdown) and Marshall (seven receptions, 101 yards, touchdown) put up nice statistical days, but overall, the Jets struggled to move the ball.

After scoring a touchdown on their second possession of the game on a six-yard pass from Fitzpatrick to Decker, the Jets punted twice, threw an interception, kicked a field goal, missed a field goal and punted two more times before Marshall’s touchdown iced things.

“We’ll have to go back and look (at the film,)” Fitzpatrick said. “We need to be able to stay on the field, and I need to get better at third downs. There’s a lot of stuff, and we’ll try to get better. We’ll have to get better on offense to continue to win games.”

The victory for the Jets improves the team’s record to 2-0 for the first time since 2011, while the Colts drop to 0-2. New York will next face the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium 1 p.m. Sunday.

Positional Grades

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Position	Grade
QB	C
RB	C
WR	A
TE	D
OL	D
DL	A
LB	A
DB	A
ST	C
Coaching	A

Quarterback: Ryan Fitzpatrick isn’t really a quarterback best suited to play in an offense that asks him to throw 40 times a game. Through the first few quarters, it looked like Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey was trying to anyway.

With the running game stuffed, Fitzpatrick tossed the rock around, but it wasn’t impressive—even more so considering the Colts were without their top four cornerbacks. 22-of-34 for 244, with a pair of TDs and a pick? That’s "eh," thus, an "eh" grade: C

Running Backs: Really tough to grade the Jets running backs when the Colts stacked the box and New York’s offensive line produced no running lanes. Turning on the film Tuesday will give a better indication as to what exactly went wrong, but the rapid reaction isn’t good.

Chris Ivory managed just 57 yards, and 19 of them came on one play. Bilal Powell managed only 38, and 23 of those came on one play. Overall, the Jets averaged 3.74 yards per carry and ran for 101 total yards. But, again, 41 percent of those yards came on two plays. C-

Receivers: For the majority of the game, the Colts were playing without their top four cornerbacks. As a result, the Jets abused the back end with their top two wideouts. Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall combined for 15 receptions, 198 yards and two touchdowns. Not bad. Not bad at all. The only thing keeping this grade from being an A? Again, the Colts were without their top four cornerbacks: B+

Tight Ends: For the second week in a row, no Jets tight end caught a pass—excluding receiver/H-back/everything-man Quincy Enunwa. Actually, the only time a Jets tight end showed up on the stat sheet was when backup Kellen Davis committed a false start. The positional group was considered the Jets weakest entering the season, and it’s looking that way two weeks in: D

Offensive Line: For the most part, Fitzpatrick was kept upright. The big men up front allowed just one sack. But running the ball? It was putrid. As highlighted in the running back grade, the Jets' offensive line paved the way for an average of 3.74 yards per carry. It was bad, very bad. Thus, a very bad, but not failing, grade: D

Defensive Line: Unofficially, the Jets had 16 quarterback hurries on Andrew Luck and never let the quarterback get in a rhythm. It was a collective effort—from the defensive line, to the linebackers, to the secondary locking down receivers.

But, it starts with the big men up front. Not to mention, even with the game just two scores apart the majority of the way, New York held Frank Gore to just 57 yards rushing on 15 attempts. A

Linebackers: Demario Davis and David Harris were solid rushing the passer, so were Calvin Pace and even Trevor Reilly. Quinton Coples got in on the action and had a sack that was nullified with a questionable penalty call. B+

Secondary: Antonio Cromartie got burned a bit, but Darrelle Revis, Marcus Gilchrist, Buster Skrine and Calvin Pryor all had incredibly impressive outings. Together, the group had a hand in all five of the Jets' forced turnovers. This New York defense is scary-good, and despite the big names up front, the secondary is the biggest reason why: A

Special Teams: Ryan Quigley had five punts, a long of 40 and three downed inside the 20. The Jets didn’t return a punt or a kick. Coverage was solid, as Tyler Varga averaged just 24 yards per kick return. Nothing bad, nothing special: C

Coaching: Another week and another perfect grade for Jets' first-year head coach Todd Bowles. New York had the perfect game plan defensively for beating Indianapolis and executed it perfectly. It wasn’t always pretty on offense, but when the Jets needed to get the job done, they did: A 

Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers

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What a difference a year makes?

It seems like quite awhile ago that the Jets defense was the laughing stock of the NFL: a group that couldn’t consistently get after the quarterback, struggled stopping the run when it counted and had arguably the NFL’s worst secondary.

Oh, and to cap it all off, the Jets couldn’t buy a turnover.

But that was 2014. And in 2015? Well, the Jets have enough turnovers to start selling them at a yard sale outside Florham Park.

For the second game in a row, the Jets forced five turnovers. Five. That makes 10 overall on the season, and 31 points off those turnovers. To put that number in perspective, the Jets had just 13 turnovers and 20 points off those turnovers all of last season.

New York’s flying around the football, everyone is looking to punch it out and it feels like all 11 players are getting involved in the turnover party. Monday night, Marcus Gilchrist and Calvin Pryor intercepted the first passes of their Jets careers, Darrelle Revis intercepted his first since his return and recovered two fumbles (career-high three fumble recoveries this year) and David Harris forced a fumble.

The Jets defense entered the season quietly, talking about how they thought of themselves as the league’s best unit. Two weeks in, it’s tough to find one better.

Did the Offensive Line Take a Step Back?

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It will be a topic of Tuesday’s film study, but the Jets' offensive line raised a few red flags against the Colts. With New York wanting desperately to establish a run game, Indianapolis shut down any potential threat.

Running back Chris Ivory managed just 57 yards on 14 carries, 19 of which came on one run. Bilal Powell? He wasn’t much better with 36 yards on 12 carries. Fitzpatrick, just for fun, added one rush for six yards. As a team the Jets averaged 3.74 yards per carry, but 41 percent of their 101 team rushing yards came on two plays (Ivory's 19-yard run and Powell's 23-yard run).

Opposing defensive coordinators aren’t dumb. They’ve seen Fitzpatrick's film, all 10 years of it, and know the quarterback, despite what Eric Decker says, doesn’t have elite arm strength. He’s a good quarterback, certainly solid enough to manage a game, but he’s never going to be the guy who wins one.

As a result, opposing teams are going to be looking to make Fitzpatrick do just that. They’ll stack eight guys in the box and dare the Jets to throw. What the Jets are going to have to do is run the ball against those stacked boxes. Monday night, that didn’t happen.

Even Eagles running back DeMarco Murray was surprised at how little running room Ivory and Powell had. When the Jets abandoned the run, looking to air the ball out down the field to get that safety out of the box, the offense became stagnant. Following a touchdown set up by Calvin Pryor’s interception, the Jets offense punted twice, threw an interception, made a field goal, missed a field goal and then punted twice more.

The Health of Eric Decker

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It almost went unnoticed on the Jets' eight-play, 80-yard drive to all but seal Monday’s victory. Before Brandon Marshall caught his 15-yard touchdown, fellow receiver Eric Decker limped off the field with an injury.

Decker was immediately taken back to the locker room, and given the dreaded “doubtful to return” prognosis with a “knee” injury.

After the game, Decker told reporters he believed he had injured his PCL, but wouldn’t know for sure until his MRI scheduled for Tuesday. The wideout didn’t believe he suffered a tear or an injury that would sideline him the remainder of the season.

For New York’s offense, the team has to hope Decker returns to the field sooner, rather than later.

While no longer the Jets No. 1 wideout, Decker has found a home as the offense’s slot receiver. Pegged as one of the game’s best route runners, Decker is able to use his best strengths when lining up inside.

Against the Colts, Decker routinely found himself matched up against a linebacker or safety when he slid inside. The result of such matchups were the majority of his eight receptions for 98 yards. Decker’s a good option outside. But as a slot? He has a chance to be one of the game’s more deadly options.

Through two games, Decker is on pace for 88 receptions, 1,080 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Todd Bowles on Antonio Cromartie

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“We had a heart-to-heart, he was ready to play, so, he played. He did a good job.”—Todd Bowles

It was one of the more scary situations that occurred during the Jets' season-opening victory over the Cleveland Browns. Early in the game, Cromartie collapsed to the turf at MetLife Stadium with what appeared to be an ACL tear.

He was helped off the field by trainers, put on the trainer’s table and carted off moments later. Cromartie himself admitted he thought his season was over, but an MRI revealed his injury to be nothing more than a knee sprain.

Cromartie sat out practice Monday and Wednesday, was limited Thursday and Friday and then played Monday.

Cromartie had an up-and-down performance as a player who obviously wasn’t 100 percent. He made an impressive diving-pass deflection to break up a pass intended for Andre Johnson, but Donte Moncrief also beat him for a touchdown.

Cromartie will likely be limited in practice again this week, but if he can play against the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday on a short week, it will be a situation worth monitoring.

Ryan Fitzpatrick on Jets 80-Yard Drive

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“We were stuck in a rut and not making a whole lot of plays. When they went down and scored, we knew it was gut-check time for us.”—Ryan Fitzpatrick

The Jets defense had dominated the entire game, but having been given just five minutes of rest midway through the fourth quarter, the unit finally broke down. Andrew Luck took the Colts on an eight-play, 91-yard touchdown drive capped by a TD pass to Donte Moncrief.

With New York’s lead just three at that point, Ryan Fitzpatrick knew the offense couldn’t put the defense right back onto the field. As a result, and as he put it, it was “gut-check time.” Fitzpatrick responded with an 80-yard touchdown drive capped with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick to Marshall.

Connor Hughes is the New York Jets beat writer for the Journal Inquirer and Scout.com. All quotes and advanced stats referenced and used are gathered firsthand. 

Connor can be reached on Twitter (@Connor_J_Hughes) or via email ([e-mail])