Thursday Night Football brought together two NFL teams with goose eggs in their wins column this season. The Denver Broncos and the New York Jets were staring down 0-3 starts heading into their battle, and everyone knew someone would have to continue their losing streak by the time the night was over. What many had thought would be a chance for Jets head coach Adam Gase and his crew to shine and finally turn things around didn’t develop, though, and Jets fans, as well as a large number of sports gamblers, walked away more than a little frustrated.
The Jets were favored to win last night, partly due to Broncos injuries and a new-ish Broncos quarterback, Brett Rypien. The game got off to a good start to back up that prediction when quarterback Sam Darnold scrambled enough to find an opening and score the first touchdown of the game (and the only TD for the Jets on the night). However, it was all downhill from there, and the Jets’ offense would not see the end zone a single time, and would only see the red zone once.
The Broncos’ defense took revenge on Darnold starting with the Jets next offensive series, planting his right shoulder in the turf. He was forced to limp off to be examined, but was able to return just a short time later. Joe Flacco stepped in to fill the void, but it didn’t do any good. The Jets only managed the one offensive touchdown, one defensive touchdown after an interception and five field goals.
The Broncos offense and defense simply proved to be too much for the Jets, surprising since the team was riddled with injuries to many of its starters. Rypien, a third-stringer who had only once made a brief appearance on an NFL field, made his full debut last night, and his underwhelming performance is an indicator of how difficult things were for the Jets – not the Broncos. Rypien threw for 242 yards as he completed 19 of 31 passes, converting two of his aerials into touchdowns. However, he also put up three interceptions – one for a Jets TD.
The Broncos overpowered the Jets, and the Jets didn’t produce. New York allowed six sacks on Darnold and were sub-50% on third-down efficiency. They only averaged 4.3 yards per play and picked up just 18 first downs the entire game. The Broncos closed out the game with a 37-28 victory, nowhere near what anyone had thought. Most books had the Jets winning in a game that would be separated by only a couple of points and had the Under 41 as the preferred option. The Broncos were apparently not paying attention.
