While Mike White drew most of the attention after Sunday’s 34-31 win over the Bengals, the Jets’ defense also played a huge role in the upset.
A week after getting destroyed 54-13 by the Patriots, the Jets got off the mat and showed that they are capable of playing well.
“We can play with anybody in this league,” defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said Monday. “Cincinnati was playing as well as anybody in this league. Offensively, they were lighting up the scoreboard, throwing the ball all over the place with a lot of playmakers. To be able to have them come in here and play them as tough as we did and be able to come out of here with that win, that’s big. It does nothing but breed confidence.”
Yes, the Jets still gave up 31 points, but 10 of those came after turnovers. The Bengals’ offense entered the game as one of the best in the league, and the Jets came up with some huge stops.
The Jets had a goal-line stand in the first quarter after White’s first interception and then made two huge stops in the fourth quarter when the Bengals were first trying to pad their lead and then trying to come back after the Jets took the lead. Fourth-quarter stops have been a challenge for the Jets for years.
“We were able to come up with some timely stops and timely big plays to kind of shift momentum when Cincinnati was trying to gain it back or make a push to close that game out,” Rankins said. “We were able to do some things that were able to put our offense in good positions and help this team come out with a victory.”
Coach Robert Saleh said the team did not place rookie QB Zach Wilson on injured reserve because they did not want him to miss the week of practice before the Bills game. If he went on IR, he would miss at least three games and be out until after the Nov. 14 game against Buffalo. The Jets believe Wilson could be healthy for that game, but they are more confident he can at least return to practice that week, which he could not do on IR.
“We feel good about his chances for Buffalo, but at the very, very least we felt really, really good about his ability to practice that week as he continues to get healthy,” Saleh said.
The play of the day Sunday may have belonged to two receivers who played defense. After White was intercepted by Bengals safety Jessie Bates in the first quarter, WRs Elijah Moore and Denzel Mims chased him down at the 1-yard line and Moore tackled him to prevent the touchdown. That set up the goal-line stand by the defense.
“They worked their tails off to get the dude on the ground and give us a chance to play defense and protect that inch,” Saleh said. “It’s such a big deal. There are plays within a game that go unnoticed but they’re everything. Without that play, we don’t get that goal-line stand and who knows what happens? But a yard is everything. … It’s a big deal and it was pretty cool to see.”
According to NextGenStats, both players hit their top speed of the day to track down Bates. Mims reached 21.35 mph while Moore hit 20.15 mph.