BALTIMORE — The Jets made it a full decade of despair on Sunday.
Gang Green lost 23-10 to the Ravens to drop to 2-9 this season. That secures a losing season, the 10th straight year the Jets have had a losing season.
The Jets did some good things in this game but some ill-timed penalties, a killer fumble and a questionable coaching decision doomed them against the more talented Ravens.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was bottled up for most of the game but made a few key plays against the Jets, who helped him with penalties.
Tyrod Taylor orchestrated some positive drives for the Jets as the new starting quarterback, but ultimately only got the Jets into the end zone once.
This is the worst 11-game start for the Jets since 2020 when they started 0-11. The Ravens improved to 6-5 with their fifth straight win to keep their hopes of winning the AFC North alive.
The Jets controlled the first half, outgaining the Ravens 150 yards to 72. It was the third lowest yardage total for the Ravens in Jackson’s 110 career starts. The problem for the Jets is despite dominating most of the half, they had only a 7-3 lead at halftime.
Taylor threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to John Metchie with 4:04 left in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead. It capped a 12-play, 79-yard drive.
The Ravens got a field goal before halftime and then got the ball to start the second half. On the first drive of the third quarter, the Ravens still looked stagnant but then the Jets gave them life with a penalty. Jets safety Isaiah Oliver was flagged for pass interference on what would have been a third-down incompletion by Jackson. Oliver was all over tight end Mark Andrews and gave the Ravens a new set of downs.
The penalty sparked Baltimore and Derrick Henry scored a 2-yard touchdown to put the Ravens up 10-7.
Jets coach Aaron Glenn then made a curious decision on the Jets’ first drive of the second half, going for it on fourth-and-2 from the Jets’ 42-yard line. Taylor’s pass to Metchie fell incomplete and the Jets handed the Ravens good field position.
It looked like the Jets might get away with just allowing a field goal, but the secondary had another killer penalty.
Jackson had an incompletion intended for Zay Flowers on third-and-7 from the Jets’ 20 but Tony Adams was called for pass interference at the goal line, giving the Ravens a new set of downs. It was the third penalty on third down committed by the Jets in the game. Four plays later, Henry scored another 2-yard touchdown to put the Ravens up 17-7.
The Jets offense looked much better with Taylor under center instead of Justin Fields. Taylor led the Jets on a nine-play drive that ended with a 42-yard Nick Folk field goal early in the fourth quarter that cut the Ravens’ lead to 17-10.
Jackson did not look like himself early in the game but started to heat up in the second half. He made a pretty 30-yard pass to Devontez Walker that moved the Ravens into scoring position in the fourth quarter. Jackson missed DeAndre Hopkins for a would-be touchdown and Tyler Loop kicked a 30-yard field goal to push the Ravens lead to 20-10 with 9:35 left in the game.
The Jets looked like they were about to reach the end zone, but Breece Hall fumbled at the Ravens’ 2-yard line and Baltimore recovered with 6:51 left to play. Hall had gotten the Jets into scoring position with receptions of 40 and 14 yards. He then ran 11 yards but was held up by Baltimore defenders and the fumble was forced by Marlon Humphrey and recovered at the 3 by Alohi Gilman.
Loop added a 27-yard field goal in the final minute of the game to make it a 23-10 final score.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
