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

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The momentum had changed. That was evident by the 80,000 strong waving their white towels as the New York Jets, suddenly down just two scores after trailing by 24 points, set up shop at the Philadelphia Eagles' 41-yard line.

There were seven minutes left in the game, David Harris had just forced a fumble to give the ball back to New York and this was when the Jets were going to make their push to start the year with three straight wins.

Then, all comeback hopes were over.

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s third-down pass was intercepted by Eagles rookie Jordan Hicks to seal Philadelphia’s 24-17 victory over the Jets at MetLife Stadium.

“That was tough,” Fitzpatrick said after the game. “I thought we had plenty of chances there in the fourth quarter.”

After remaining relatively turnover-free through the first two games of the season, Fitzpatrick was turnover-prone Sunday afternoon. The 11th-year pro finished 35-of-58 for 283 yards with two scores and three interceptions. He had a quarterback rating of 62.6 and averaged a measly 4.8 yards per passing attempt.

While the Jets entered the game wanting to run the ball, their inability to open any rushing lanes (2.9 yards per carry, 47 total rushing yards), combined with 24 unanswered points to open the game for Philly, threw that game plan out the window.

After scoring a field goal on their first offensive possession, the Eagles scored touchdowns off an 89-yard punt return by Darren Sproles, a 23-yard reception by running back Ryan Mathews and a one-yard rush by Sproles to build a 24-0 lead in the first half. The hole proved too steep for the Jets to climb out.

“You have to give Philly credit. They made some good plays,” Jets head coach Todd Bowles said. “They beat us at our own game.”

After the Eagles' final touchdown, the Jets scored one of their own on their next offensive drive when Fitzpatrick found receiver Brandon Marshall for a 16-yard score. Marshall finished with 10 receptions for 109 yards.

But after the score, the Jets offense went back to its stagnant ways. Turnovers, three-and-outs and a putrid passing attack thwarted any comeback attempt. The Jets cut the Eagles lead to 10 when Fitzpatrick found receiver Jeremy Kerley for a seven-yard touchdown, but back-to-back interceptions closed the game out.

“You can’t get 14 or 21 points back (at once,)” Fitzpatrick said. “There’s still got to be an element of patience with the confidence in the huddle. I think at times today, whether it was me or plays by other guys, I think we lacked a little bit of that patience.”

In a losing effort, the Jets defense held the Eagles to only 232 yards of offense. 

The Jets (2-1) will face the Miami Dolphins (1-2) in London next Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles (1-2) will travel to take on the Washington Redskins (1-2).

Positional Grades

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

Position	Grade
QB	D
RB	D
TE	D
WR	C
OL	D
DL	B
LB	C
DB	A
Special Teams	F
Coaching	D

Quarterbacks: It wasn’t pretty for Ryan Fitzpatrick. Actually, it was downright ugly. The quarterback missed multiple throws, including several deep shots to rookie receiver Devin Smith. He never got in a rhythm. The constant checking down of passes limited what the Jets were able to do on offense, and his three interceptions thwarted any comeback attempt. Fitzpatrick finished 35-of-58 for 283 yards with two scores. His average yards per attempt? A measly 4.8 yards. 

Running Backs: Without Chris Ivory, the Jets running game struggled to get anything going. Bilal Powell managed just 31 yards on 10 carries, and Zac Stacy three yards on two rushes. For the second week in a row, the Jets couldn’t run the ball. 

Receivers: Brandon Marshall caught 10 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown, but an asinine attempt to lateral the ball after making a first-down reception, accompanied by a poor effort near the sideline that resulted in an interception off his fingertips, put a blemish on an otherwise impressive day. Other than Marshall, no Jets receiver really made much of a difference. Quincy Enunwa caught five passes for 50 yards, but dropped two passes. Jeremy Kerley caught six passes for 33 yards, but didn’t really have an impact on the game. 

Tight Ends: Jeff Cumberland caught two passes for 10 yards, which were the first two passes caught by a Jets tight end this year, but he also dropped a pass. Without Chris Owusu and Eric Decker, the Jets needed a tight end to step up. None did. 

Offensive Line: The most alarming aspect of the Jets' lack of a rushing attack Sunday? Philadelphia shut it down with just seven players in the box. New York’s big men couldn’t open any holes, while Fitzpatrick was sacked once and pressured countless other times. That neither Powell nor Stacy could get going was one of the big reasons the Jets had to turn to the air. If the Jets line doesn’t improve its play soon, things could get very, very ugly. 

Defensive Line: Philadelphia did run for 123 yards, but averaged only 3.2 yards per carry. In fact, the Eagles as a team gained just 232 yards of total offense. Sam Bradford was sacked once by a combination of Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams. Overall, it wasn’t a bad showing for the defensive line.

Linebackers: Eagles running backs Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles are the reason this grade isn’t much, much lower. The two backs dropped two passes that would have been back-breakers and ended this game well before the final whistle. While Jets linebackers Demario Davis and David Harris played well against the run, the two struggled mightily against the pass. Mathews did catch a 23-yard touchdown past Davis. Asked after the game why his linebackers struggled so much defending the wheel route, Bowles said, “They just got beat.” Harris did have a forced fumble that gave the Jets life, which is why this grade’s a C.

Defensive Backs: Another great day for the Jets secondary. The unit held Bradford to just 14-of-28 passing for 118 yards, and Jordan Matthews was the only Eagles receiver to catch a pass (six for 49 yards). 

Special Teams: Horrible. Nearly five missed tackles on an 89-yard punt return touchdown by Sproles (why was he even kicked to?) and nothing at all going for Stacy as a kick returner. Kerley had a couple of nice punt returns, but that’s rendered irrelevant by the unit’s other mistakes. 

Coaching: A strange situation played out Sunday for the Jets. Down 17 points, New York drove down the field and scored a touchdown to cut the Eagles lead to 10. Positive, right? Wrong. While the Jets did score, the group took 16 plays and over eight minutes to do so. With time winding down, the Jets had no sense of urgency. That falls directly on the coach’s shoulders. It was bad. There’s also the questionable decision to have Fitzpatrick throw 58 passes, and the other to kick the ball to Sproles. The Jets coaches were very good the first two weeks of the season, but that's not the case here in Week 3.

Ryan Fitzpatrick Attempts 62 Passes...Seriously

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

There are things Ryan Fitzpatrick does well, and things that he doesn’t. The 11-year veteran is accurate, a field general and a more-than-capable game manager.

Fitzpatrick is not a player who should be throwing the ball 62 times. Never.

Never ever.

Against the Eagles on Sunday, Fitzpatrick finished 35-of-58 (the third time in his career he’s thrown 50-plus passes, all in losses) for 283 yards with a pair of touchdowns and three interceptions. He missed multiple passes deep, turned to the checkdown time and time again and was a bit of a liability under center. No rushing attack certainly didn’t help the Jets, but the team abandoned the ground game far too quickly.

With Chris Ivory hurt, Powell ran the ball 10 times for 31 yards, and Stacy rushed two times for three yards. Because the Jets couldn’t get anything going early, they put the ball in Fitzpatrick’s hands. That game plan didn’t work.

If the Jets want to have success, it’ll be because the running game opens up the pass, not the other way around. If that wasn’t evident before—it should have been—it is crystal clear now. Fitzpatrick doesn’t have the arm to be the difference-maker on offense. He can’t stretch the field, and when he’s asked to throw the ball a significant number of times, mistakes happen.

When the Jets go back and watch the film of this one before turning their attention to the Miami Dolphins, there may be a few glances shot from Bowles to offensive coordinator Chan Gailey.

Brandon Marshall Crosses Career Milestone; Makes "Worst Play in NFL History"

Adam Hunger/Associated Press

Brandon Marshall crossed a career milestone Sunday afternoon.

He also made the self-labeled “worst play in NFL history.”

Good first? OK. Having caught 10 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles, Marshall now has over 10,000 receiving yards for his career; he's the 45th player to accomplish such a task. Marshall is also the only receiver in the NFL this year to have caught a touchdown in each of the first three games of the season.

Marshall has been one of the brightest spots on the Jets roster in 2015. In his 10th season, Marshall has pulled in 23 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns this year. It’s been quite some time since the Jets have had a true No. 1 wideout, but it appears that drought is over. 

…And now time for the bad.

With the Jets trailing 17-0 in the second quarter and looking for some sort of spark, Fitzpatrick dropped back and found Marshall over the middle. Marshall caught the ball, picked up the first down and began fighting his way up the field.

As Marshall was being brought down, he unbelievably attempted to lateral the ball to teammate Jeff Cumberland. The play, which was believably unsuccessful, resulted in the Eagles recovering the ball and scoring seven plays later.

“Wrong time to gamble,” Marshall said. “I was pressing trying to make a play, but you can’t do that. That was probably the worst play in NFL history… you can’t do that. The damage outweighs the reward so much.

“I saw Cumberland sitting there, but it was too late to do that. If I was going to do it, I should have done it a little earlier. But you can’t do that, that’s backyard football. It was a bonehead play.”

Down 24-0 after the Eagles' ensuing touchdown, New York was never able to recover from the play.

Jeremy Kerley Gets a Chance on Offense

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey likes tall receivers.

Jets receiver Jeremy Kerley is 5'9".

In the Jets' first two games of the season, Kerley played just one offensive snap in each.

Despite being New York’s starting slot receiver for the large portion of his four-year NFL career, Kerley has been an afterthought in 2015. The former fifth-round pick, who had 827 receiving yards in 2012, is buried on the depth chart and has been relegated to a role as the team’s punt returner.

But against the Eagles on Sunday afternoon, Kerley finally got a chance to play offensively.

With Eric Decker and Chris Owusu sidelined with injures, Kerley saw his most extensive action of the young season, catching six passes for 33 yards and a touchdown. Kerley was solid enough, working well in the slot and finding the opening in the Eagles defense.

After the game, Kerley said he “felt good” about getting a chance to play offensively. The question now is when he’ll get this number of reps again.

Decker (sprained knee) was a game-time decision on Sunday, per NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, and will likely return next week against the Miami Dolphins. One of the best route-runners in the NFL, Decker has been Gailey’s choice to play the slot position in three-wide sets.

Did Kerley show enough to push Decker for playing time? We’ll see.

Todd Bowles on Jets' Quarterback Situation

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

“Ryan’s our starter.”

It’s going to be the question posed to Bowles every week from here on out. That’s a given. The question now is how many more performances like Sunday's can Fitzpatrick have before the above statement changes.

Against the Eagles, Fitzpatrick had his worst outing of the season. The quarterback averaged just 4.8 yards per attempt, threw three interceptions and could have tossed a few more. It was bad. Actually, the quarterback play against Philly wasn’t much different than what was on display for a large portion of the 2014 season.

If Fitzpatrick is going to continue to turn the ball over, the Jets may be better off with Geno Smith under center. While certainly flawed, Smith has the ability to stretch the field and is a much more talented passer.

Fitzpatrick is still the Jets' No. 1, and he deserves that after quarterbacking New York to two victories to start the season. But after Sunday’s performance, that leash is a bit shorter.

Darrelle Revis on Tweaked Hamstring

Adam Hunger/Associated Press

“I’m fine… I’m fine… I’m fine… I’m fine.”

On the Jets' final defensive series, there was one notable absence. After playing every other play of the game, cornerback Darrelle Revis was nowhere to be found.

The issue? Bowles confirmed after the game that he tweaked a hamstring.

The severity? Revis wants all to know it’s no big deal.

Speaking to reporters, Revis was asked four questions about his injury. His answer each time was the same: “I’m fine.”

Demario Davis on Jets Defense

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

“We only got one turnover today, I believe, so that’s not enough”

One of the biggest reasons for the Jets' success the first two games of the season was the fact that the team continually forced turnovers. In each game, New York forced five.

Sunday against Philly? The Jets only forced one.

Speaking after the game, linebacker Demario Davis was asked if he felt the momentum change slightly after New York's one turnover. His answer? Well, one’s not enough. 

That's quite a big change from a year ago. In 2014, the Jets defense forced just 13 turnovers. 

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]).