Tennessee Titans vs. New York Jets: New York Grades, Notes and Quotes
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was the game the New York Jets had to win. If the team wanted to keep its hopes alive to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2010, a victory over the lowly three-win Tennessee Titans would have to take place at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Jets, in a game that meant nothing to Tennessee, were playing for their postseason lives.
The Jets, against the Titans, played like a team destined to continue playing in January.
New York dominated Tennessee from the opening whistle until the final en route to a 30-8 victory. The win improved the Jets' record to 8-5 and kept the team in the sixth and final wild card spot ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"We talked about starting fast in the locker room," Jets coach Todd Bowles said. "We finished strong last week, but we have yet to start fast this year and jump out to a lead and play from ahead. We did a good job. We ran the ball. We threw the ball. We executed. We came out fresh and ready to go."
Throughout the majority of this season, the Jets have struggled to jump on teams early, normally beginning games a bit sluggish before catching on in the second quarter. Against the Titans, that wasn't the case. The Jets scored on five of their first six possessions to build a 27-0 halftime lead.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick connected with Eric Decker on a 16-yard touchdown, Brandon Marshall on a 69-yard score and Bilal Powell on a 16-yard screen to highlight the scoring. On the day, Fitzpatrick passed for 263 yards. He picked up an additional 23 yards on the ground, highlighted by a nifty 19-yard run.
In his last three games, Fitzpatrick has thrown for 930 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions.
"I mean there’s obviously a lot of room for improvement and that’s what’s exciting about it," Fitzpatrick said. "But the last few weeks we’ve really had to have it and I think we’ve done a good job the last three weeks as a team kind of coming up in big-time situations and playing off of each other."
Leading by a large margin at the halfway point, the Jets turned to the ground game to ice the victory. Chris Ivory ran for 101 yards, while Powell and Stevan Ridley combined for 59. In total, the Jets ran for 183 yards and averaged 5.4 yards per carry.
While the offense lit up the scoreboard, the defense helped cap arguably the Jets' most complete game of the season with a dominating effort of its own. Titans' rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota was intercepted once, sacked five times and had a quarterback rating of 65.5.
The only spark for the Titans came on a trick play that saw running back Antonio Andrews throw a 41-yard touchdown to Mariota out of the wildcat formation. Aside from that, there wasn't much going right for Tennessee. Even the ground game was bottled up, managing only 24 yards on 13 carries.
"We know [Mariota] is an elusive guy," said defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson, who had a career-high three sacks on Sunday. "But our job as pass-rushers is to have precise rushing lanes and I think we did that pretty well today.
"Coach [Todd] Bowles said it to the media, I believe. This is a one-game season right now. We played Tennessee today, we got the win. Now it’s on to Dallas."
New York will face the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday. The Titans (3-10) will travel to Foxborough on Sunday to face the New England Patriots.
Position Grades for Jets
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Quarterback: All Ryan Fitzpatrick does anymore is throw touchdowns. The quarterback tossed three more on Sunday with no interceptions, giving him a 9-0 touchdown-to-interception mark in his last three games. He completed 21 of 36 passes for 263 yards and also ran for 23 yards on the ground. Another impeccable game for "Fitz Magic." A
Running Backs: The Jets running game got back on track Sunday, but it wasn't just Chris Ivory that found success. Sure, the back gained 101 yards on 22 yards, but Bilal Powell gained 36 and Stevan Ridley 23. Powell, for the second straight week, got going in the receiving game too, catching five passes for 46 yards highlighted by a 16-yard touchdown.
Receivers: Brandon Marshall was on fire again, catching six passes for 125 yards and a score, highlighted by a 69-yard touchdown. Eric Decker was active again too, catching seven passes for 74 yards and a touchdown of his own. Quincy Enunwa caught a pass for 10 yards, while Jeremy Kerley and Devin Smith each left the game with injuries. A
Tight Ends: It almost feels wrong grading this positional group because it's not used. Between Kellen Davis and Jeff Cumberland, the two have seven receptions on the year and were targeted just once combined against Tennessee. C
Offensive Line: Great game from the big men up front. The group paved the way for 183 yards on the ground and 5.4 yards per carry. Fitzpatrick was sacked just once. It was the best the line has looked in quite some time.
Defensive Line: Three sacks for Muhammad Wilkerson and one for Leonard Williams. Not to mention, the front held the Titans rushing attack to just 24 yards on 13 carries. Dominating outing. A
Linebackers: Like the linemen, the linebackers deserve some credit for the effort to limit the Titans rushing attack. Overall though, it wasn't a very active day with no sacks from the outside guys and just five combined tackles for David Harris and Demario Davis. Davis did clean up on a sack of Mariota. B
Defensive Backs: The only hiccup from this unit was allowing a 41-yard touchdown reception on a trick play to Marcus Mariota. Other than that? Nothing. Mariota finished 21-of-39 for 274 yards with an interception and a quarterback rating of 65.5. The Titans punted six times, and their leading receiver had just 71 yards. The return of Darrelle Revis was a good one as the defense dominated the Titans offense. A
Special Teams: This was probably the best the Jets special teams have looked this year. No, there weren't any big returns, but the coverage was superb. Dexter McCluster managed just two yards on his only punt return, and Tre McBride averaged just 15.7 yards on three kick returns. A missed 53-yard field is the only reason this grade isn't an A. B
Coaching: Todd Bowles and Co. kept the Jets level-headed and completely avoided the trap game. The group was extremely disciplined, too, with just three penalties. This was the best overall game by the Jets to date, and the coaches have a lot to do with that. A.
Eric Decker, Brandon Marshall Make History
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The suddenly red-hot Jets offense wrote the latest chapter in a string of dominating performances Sunday afternoon. And as has been the case for the last few weeks, New York did so thanks to strong performances from its top two receiving options.
Jets wideout Brandon Marshall caught six passes for 125 yards and a touchdown while Eric Decker added seven receptions for 74 yards and another score. The two were the key factors for an offense that amassed 439 total yards.
On a side note, Decker and Marshall have been particularly good during the Jets' now-three-game win streak. In that span, Marshall has caught 27 passes for 387 yards and four scores. Decker has pulled in 20 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns.
This season, Marshall and Decker have thrown their names into the ring as one of the NFL's best 1-2 punches when it comes to receiving duos. The two have combined for 155 receptions, 2,062 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. The 20 touchdowns tie the most by two Jets receivers in franchise history, and that's just the first of many records the two are closing in on.
Through 13 games, Marshall has caught 89 passes for 1,187 yards and 11 scores. Marshall needs to catch five passes, record 248 receiving yards and score four touchdowns in the season's final three games in order to break the Jets' single-season record for catches, yards and touchdowns. If Marshall records another 100-yard game, it will be his ninth of the 2015 season, tying another Jets record.
Decker, meanwhile, having caught 66 passes for 875 yards and nine touchdowns, needs to average just over 41 yards per game to cross the 1,000-yard mark on the season. If he can do that, Decker and Marshall will become the first Jets' duo since 1998 to each have 1,000 yards. It's likely Decker gets there, too. The sixth-year pro has had 45 or more yards receiving in every game this year but one. Decker also already leads the AFC in receiving touchdowns since 2010.
Not bad for an offense that once had David Nelson as its No. 1 receiver.
Was This Jets' Most Complete Game?
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In the Jets' previous seven victories, there was always something that you could place your finger on that needed some form of improvement.
Maybe it was the running game, passing game, less turnovers, more quarterback pressure on defense, better special teams play...something. Because even when the Jets were winning, the team hadn't yet played the coveted "complete game."
In Sunday's victory over Tennessee, it's hard to find something the Jets did wrong.
"From the looks of it," Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said, "It looked pretty good."
There were no turnovers. The passing game was red-hot. The running game was dominant. The defense got after Marcus Mariota and forced turnovers. The special teams had lock-down coverage.
The only "negative" from the Jets point of view was a missed field goal...of 53 yards.
"We just have to continue to play and get better," Coach Bowles said. "These guys are getting to know each other. If we're going to go anywhere, it's not the defense that's going to take us. It's the whole team."
"We've had two good weeks, probably three. But we're playing more complete football as the weeks go on. That's what you look for."
The two biggest positives for the Jets this week were the return of the team's run game and the emergence of the pass rush. Chris Ivory, Bilal Powell, Stevan Ridley and Ryan Fitzpatrick combined for 183 yards and 5.4 yards per carry. The defense, led by Muhammad Wilkerson's career-high three sacks, brought down Mariota five times.
If the run game is back to complement New York's suddenly top-notch—seriously—pass game, and the pass rush has finally found itself to help ease the burden on the Jets secondary...things could be trending in quite the upward direction for New York.
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Jets Postseason Hopes: Updating the Playoff Picture
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The Jets won Sunday. So that certainly didn't hurt their chances of qualifying for the 2015 postseason.
The teams the Jets needed to lose on Sunday didn't. So that didn't really help them either.
Here's the situation. Right now, the Jets are in a three-way tie for one of the two AFC wild card spots. Entering Week 14, the Jets, Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs were all 7-5. Entering this weekend, the Chiefs held the fifth seed, the Jets the sixth and the Steelers were on the outside looking in.
With that being said, the Jets, even if the team was to win out, did not control their own destiny.
If the Chiefs won out, they would clinch the fifth seed with a better conference record than both the Steelers and Jets. If both the Steelers and Jets won out, the Steelers would take over the sixth seed from the Jets. While the two teams would have the same conference record, the Steelers have the advantage in common opponents.
So, now that that ground work is ironed out, here's what happened on Sunday.
The Chiefs defeated the San Diego Chargers, 10-3; the Steelers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 33-20.
Where's that leave the Jets? Right now, exactly as things were a week ago. Below is the run down from the wild card spots down:
AFC PLAYOFF PICTURE
5th- Kansas City Chiefs (8-5)
6th- New York Jets (8-5)
7th (Non-Playoff Seed) - Pittsburgh Steelers (8-5)
8th (Non-Playoff Seed) - Buffalo Bills (6-7)
9th (Non-Playoff Seed) - Indianapolis Colts (6-7)
10th (Non-Playoff Seed) - Oakland Raiders (5-7) [Playing 4:30 p.m. game]
Todd Bowles on Trap Game
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"If you're the Golden State Warriors, you have a trap game. We're not that good." - Todd Bowles on if Jets overcame a trap game against the 3-10 Titans
The talk all week at Florham Park had been how the Jets would handle the then-3-9 Titans. Would the team get up to play after an emotional victory over the Giants or fall a victim to the dreaded "trap game?"
Fresh off a 30-8 victory, Bowles was asked at his postgame press conference if he was pleased with how his team overcame this "trap game." His answer? It wasn't a trap game...
Muhammad Wilkerson's Career-Best Day
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"It's not about me...I think myself and the team played great." - Muhammad Wilkerson on career day
Muhammad Wilkerson is playing on the final year of his rookie deal. He wants a big-money contract and was vocal about such this offseason.
When no deal was reached before the start of the year, Wilkerson didn't hold out. Instead, he elected to play, betting on himself to put together a career year that would result in more money come year's end.
His bet paid off.
With three games still to play, Wilkerson has set a new career-high with 12 sacks this season. Against the Titans, he also set a new career-best with three sacks in the game.
Afterwards, standing by his locker, Wilkerson was asked about his performance. His answer? It's not all him.
Fitzpatrick on Touchdown Dance
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"No. (Laughs). There’s no Superman. It’s something up here (gestures to chest area), but that’s definitely not Superman. That’s the Big Sun. I don’t really need to get into what that is, but, yeah, that’s the Big Sun." - Ryan Fitzpatrick on his celebration
After Ryan Fitzpatrick threw his second touchdown against the Titans on a screen to Bilal Powell, the veteran quarterback did a weird dance in front of his teammates.
He stopped, put his hands near his chest and then brought them in an outward motion. It was eerily similar to the dance Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton does. No, not the "dab," but the "Superman."
After the game, Fitzpatrick was asked if he broke out the Superman. Apparently, while similar, his move is actually the "Big Sun."
Connor Hughes is the New York Jets beat writer for the Journal Inquirer and Scout.com. All quotes, practice observations and advanced stats referenced are gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Connor can be reached on Twitter (@Connor_J_Hughes) or via email (Connor_j_hughes@yahoo.com)
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