The Jets’ “brilliant offensive mind” and their “dominant” defense have a lot work to do. The injury-depleted 49ers blew away Gang Green in the Jets’ home debut, treating Adam Gase’s team like an ill-equipped sparring partner that didn’t belong in the same ring.
From the game-opening 80-yard touchdown run by Raheem Mostert to Jerick McKinnon converting a 3rd-and-31 with a 55-yard run, the Jets wer💙e again blown away by a far superior opponent. Unlike the Week 1 loss to the Bills, there wer❀e no excuses.
Even without key players George Kittle, Richard Sherman, Deebo Samuel and Dee Ford, and losing Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas, Mostert and Jimmy Garoppolo during the game to injuries, the 49ers cruised to a 31-13 victory at MetLife Stadium that wasn’t even as close as the score indicated, sending the floundering Jets to 0-2.
During the week, owner Christopher Johnson expressed support for Gase, calling him a “brilliant offensive mind.” On Friday, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said his defense was close to being “dominant.” Neither looked like sensible statements after this disastrous showing.
Gase’s offense remained a mess. Quarterback Sam Darnold was more accurate than in his poor showing against the Bills, completing 21-of-32 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown, but he failed to get the Jets in the end zone until the final minute. Conservative play-calling on two quality first-half drives didn’t help, Gase playing for a field goal with a draw play on 3rd-and-long in the first quarter and Gase running four times on the 49ers 29 on another possession. Already without playmakers Le’Veon Bell, Jamison Crowder and Denzel Mims, it didn’t help that receiver Breshad Perriman left in the second quarter with an ankle injury and didn’t return.
The defense was even worse, gashed for 184 rushing yards and 6.8 yards per carry. On a quick toss, Mostert went 80 yards untouched on the first play from scrimmage. Garoppolo hurt his ankle in the first quarter, and still went 14-of-16 for 131 yards in the first half, throwing a pair of touchdown passes to backup tight end Jordan Reed, his first time in the end zone in 673 days. Garoppolo didn’t start the second half, replaced by Nick Mullens, but it didn’t matter.
The Jets offense was incapable of mounting a comeback. Even after a Pierre Desir interception set them up deep in 49ers territory, they had to settle for a second Sam Ficken field goal. The only good news was there weren’t fans to boo them.