Adam Gase told his team that if they were going to pull off an upset against the Steelers in Week 16, it would come in low-scoring fashion.
The Jets did just that, barely pulling out an ugly victory over Pittsburgh by a final score of 16-10. Nothing was pretty about the Jets’ win, but the defense stood on its head yet again though, intercepting Devlin Hodges twice.
The Jets’ gameplan was to not turn over the football. The team’s only turnover came right before halftime and led to the Steelers’ only touchdown of the game. Sam Darnold and the Jets offense were unspectacular, but they did just enough to get Le’Veon Bell and Hines Ward a victory against their former team.
Here are the best and worst players from the Jets’ latest win.
Stud: S Marcus Maye
While Marcus Maye has played an above-average center field position in the secondary for Gang Green, he’s been forced to play out of position and has subsequently struggled.
Fortunately for Maye, with Jamal Adams returning to the starting lineup, he was able to slide over to his natural position and made the Steelers pay. Maye’s interception of Devlin Hodges in the end zone was the final straw for Mike Tomlin, who yanked Hodges in favor of Mason Rudolph until an injury forced Rudolph out of action.
In addition to Maye’s third career interception, he added four tackles in the Jets 16-10 win over the Steelers. He also made a game-saving play in coverage, breaking up a game-winning touchdown catch from James Washington with less than a minute remaining in the game.
Dud: Adam Gase
Adam Gase’s conservative play-calling has been an issue all season for Gang Green. After the first drive, the Jets’ scripted play calling stopped and so did the team’s offensive success.
Gase’s misguided decision making set the Jets up for failure from the start. With 36 seconds remaining in the first half and the Jets at midfield, Gase opted to pass the football rather than run out the clock.
Sam Darnold was stripped sacked off his blindside by T.J. Watt, leading to a Mason Rudolph touchdown pass to Diontae Johnson to tie the game at 10 before the half.
New York barely edged out Pittsburgh due to a multitude of field goals from the leg of Sam Ficken. In the event of an upset, the game should never have been as close. The Jets should have blown Pittsburgh out of the water, but instead hung on to dear life in a 16-10 victory.
Stud: DL Quinnen Williams
Returning from a neck injury, New York’s defensive tackle had himself arguably the best game of his rookie campaign.
To put the Steelers out of field goal range for good and force them to punt in the fourth quarter, Quinnen Williams sacked Devlin Hodges, recording his second sack of the day.
In addition to his two sacks, Williams added three tackles in the Jets win on Sunday.
Dud: QB Sam Darnold
The growth of a rookie quarterback is never going to be linear.
However, besides an impressive first drive, Sam Darnold was erratic. The second-year QB struggled to make an impact as the Jets relied on him being just slightly better than the Steelers duo of Devlin Hodges and Mason Rudolph.
Darnold was pretty careless with the football, but he surprisingly did not throw an interception, after he very well could have. Darnold did fumble the football, but it came at the expense of Brandon Shell, who T.J. Watt blew by, for his 14th sack of the season and seventh forced fumble.
He ended Sunday’s win completing 16 of 26 passes for 183 yards and a score.
Stud: DE Tarell Basham
Gregg Williams often has his pass-rushers drop back into coverage because the team’s best pass-rusher is Jamal Adams.
Dropping back into coverage finally paid off for Basham. Devlin Hodges never took his eyes off wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was being doubled by both Basham and CB Brian Poole. Basham came away with his first career interception.
