Here are three stats, and more, to know from the Jets opening-night 32-19 loss at San Francisco on Monday night:
Lazard's Second Half
Allen Lazard had a productive final 30 minutes at San Francisco. After no first-half receptions and one early drop, the sixth-year WR rebounded with 6 second half catches for 89 yards and 2 touchdown receptions, one from Aaron Rodgers and one from Tyrod Taylor. The yardage was the fifth-best single-game total of his career. The six receiving first downs set a personal best. And it was the second game of two TD catches in his career and his first since teaming up with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay's 2021 season finale at Detroit.
"I want to highlight Allen. I've been talking about him for a lot of camp," Rodgers said. "I thought he played a nice game, made some nice plays for us, and I'm really proud of him."
Third-and-Shorter
Rodgers mentioned the Jets offense not facing any third-and-10 situations or longer, and he was right. In fact, the Jets had 10 third downs, all of 8 yards or shorter, and converted six. The last game the Jets had no third-and-9's or longer came in 2012 and they had only four such games in franchise history prior to Monday night.
Their average third-down-conversion distance was also minuscule at 4.7 yards. And while the Jets' third-down showing didn't lead to a closer game vs. the Niners, it's a good development that the offense (32nd in the NFL last season with a 26% third-down conversion rate) produced so many third-and-shorts. In 35 games in their history when needing an average of 4.7 yards or less to convert third downs, the Green & White's record is 24-11.
Tony the Tackler
Tackles by the Jets defense are most often made by LBs C.J. Mosley and Quincy Williams. But the D took a back seat to third-year S Tony Adams at Levi's Stadium as he turned in a team-leading, career-high 12 tackles, with 10 of those tackles coming in the first half. Not always a great sign when your safeties have to make stops on receivers or runners reaching the second and third levels, but on the other hand, fewer tackles downfield means more points for the opponents.
Adams, who also had his first career sack and a pass defense vs. the Niners, adds his name to the list of the dozen-takedown tacklers in the deep middle. Victor Green's 20 tackles vs. Buffalo in 1996 are the most in a game by a Jets safety since 1994, and Erik Coleman also had his share of 12-plus games. The most recent Jets S to drop a dozen before Adams was Marcus Maye with 12 tackles at New England in 2021.
