Decker Was Brilliant Early: Five of Eric Decker's six catches came in the first half including his seven-yard TD that put the Jets on the scoreboard. On the Jets' second scoring drive, Ryan Fitzpatrick hit Decker for 15 yards on a must have fourth-and-three.
Marshall Was Magnificent Late: The Beast is fighting through toe and ankle injuries, but that didn't prevent that late hatrick. Brandon Marshall gave the Jets the insurance TD they needed, recovered an onside kick and then somehow beat MLB Paul Posluszny for a fumble recovery on the Jets' final possession. Clutch.
Takeaway Drought Over: They always say they come in bunches and they did for the Jets today. The Jets finished with four takeaways and they cashed in on two of those with touchdowns. After totaling 15 takeaways in their first five games, the Green & White had come up empty in losses to the Pats and the Raiders.
Mixed Bag for Ivory: Chris Ivory contributed to the victory with a pair of one-yard scoring runs, matching his career-highs for rush TDs in a season (6) and total touchdowns (7). But the Jags stymied the Jets all day on the ground as Ivory was held to 26 yards on 23 carries.
Young & Old: Rookie OLB Lorenzo Mauldin was in on three sacks, finishing with two QB takedowns. And veteran Calvin Pace made a critical play late, recovering his strip-sack of Blake Bortles with the Jags threatening to take a fourth quarter lead.
Six-Pack of Sacks: While Bortles passed for 381 yards in defeat, the Green & White got home with six sacks of the talented second-year signal caller. Entering Week 9, the Jets had totaled 11 sacks in seven games.
Secondary Shake-Up: Already minus Calvin Pryor (ankle), the Jets lost both CB Antonio Cromartie (thigh) and S Dion Bailey (ankle). Rontez Miles, a practice squad call-up Saturday, saw some time at safety and the versatile Marcus Gilchrist saw some time outside the numbers as well. Darrelle Revis said Marcus Williams was banged up for a few plays, but the second-year DB had interceptions in both the first and final stanzas.
Quigley in Emergency Role: Veteran punter Ryan Quigley added the kicking roles on to his resume today. Quigley, who had five of his nine punts downed inside the Jags' 20-yard-line, connected on all four of his extra point attempts. Nick Folk was bothered by a right quad injury and actually ended up holding.
O-Line Happenings: While the Jets hope that RG Willie Colon can return to action against the Bills, C Nick Mangold wasn't able to finish today's game. Mangold, who originally hurt his neck against the Patriots and was inactive against the Raiders, said the neck didn't respond as they would have hoped. Wesley Johnson came on in relief.
Survive & Advance: Nothing to be sorry about. Winning in the NFL is hard and the Jets beat a team in Jacksonville who had already upset both the Dolphins and the Bills. They get paid too. No time to celebrate though – Leger Douzable told me he was going to look at Bills' film tonight.
