By Shara Talia Taylor
The New York Jets must work on their defense before their next game, after a 33-18 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles returned to MetLife Stadium to take on the Jets, after a 13-7 loss to the New York Giants the week before. Jets quarterback Zach Wilson had one of his best games as the Eagles played with their backup quarterback but the Jets defense didn’t pick up steam until the second half of the game when the Eagles took advantage.
Photo: Special to the New York Beacon
“The first half clearly wasn’t good enough,” said first year head coach Robert Saleh. “Second half, I thought we came out and showed some fight. Lot of self-inflicted wounds on some of those third-and fourth-down calls that we need to be better at – coaches, players, everybody.”
Eagles quarterback Gardner Minshew filled in for starter Jalen Hurts who sat out with an ankle sprain. Minshew had 20 of 25 completed passes for 242-yards and no interceptions. Saleh credited the Eagles’ success to their offensive lineman. “They did a great job protecting him,” Saleh said. “He (Minshew) was able to sit back there and find time and find check downs as our zones expanded.”
Saleh also complemented Wilson on his own improvements. “I thought this was, by far, his best game in terms of just working progression and playing within the scheme,” he said. “I wish we could have kept him in rhythm in the second half, because I thought he was getting ready to have an explosive game overall.”Wilson completed 23 of 38 passes for 226-yards and had one interception. “I just tried to put some more speed on the ball and just throw it harder to fit it into that tight window and it just slipped off my hand as I was throwing it and it just fluttered back there to the safety,” Wilson said.
Wilson said he wants to improve his throws before taking on the New Orleans Saints next week. “Just making some of the easier throws easy and then of course just getting better at the process of just getting through everything,” he said.
Jets started the game strong with a 79-yd kickoff return by wide receiver Braxton Berrios and a touchdown pass from Wilson to wide receiver Elijah Moore. Philadelphia scored, but New York went ahead again after a 1-yd touchdown run by Wilson. The Eagles scored again in the second quarter, but the Jets came back 18-14 after a 1-yd touchdown pass from Wilson to tight end Ryan Griffin. However, they missed the attempt for a two-point conversion. They tried this option after Alex Kessman missed two earlier attempts at the extra point. The Jets announced Saturday via Twitter they signed Alex Kessman and released Matt Ammendola.
New York was behind 24-18 at halftime and did not score again the remainder of the game. Jets defense performed better in the third and fourth quarters leaving the Eagles with field goals.
“Obviously, we don’t want to allow any points, but it was at least good to see that when their back was up against a wall, they continued to fight and keep points to a minimum,” Saleh said.
“I gave up a touchdown, the first quarter,” said linebacker C.J. Mosley. “I had a very ill-advised encroachment, that luckily only was three points, but that could have kept them out of field goal position. So, at the end of the day, they executed more than we did.”
Jets fell to 3-9 in the AFC East and are 0-12 against the Eagles. The loss also clinched a losing season for the sixth straight year.
Sports Editor Andrew Rosario contributed to this article.
