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The New York Jets scored touchdowns on two of their first three offensive drives and held a 21-7 lead over the Seattle Seahawks with just under 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter following Kene Nwangwu’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
But yes, they still found a way to lose on Sunday. It’s just what they do.
The Seattle Seahawks scored 19 unanswered points, highlighted by Leonard Williams’ 92-yard pick-six, and beat the hapless Jets, 26-21.
The loss dropped the Jets to 3-9 on the season, ensuring another losing campaign for Gang Green. The Seahawks improved to 7-5.
Rich Cimini @RichCimini
The Jets have now lost four games in which they blew fourth-quarter leads. #Jets
Aaron Rodgers finished the contest 21-of-39 for 185 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, taking two sacks.
His mediocre performance, alongside New York’s inability to hold a lead or muster a comeback attempt late in the fourth quarter, earned the ire of fans and pundits on social media after the contest:
Sam Monson @SamMonsonNFL
Rodgers hits this, the Jets go up 28-7, 1 play later he throws a pick-6 and they end up losing the game. https://t.co/aoVfGR7dit
Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell
Firing Robert Saleh did not stop the Jets from committing too many penalties, part 7 pic.twitter.com/pzTdKnbkLD
Connor Hughes @Connor_J_Hughes
Aaron Rodgers has had five opportunities this year to drive down the field, score a touchdown or field goal, and win the game.
The #Jets are 0-5 in those games.
The Draftnik @draftniks
Aaron Rodgers is the biggest fraud to ever wear a Jets uniform. He’s had more than half a dozen chances to win a game on the final drive and has failed every time. He hasn’t thrown for 300 yards in more than 2 years, in a pass happy NFL where you should do that in your sleep. Bye https://t.co/FMa1QE8o25
Mike Greenberg @Espngreeny
The #Jets are, among many other terrible things, as undisciplined a team as you will ever see.
Rich Cimini @RichCimini
This pretty much says it all:
The Jets have allowed 5 first downs by penalty on 4th down this season, the most in the NFL this season and tied for the most by any NFL team this century. They’ve allowed 2 today (the other 3 all came against the Texans). #Jets
You could point to a number of failings for Sunday’s collapse. The Jets remain extremely undisciplined (12 penalties for 83 yards). The running game (89 yards) was yet again ineffective, and Breece Hall lost his fifth fumble this season. Rodgers was poor outside of the first three possessions and yet again couldn’t orchestrate a game-winning drive.
It’s hard to imagine the Jets signing up for another year of the Rodgers experience, especially since the cap ramifications of keeping him are far more detrimental than cutting ties this offseason. This is a team in need of a hard reset, and one that is trending toward having a top-five pick, which could mean drafting the quarterback of the future in April.
The Jets came into the 2024 season with enormous expectations. The reality has been a team that has mastered the art of losing. The franchise will have a new coaching staff in 2025—it probably makes sense to make a change under center, too.