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After a decent two-quarter performance from the New York Jets defense, the floodgates finally opened in the second half against the Baltimore Ravens.
The breaking point was a 55-yard touchdown bomb from quarterback Lamar Jackson to wide receiver Rashod Bateman, where Jets safeties Jordan Whitehead and Lamarcus Joyner got burnt in coverage.
That put the Ravens up 24-3 after the extra point, and Jackson let all of MetLife Stadium know that the victory was well in hand.
Lamar Jackson Mocks Jets With Airplane Celebration
Following the deep connection with Bateman, Jackson taunted the Jets and their fans with the classic airplane touchdown celebration that the Green & White have made famous over the years. The NFL on CBS broadcast team caught the footage during their live television coverage.
It was an unnecessary salt-in-wounds move from Jackson against a team that he has no known bad blood against. That sort of disrespect doesn’t usually stand in the NFL, but the Jets probably won’t get a second chance to get the better of the former MVP and his Ravens in 2022 — unless they meet in an unlikely NYJ playoff run.
Jets cornerback D.J. Reed Jr. did intercept Jackson in the fourth quarter but it didn’t end up changing the result. Gang Green fell to Baltimore 24-9.
Jackson finished with three passing touchdowns — two in the second half — and 213 yards through the air. A modest total, by his standards, but a blowout victory nonetheless because of how poorly the Jets offense played.
If head coach Robert Saleh wants to get his team in the winning column in Week 2, he’ll have to figure out that side of the football and the all-important question mark at QB.
Saleh Addresses Miscues From Offense & Special Teams
Coach Saleh addressed the media after the game, backing the defensive performance.
“I thought [the defense] came in, had a really good plan,” he began. “I thought our guys played with a lot of juice and energy. Gave up three explosive plays, unfortunately, two of them on third down [that] resulted in a touchdown and one of them was a 55-yard explosive… just getting lazy in the back-end.”
The Jets HC did not have the same praise for the special teams department.
“We’re missing kicks, we’re missing extra points, we’re not going to win football games [like that],” he voiced. “You’re not going to beat a veteran team when you’re not capitalizing on the momentum that you gain — from dropped passes to being loose with the football to missed kicks, this is a game in my opinion that we absolutely lost.”
What Saleh means by that is his team beat themselves, not the other way around.
“There’s no moral victory,” he clarified to reporters, “we’ve got to get it fixed.”
This Week 1 performance was eerily similar to a few of the early-season games last season, like in Denver or the 2021 home opener against New England. The defense came to play, the offense did not — from quarterback Joe Flacco’s accuracy throwing the ball to playmakers dropping passes and the offensive line getting beat.
As Saleh put it, “a lot of wasted ops [opportunities]” from the offense. Some highlights were drops from running back Michael Carter (open touchdown) and a fumble from fellow RB Breece Hall, but the list of miscues was much longer than that.
The Jets will attempt to shake this game off as they travel to Cleveland to face the 1-0 Browns.
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