The Wide Receivers Also Disappointed:
Ryan Fitzpatrick wasn’t the only Jets offensive player who failed to meet expectations in Week 17. The Jets most dangerous weapon, Brandon Marshall, along with his teammates out wide, were also less than stellar.
While Marshall’s final line tells a different story – 8 rec., 126 yards, 1 TD – a few key drops let his QB down in the worst way. One came on the Jets first drive in attempt to answer the Taylor TD run:
Instead of a quick first down to get New York back on the right footing, the Jets then failed on third down and had to punt again.
When the Bills got the ball back, after that drop, is when they went on their second scoring drive to make the score 13-0 (missed extra point).
So right off the bat, without Fitzpatrick even playing poorly, the Jets found themselves down two possessions on a cold and chilly day.
What’s worse, though, is Marshall wasn’t the only culprit. Two drives earlier, Kenbrell Thompkins had this beauty of a drop on a critical third-and-long:
While it wasn’t a picturesque ball, Fitz felt that classic Rex pressure on third down and delivered it right in Thompkins’s bread-basket along the sideline.
Check out this crushing blow to the Jets early chances. On 3rd-and-10, Fitz recognized Ryan would be coming with another heavy pressure. He placed his running back to help out in the pocket and looked for Eric Decker on the skinny post:
Although Decker wasn’t dinged with a drop – thanks to the coverage being tight enough – he should have come up with this one. Randy Bullock missed the ensuing field goal.
Through it all, the one that really hurt was the Quincy Enunwa drop.
Trailing 16-7, New York found a major break by recovering a Bills fumble deep in their own territory. On 3rd-and-8, Gailey dialed up a perfect shovel pass. Enunwa dropped what looked like could have been a touchdown, or at the very least, an easy first down setting up goal-to-go:
