The Jets came to play on Sunday as they put on one of their best performances of the season in a 30-6 win over the Houston Texans in Week 14. The win snapped a five-game losing streak and moved the Jets to 5-8 on the season. Zach Wilson threw for 301 yards in the win, a win the Jets really needed after the week they had with having to defend the thought that Wilson wasn’t reluctant to return to the starting lineup.
The grades are out from Pro Football Focus for this game and we’ll take a look at the best and worst performers on offense and defense (min. 10 snaps).
Top 5 offense
- TE Tyler Conklin: 82.7
- OT Billy Turner: 80.3
- QB Zach Wilson: 76.2
- RB Breece Hall: 75.9
- WR Randall Cobb: 70.7
It isn’t surprising to see Zach Wilson on here after giving perhaps the performance of his life against the Texans, going 27 of 36 for 301 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a quarterback rating of 117.9, a career-high.
Conklin caught four passes for 57 yards as the Jets got both him and Jeremy Ruckert involved in the passing game, totaling 94 of Wilson’s 301 yards.
Turner filled in for an injured Max Mitchell at right tackle, playing 24 snaps and earning the second-highest offensive grade.
It was good to see Hall get back into the swing of things. Eight catches, 86 yards and a touchdown as Hall totaled 126 yards on the day.
Cobb just squeaked ahead of Garrett Wilson for a top-five spot Sunday — he also played just enough snaps to qualify here with 13. Wilson had a 70 grade with his 108 yards on nine catches while Cobb had the touchdown on his only catch of the day.
Top 5 defense
- LB Quincy Williams: 87.9
- CB Michael Carter II: 76.2
- DE John Franklin-Myers: 75.5
- LB C.J. Mosley: 72.1
- CB Sauce Gardner: 71.9
The entire defense deserves a round of applause for stifling the Texans’ offense the way they did Sunday. Yet again, Quincy Williams continues to inch closer to being an elite linebacker. Mosley has always been a very good linebacker, which has been known for a long time. Sunday was another example with four tackles and was credited with three stops by PFF.
Even while banged up and limited, Franklin-Myers provided three pressures Sunday in just 15 snaps. So even when hurt, Franklin-Myers is still a key piece.
The secondary yet again did its job, particularly Carter and Gardner. The two combined to allow just three catches on nine targets for 18 yards and three pass breakups.
Bottom 5 offense
- OT Mekhi Becton: 48.2
- WR Allen Lazard: 50.3
- RB Dalvin Cook: 55.3
- WR Xavier Gipson: 55.3
- FB Nick Bawden: 56.1
PFF was not fond of Becton’s pass-blocking at all, giving him just a 39.5 grade in that department. Becton was one of two starters on the line Sunday to have a pass-blocking grade below 40 (Max Mitchell, 38.6).
49 snaps for Lazard and not a single target. Another week where the splurge in free agency has not paid off at all. Lazard is now a distant fourth on the team in receiving.
Cook saw carries early but ultimately was not effective, rushing for just 13 yards on seven attempts.
Gipson had a rushing touchdown but finished with just two touches for 12 yards. In the end, a quiet day in PFF’s eyes for the undrafted rookie from Stephen F. Austin.
Bottom 5 defense
- DL Jalyn Holmes: 30.3
- DE Will McDonald: 52.1
- DT Solomon Thomas: 57.9
- S Tony Adams: 59.4
- DT Quinnen Williams: 61.4
Not a good day, in PFF’s eyes, for Holmes in his first game action this season. A 34.9 run defense grade dragged his overall grade down.
Even though he’s on this list, there was a positive for McDonald as he recorded his first full NFL sack. Like Holmes, McDonald played just 13 snaps.
Thomas did record two pressures, including a sack, and was credited with two stops.
PFF loved the tackling of Adams, giving him a tackling grade of 80.4. Sure, he only made two tackles, but it’s a silver lining, nonetheless.
On the flip side, Williams’ tackling grade was a 30.2. But five pressures more than makes up the difference.
Other notables
- DE Jermaine Johnson: 69.7
- DE Bryce Huff: 64.7
- CB D.J. Reed: 63.0
- WR Garrett Wilson: 70.0
- C Joe Tippmann: 68.0
Johnson and Huff combined for four pressures and Huff scored his 7th sack of the season. That leads the team as he hopped ahead of Johnson’s 6.5. There’s still a chance both can end up with ten sacks for the season.
Reed allowed just three catches for 20 yards and had two PBUs.
We touched on Wilson earlier as he was just behind Cobb in grading. Even with all the quarterback shuffling, Wilson is going to reach 1,000 yards again.
Tippmann has earned his spot as the center of the future for the Jets. That was the goal when he was drafted in the second round in April and now it has happened.
