Jets takeaways from Sunday’s 27-12 loss to Bengals, including key mistakes on defense

The Jets may have been able to take the Bengals by surprise last season, but Cincinnati was ready for them on Sunday, as they marched downfield for a touchdown on their first possession, then capitalized on a series of Jets mistakes to take a commanding 27-9 third quarter lead. The Bengals ultimately held on for a routine win in a game where the Jets lost a defensive starter as linebacker Quincy Williams was carted off in the third quarter.

There would be no miracle comeback this week as Joe Flacco turned the ball over four times and struggled to get the offense going. He ended up with 285 yards and two interceptions on 52 attempts. Despite the loss, the Bengals only outgained the Jets by 329 yards to 328.

It looks like Zach Wilson will be back to face the Steelers next week. It will be interesting to see if he can do any more with this offense.

Here are the key takeaways…

• A pattern that continues to emerge on defense is that the Jets might scheme up a good defensive look to disrupt a play, only for an individual mistake to cost them dearly. In the first quarter, Joe Burrow was flushed from the pocket but Ahmad Gardner dropped off too far in coverage to leave the running back Samaje Perine open for the first touchdown. Then, on the second touchdown drive, a John Franklin-Myers roughing penalty extended the drive before Jordan Whitehead’s missed tackle in space led to a 56-yard Tyler Boyd score.

• The Bengals went after Gardner several times, with mixed results. Gardner broke up two passes and made a fourth down stop. However, there were also some negatives. He was in a good position to locate the ball but got overpowered at the catchpoint by Tee Higgins for a 45-yard gain and was involved in a coverage mix-up that led to an easy touchdown for the second week in a row. It’s already becoming clear that the rookie will experience some ups and downs this season.

• The Jets talked all week about wanting to stop Ja’Marr Chase and he only had eight yards on six targets in the first half. Unfortunately, the Bengals’ other top receivers, Higgins and Boyd, had over 90 yards each by halftime.

• One surprising mismatch for the Bengals was pass rusher Trey Hendrickson against veteran left tackle George Fant. Hendrickson beat him cleanly for two strip sacks, drew a holding penalty and got the better of him a few other times. Fant has been listed on the injury report for the past few weeks with a knee injury and clearly this was bothering him because Conor McDermott replaced him in the third quarter. McDermott went on to give up a fourth down sack to Hendrickson in the fourth quarter.

• The Jets’ run defense continues to be a bright spot, as they have been excellent apart from in the fourth quarter of last week’s game. In this game, they held Joe Mixon to 24 yards on 12 carries. They did tire again late, though.

• As is often the case when everyone is talking about a glaring weakness for a team heading into a matchup, the Bengals focused on this, as they obviously made shoring up their pass protection a priority in practice this week. With Burrow also focused on getting rid of the ball early, this meant that the Jets’ pass rush was a non-factor for most of the first half even though the Bengals entered the game having surrendered 13 sacks in two weeks. The Bengals did a similar thing last year, surrendering 10 sacks in the first two games and none in game three, so the coaching staff is clearly adept at making these kinds of adjustments.

• Although running backs Breece Hall and Michael Carter only combined for 24 yards on 10 first half carries, they managed to get their running game going when the Bengals’ top run stuffer, DJ Reader, went down with an injury in the second quarter. However, they were mostly trailing from that point onwards, forcing them to pass a lot. Earlier, the game plan heavily targeted Hall in the passing game instead. He was targeted nine times in the first half alone and made some nice plays, although he also had two drops.

• After his breakout game last week, Garrett Wilson looked good again in the early going, as he caught four passes for 46 yards in the first half. However, he was knocked out of the game after suffering a second quarter rib injury on a big Jessie Bates hit and was quiet once he returned. He ended up with six catches for 60 yards.

• First round defensive end Jermaine Johnson flashed a few times this week, albeit against the run rather than as a pass rusher. He had four solo stops. Other rookies contributed too with Max Mitchell holding up well again at right tackle and Micheal Clemons blowing up a play in the backfield.

• Despite the promising signs from their rookie class, the Jets haven’t been getting the most out of their free agency signings. Guard Laken Tomlinson has been inconsistent so far, CJ Uzomah has been banged up and a non-factor while Whitehead had the costly missed tackle and a dropped interception. Although Tyler Conklin caught a team-high eight passes, most of these came in garbage time. Cornerback DJ Reed has arguably been the only one of their main signings to live up to expectations.

Highlights

What's next

The Jets travel to Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh to face the Steelers next Sunday, Oct. 2 at 1:00 p.m.