Jets Pick Up their First Victory of the Preseason

Muhammad Wilkerson (USATSI)
Wilkerson sat this one out resting his hamstring.

It didn’t look pretty in the beginning, but the Jets came out on top, 30-22 for their first preseason victory.

The offense started off the game with five punts, while the defense let up two touchdowns on the first two possessions for the Falcons. Friday night’s game looked like a replay of last week’s game against the Lions.

But once Matt Ryan came out of the game, the defense stepped up, especially Leonard Williams. After a Jets punt, the Falcons found themselves on their own five yard line, and that’s when Williams raced into the backfield and brought T.J. Yates down for his first career safety and sack. Williams finished the game with 1.5 sacks and four tackles along with the safety.

This was somewhat of a sigh of relief for Jets fans because Williams will be replacing Sheldon Richardson on the defensive line due his suspension. The fact that we saw Williams play well this early is a good sign that the Jets have Richardson’s spot filled.

Followed by the safety, the Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets drove down the field and scored their first touchdown of the preseason. The Jets then added on two field goals before the half ended thanks to a bounce back performance by Bryce Petty.

The Jets continued to pour it on in the second half to take a 30-14 lead. The Falcons finally scored a touchdown plus a two point conversion to make it an eight point game but it was too little too late as the Jets came up with the victory 30-22.

Other than Leonard Williams, another big take away was Bryce Petty. After a rough first career start last week, Petty responded with 168 passing yards as he completed 12 of 19 passes, one of those passes being a touchdown. He also led the Jets to scoring drives two other times with field goals. He was a different player than last week.

Another thing to be happy about was Ryan Fitzpatrick. I know it took a handful of possessions for the first team to cross the goal line, but I think getting the first touchdown is a weight lifted off the offense’s shoulder. I also liked the fact that the first team was left in the game into the second quarter. Fitzpatrick should really benefit from the extra repetitions with the first team.

The Jets continue their preseason schedule next Saturday night as they are guests in their own stadium against the New York Giants. Hopefully more improvements will be made then as the Jets inch closer to the regular season opener against the Browns on September 13.