The Jets continued their dominance against the NFC East this season, dismantling the Redskins, 34-17, and improving to 3-1 vs. the division.
New York’s defense made life for rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins nearly impossible, especially with Jamal Adams continuing his tear as the team’s best edge rusher. On the other side of the football, Sam Darnold threw a career-high four touchdown passes to give the Jets a commanding win.
For the Jets, it was another step in the right direction and the team’s second consecutive win. Here are the best and worst players from the Week 11 victory.
Stud: QB Sam Darnold
Ever since seeing ghosts, Sam Darnold has slowly returned to form.
The young quarterback always has at least one bad decision per game, but he got that out of the way early on his way to one of his best performances. Darnold threw a career-high four touchdown passes, going 19-30 for 293 yards and one interception.
The Jets offense looked the best it has all season under Darnold’s direction and went over the 400-yard threshold in a comfortable win.
Dud: WR Vyncint Smith
Vyncint Smith had his worst game as a Jet on Sunday.
Smith coughed up a fumble on a kickoff return that fortunately did not lead to any points for Washington. On the Jets’ ensuing drive, Smith dropped a wide-open pass that would’ve moved the chains for Gang Green.
The Jets signed Smith off the Texans practice squad at the recommendation of Demaryius Thomas. He’s shown flashes of promise but didn’t help himself on Sunday by struggling in limited opportunities.
Stud: The Tight Ends
With Chris Herndon (broken ribs) sidelined for the rest of the season, the Jets needed a big boost from their tight ends and got it on Sunday.
Daniel Brown kicked off the scoring with his first career catch as a Jet. The touchdown was the third of Brown’s career and his first reception and target of the season. Ryan Griffin continued his success with Sam Darnold, catching his fourth touchdown of the season to give the Jets a 20-3 lead before halftime.
Griffin entered the day with a single-game career-high of 85 receiving yards. He recorded the first 100-yard receiving game of his career, catching five passes for 109 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s win.
Stud: Gregg Williams
One can argue that Gregg Williams was the Jets’ best offseason addition.
Williams’ defense stood strong again against rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins. The Jets started Neville Hewitt and James Burgess at linebacker, while Bless Austin and Arthur Maulet manned cornerback. Still, Williams’ unit rose to the occasion.
New York sacked Haskins six times and intercepted him once in a dominating defensive performance. Gang Green’s No. 1 ranked run defense stopped the Redksins rushing attack, holding them to 54 yards on 20 carries.
The Redskins’ first touchdown scored in 17 quarters came with the Jets already leading by a commanding 31 points. Washington put up 17 points, but most of it came with the game already decided.
Stud: S Jamal Adams
Jamal Adams has become New York’s best pass-rusher, which is both impressive and a sad indictment on the current crop of blitzers the Jets have rostered.
Adams continued his dominance of rookie quarterbacks this week by building off his two-sack performance against Daniel Jones and the Giants. Adams sacked Dwayne Haskins three times on Sunday. He now leads the Jets with six sacks on the season.
Since his name was mentioned in trade talks, Adams is playing at a completely different level. He has a chance to win back-to-back AFC Defensive Player of the Week awards with his hat trick performance in the Jets’ 34-17 win over the Redskins.
Dud: OT Chuma Edoga
Chuma Edoga was not up for his challenge on Sunday.
To be fair to the rookie third-round pick, he was going up against future Hall of Famer Ryan Kerrigan, who sacked Sam Darnold twice. Edoga was tossed around on Kerrigan’s strip-sack of Darnold; the Jets were lucky to recover the football.
Gase did not offer Edoga a whole lot of help to deal with Kerrigan, but still, the rookie could barely hold his own. Edoga left Sunday’s game with an ankle injury and was subsequently replaced by Brandon Shell. He’s looked every bit the work-in-progress that he was projected to be coming out of college.
