EAST RUTHERFORD >> On a day where the Jets took time to honor those who’ve contributed to their success in the past, the current team went a long way towards providing a bright future in the short term.
Gang Green took a big step towards making a run at one of the AFC Wild Card spots with a dominant 38-20 victory over the Miami Dolphins on a crisp Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, improving to 6-5 along the way.
Not only did the Jets recognize their Super Bowl III team prior to the game, they inducted Emerson Boozer and Matt Snell into their “Ring of Honor” at halftime. But it was current quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick who turned in a performance worthy of being immortalized; he completed 22 of his 37 passes for 277 yards and threw a season-high four touchdowns.
“That’s what you want. You want to be playing meaningful games in December and that’s kind of where we’re at right now,” Fitzpatrick said. “This season hasn’t been perfect. There have been a lot of bumps so far, but we’re playing meaningful games right now. We just have to continue each week to put everything we have into it and win these games.”
The win seemed to snap the Jets out of a spell where they’d lost four of their last five games after getting off to a 4-1 start to their season.
“We’d been talking all week about getting back to how we played early on,” said wide receiver Eric Decker, who grabbed one of Fitzpatrick’s scoring strikes.
“I thought we did a good job of establishing (the run). We hurt ourselves a little bit at times with penalties, but we just kept grinding. The defense played outstanding, and we took advantage of some big plays; we got to the red area and we finished it. Overall, it was a good team win.”
Although Brandon Marshall’s breakout game – he had two TD receptions as part of a nine-catch, 131-yard performance – and Devin Smith’s first touchdown catch of his career will serve as further individual takeaways from the game, none of it would be possible without a strong showing from the Jets offensive line.
The starting five of left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, left guard James Carpenter, center Nick Mangold, right guard Brian Winters and right tackle Breno Giacomini allowed just one sack despite facing a talented core of pass rushers that included Ndamukong Suh.
“The gameplan was good,” Giacomini told The Trentonian. “We were on the right ‘mikes,’ and we were communicating up front, which is a little easier at home. We gave up a lot last week, but we went to work and tried to get better.”
Giacomini pointed out that there’s always work to do – Fitzpatrick was hurried and knocked down several times and the line was flagged several costly penalties – but small flaws, there was a lot to like.
“Fitz is probably the toughest competitor I’ve played with,” Giacomini said. “We’ve got to keep him upright. We’ve got to get better, so props to him.”
But, for the majority of the game, Fitzpatrick had little issue with anything that the Dolphins defense was showing him. The Jets took an early 7-0 lead with 1:53 remaining in the first quarter when Marshall pulled down a beautifully placed ball from Fitzpatrick to cap off a 72 yard, 12 play drive.
Smith’s touchdown catch with just eight seconds remaining in the first half doubled the Jets advantage going into halftime, and the momentum kept carrying into the third quarter and beyond. Decker’s two-yard, third-down catch on the first possession of the second half made it a 21-0 game and essentially put the contest out of reach for the Dolphins and quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
Tannehill connected with Jarvis Landry to break up the shutout with 2:30 remaining in the third, but Marshall’s second six-point snag of the game early in the fourth quarter brought the lead back to a healthy 21-point cushion.
A touchdown run by Chris Ivory and field goal by Randy Bullock were matched by touchdown catches by Miami’s Greg Jennings and DeVante Parker to account for the remainder of the scoring in what essentially served as garbage time.
“For the most part, I thought we played good football today,” coach Todd Bowles said. “We didn’t finish the way we wanted to, but we played good football. I’m proud of them.”
