Three stats, and more, to know about the Jets' first victory of the season, 24-17 over the Titans in Nashville on Sunday:
The Young and the Relentless
Third-year back Breece Hall and rookie RB Braelon Allen racked up a number of firsts, individually and as a 1-2 punch. One benefit of their backfield teamwork is to help Aaron Rodgers get the job done as he and the offense did at Nissan Stadium.
"That's the goal, to try to make 8's job as easy as possible," Allen said, "just like he does for us."
Hall's 26-yard TD catch from Rodgers gives him 5 consecutive games with a TD dating to Game 15 last season. That's the longest Jets streak since Robby Chosen, then known as Robby Anderson, had five straight TD games in 2017.
Allen, at 20 years, 239 days of age, became the youngest player in NFL history to score multiple TDs in a game. He's also the first Jets rookie RB to score 2-plus TDs in a game since Shonn Greene in 2009 and the first Jets rookie ever to score a rush TD and a receiving TD in the same game (although Emerson Boozer had a rush TD and KO return score as a rookie vs. Miami in 1966).
And together, the B&B guys became the first Jets tandem RBs each with a touchdown reception in the same game in the last 30 seasons, or since Richie Anderson and Johnny Johnson each caught a TD strike from Boomer Esiason in 1994 Game 3 at Miami.
Where There's a Will...
Will McDonald's 3 full sacks were stunning in several ways. All three of McDonald's takedowns of Tennessee's Will Levis came on third down. The first forced a punt, the second was a strip sack he was credited with that Quincy Williams recovered to end the Titans' foray deep into Jets territory. And the third set up the fourth-down incompletion with 17 seconds to play that secured the win.
Maybe McDonald's strip will open the floodgates. The Jets had six strip sacks in 2022 but only two all last season. The first was Quincy Williams' highlight-reel strip of Russell Wilson at Denver, returned by Bryce Hall for the clinching TD. And the second was McDonald's temporary separation of Justin Herbert from the rock in the LA Chargers pocket.
Those Tasty Turnovers
The Jets defense, after starting out with no takeaways in the season's first 84-plus minutes of clock time, cashed in two turnovers in less than two minutes vs. the Titans. The first was Quincy Williams' second-quarter recovery of the strip of Tennessee's Will Levis from the Jets 6,, preventing a Titans lead of 10-0 or 14-0. And on Levis' very next play, he heaved a long ball that found CB Brandin Echols and started the Jets offense on the way to its first of three TDs.
That was it for takeaways on the day, but the plus-2 margin was still historically interesting. It's the Jets' best TA margin in their last 13 games, or since they had a plus-4 in last season's Game 6 stunning of Philadelphia. And it's their best takeaway margin in their last 17 road games, or since the plus-2 in their 2022 Game 4 comeback win at Pittsburgh.
