The New York Jets hoped for a better performance after their opening season loss to division rival Buffalo Bills.
It did not happen after another inept performance at the hands of the defending 2020 NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers 31-13. New York’s inability to score touchdowns and successfully take advantage of key moments, contributed to their second loss of the season.
“I’m pissed right now,” New York Jets Head Coach Adam Gase told reporters after the game. Gase was livid after the loss to the 49ers, who won despite having several players carted off the field early in the game due to injuries. “We got to find a way to improve really fast and we have to go back to work,” Gase said. “That’s the number one thing. We have to find a way to go win one football game.”
49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo injured his ankle when he was sacked by Quinnen Williams with about 11 minutes remaining in the first quarter. The 49ers used their second string quarterback, Nick Mullens in the second half of the game. Defensive ends Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas both suffered knee injuries in the first quarter and did not return.
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The Jets won the coin toss but deferred and the 49eres elected to receive. San Francisco then took the lead only 17 seconds into the game, and never looked back. Garoppolo tossed to running back Raheem Mostert on the first play, and he ran 80 yards to score a touchdown.
Jets struggled to make it to the end zone, as the 49ers defense held them back. Sam Ficken’s field goal put the Jets on board 7-3. Sam Darnold said they couldn’t execute in the red zone.
“It’s about having consistent plays on second and third down and just continuing to move the chains,” Darnold said. “I felt like, like I said, in the first half we did a good job of that in the field, but we’ve got to finish once we get into the red area. ”Darnold completed 21 of 32 passes for 179 yards and 1 touchdown..
The Jets didn’t score again until the third quarter. The offense was unable to score a touchdown after an interception by cornerback Pierre Desir with less than five minutes remaining. Ficken kicked another field goal bringing the score to 24-6. Darnold felt more could have been done. “Yeah, absolutely, we’ve got to score a touchdown there,” he said.
The Jets couldn’t fully embrace their only touchdown of the game with only about two minutes remaining. Darnold threw to Braxton Berrios for a 30-yd touchdown. “I guess there’s a time and place to kind of celebrate that and cheer and now is not it,” said Berrios. “It got us to 13, but 13 is a far ways from 31.” Darnold said the team needs to get healthy and watch tapes to see details they might need to change before next week’s game. “We’ll fix some of those things and address them on Tuesday and then Wednesday out at practice I’m sure we’ll run through them again and make sure we’re all good on it,” Darnold said.
The Jets go on the road Sunday to face the Indianapolis Colts who defeated the Minnesota Vikings handily 28-11.
