Week 1 didn’t end the way the Jets wanted – not in the slightest. Despite Le’Veon Bell’s impressive return to football and a defense that forced four turnovers and one safety, the Jets blew a 16-0 lead en route to a season-opening loss.
There is a lot to glean from the loss, though. The defense employed a lot of the aggressiveness new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams wanted from his players and Sam Darnold found his favorite target. The best news, though, is how much the Jets featured Bell on offense and how well he played despite his year-long hiatus from the gridiron.
Here are the five most interesting stats from Week 1.
4: Most first-half takeaways since 2011
One of the keys to the game was to force turnovers against the Bills, and the Jets defense did just that in the first half of the game. New York recovered two fumbles and intercepted two Josh Allen passes before halftime, returning one interception for a touchdown. It’s the first time a Jets defense recorded four turnovers in one half since 2011, according to Jets team reporter Randy Lange and it was the Jets’ first season-opening game with four first-half takeaways.
Gregg Williams preached aggressiveness on defense all throughout the offseason and the Jets practiced that perfectly in the first half. They could have had even more turnovers if not for a defensive penalty negating an interception and Marcus Maye dropping another. The Jets couldn’t continue their success in the second half, though, as the Bills relied less on Josh Allen and more on their running game to complete the comeback win.
7: Losses by teams with a plus-4 turnover differential
Normally, teams that force multiple turnovers end up winning the game. Since 2000, teams with a plus-4 turnover margin went 177-6, according to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell. Despite four first-half takeaways for the Jets defense, New York became the seventh team to lose despite winning the turnover battle by four. Even worse, they’re the first team to blow a 16-0 lead with four takeaways since the Bears beat the Cardinals in 2006, according to ESPN. That game led to the infamous “They are who we thought they were” rant by Cardinals’ coach Dennis Green.
The Bills were 0-10 in 2018 when they turned the ball over at least twice. The Jets defense tried to continue that trend in 2019 after forcing four turnovers in the first half but couldn’t quite stave off the Bills offense late in the game.
19: Blown leads in games up at least 15-0
Jets fans know heartache all too well, but this loss hurts especially more considering the Jets’ 16-0 lead in the third quarter. It’s the 19th time in franchise history the Jets blew a game with at least a 15-0 lead, according to NJ.com’s Darryl Slater.
A combination of factors could have contributed to this epic defensive failure. A porous secondary gave up big plays to John Brown and Cole Beasley, the defense as a whole failed to stop rookie running back Devin Singletary after C.J. Mosley exited with a groin injury, and the offense couldn’t muster any sort of counter to the Bills’ late scores. Oh yeah, and Kaare Vedvik missed an extra point and a field goal in the one-score loss. The Jets need to correct their late-game playcalling to avoid these collapses in the future.
14: Crowder’s receptions tie franchise record in a game
Sam Darnold has already found his favorite target on offense in Jamison Crowder. The former Washington wide receiver led the game with 14 receptions on 17 targets for 99 yards. That’s the most receptions by a Jets wide receiver since Al Toon also caught 14 passes on Nov. 27, 1988. In that game, Toon finished with 181 yards in a 38-34 win over the Dan Marino-led Miami Dolphins.
Crowder was Darnold’s security blanket all game long, and he was the only consistent receiver on the Jets. Crowder was especially critical in extending drives – six of his receptions were for first downs, including four on third-down.
66: Number of snaps Bell played
There were questions heading into the 2019 season as to how many snaps Bell would play after skipping the entire 2018 season and not playing in the preseason. Well, the Jets answered pretty resoundingly by featuring Bell in all 66 offensive snaps in their Week 1 loss to the Bills.
Bell played fantastic in his debut for the Jets. He finished with 92 total yards, one touchdown, and a two-point conversion. On his first carry for the Jets, Bell reached 8,000 career yards from scrimmage after only 63 games – an NFL record. Darnold also targeted him the second-most times in the passing game and he delivered with six receptions for 32 yards and the Jets’ lone offensive touchdown.
