Three stats to know, and more, from the Jets' 28-27 Sunday loss to the Colts at MetLife Stadium:
Carlson's Kick Is a Long Story
The Jets' kicking situation has been unorthodox the past three weeks, yet there is the not small matter of all three different kickers not missing any placements. Riley Patterson, the next foot up for the IR-ed Greg Zuerlein, had no field goal tries but went 3-for-3 on extra points (including banking his first try off the left upright) against Houston. Spencer Shrader at Arizona had no XP tries but was 2-for-2 on FGs, from 25 and 45 yards, the Jets' only points in the desert.
After the Chiefs signed Shrader off the practice squad, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich and his staff turned to Anders Carlson, signed to their P-squad the same day as Patterson. He was elevated to the active roster and did his best to elevate the Jets to victory over the Colts at MetLife Stadium by going 2-for-2 on FGs and 3-for-3 on extra points.
And Carlson's first FG was one for the Green & White record book. He drove his 58-yard attempt in the third quarter inside the left upright and fairly close to the crossbar, thus earning the distinction of having kicked the longest home field goal in franchise history. Zuerlein had been the dual record-holder, with his 57-yarder vs. Chicago in 2022 setting the home and overall mark, then the next week his 60-yarder at Minnesota resetting the overall distance record. Only two other Jets kickers have 57-yarders to their names: Zuerlein (of course) earlier in '22 and Chandler Catanzaro in '17, both at Cleveland.
Flags Were Not Fluttering vs. Indy
Penalties are unpredictable things, so we don't want to overemphasize the Jets' yellow-flag performance vs. the Colts, but they were flagged by referee Tra Blake's crew for only two penalties and 14 yards, both in the fourth quarter. RG Alijah Vera-Tucker was called for a false start and first-round rookie Olu Fashanu, in his first start at LT as a pro, was penalized for holding.
That's significant because after 10 weeks, the Jets had 75 penalties marked off against them for 675 yards, both second-most in the NFL behind the Ravens. The last time they had fewer penalties and yards assessed against them in a game was in the 2023 finale at New England, one penalty for 5 yards. And the last time they had no penalties against them through the first three quarters of a game was 2015 against Washington, when they wound up also with 1-for-5.
If this be a trend, let the Jets make the most of it over the final six weeks of the season.
Squeaker Trivia
The one-point loss to the Colts triggered another Jets franchise distinction. The 28-27 defeat was their second squeaker loss of the season. There's also the 10-9 home defeat to Denver in Week 4.
The Jets have lost plenty of one-point decisions in their 65-season history. They have 22 one-point losses against 25 one-point wins. But this is the first time in franchise history that the Jets have lost two one-point verdicts in the same season. Their last squeak-tory was their late two-touchdown comeback for their 31-30 win at Cleveland in 2022, and their last one-point home win was by 22-21 over Miami in 2019.
