The Jets' struggle season is over but important advice for the players is to take some good out of the campaign with them into the offseason and nurture those good plays and games and stretches for the future. We've detailed the different milestones and personal bests attained by Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson, Davante Adams, Will McDonald IV, Jamien Sherwood, Sauce Gardner and so on, but here are some individual and team nuggets to chew on for our Inside the Numbers Season Wrapup Edition.
Defense: Don't Forget Quincy's Finish
The Jets broke out of their late four-game pass-rush slump with four sacks of Miami's Tyler Huntley, including two strip sacks, one each by Javon Kinlaw and Haason Reddick. The two strips gave the Jets seven for the season, their most since notching seven in 2015, and brought them back from last season's otherwise strong pass-rush campaign that produced only two strips.
Of the nine strips in 2023-24, LB Quincy Williams was involved directly in four of them, including the recovery on the Reddick strip. But that was just one of a number of big plays Quincy turned in against Miami that may have been overlooked in the glow of victory.. Williams in fact had a standard-establishing day with 5.5 tackles for loss — four full TFLs on Miami rushes and 1.5 more on receptions.
Quincy's total is unofficially the most tackles for loss in a game by a Jet since at least 1997. The only other total close to that was Sheldon Richardson's 4.0 TFLs at Baltimore in 2013. And for the season, Williams finished with 13.0 TFLs, marking the fourth consecutive season he's led the defense with at least 10.5 takedowns behind the line.
The Green & White Takeaway Machine was clunky most of the season but finished with a bang vs. the Dolphins. They turned the 'Fins over on 4 consecutive midgame possessions, with their plus-3 TO margin in the 2nd quarter their most in any quarter since 2015 Game 8 vs. Jacksonville, when they enjoyed a plus-3 fourth quarter. S Ashtyn Davis had two of those takeaways, both on interceptions, giving him a team-leading 8 TAs in the past two seasons combined.
Offense: He Still Has That Red Zone Knack
The Jets' red zone offense wasn't earthshaking with a 54.6% TD rate, 21st in the NFL. But they were much better than the previous two seasons when they came in 31st in 2022 and 32nd last year. That in large part was the Aaron Rodgers factor. The QB, while not quite as amazing as usual this season, was strong compared to previous Jets seasons. Rodgers threw for 21 red zone TDs, tied for third-most in a season in franchise history, and the Jets had their best red zone metrics in total TDs (30), points (257) and yards/play (3.3) since the 2015 team led by Ryan Fitzpatrick.
One of a player's most important abilities is availability. And this season Joe Tippmann was available for every offensive play, all 1,066 of them. The second-year C joins a short list of Jets OL who have played every offensive snap in a season in the last 10 seasons: LG Laken Tomlinson (1,101 in 2023), C Connor McGovern (1,114 in '22), LT Kelvin Beachum (1,001) and RG Brian Winters (1001) in '18, LG James Carpenter (1,036 in '17) and LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson (1,108 in '15).
The two rookie backs behind bellcow Breece Hall earned their keep. Braelon Allen, as we've noted, showed a knack for picking up tough yards. True, he was stopped on fourth-and-1 at Buffalo, but otherwise, no matter how you sliced it, Allen pounded his big body through small openings. The final tallies: He converted all nine third-and-1 conversions (and was 1-of-2 on fourth-and-1). And on third-and-short (1 or 2 yards), BA at 11-of-11 was the best in the NFL at any position this season and best in the league among RBs since 2016.
RB Isaiah Davis was used less yet produced well in his spot role. He had eight rushes of 10-plus yards, most over the final five games, which on 30 carries gave him a league-leading 26.7% 10-yard-run rate. Not surprisingly, Davis finished with 5.8 yards/carry, best among all NFL rookie RBs with at least 30 carries.
One more note on Wilson's noteworthy season: He forced nine penalties for 81 yards to be walked off against opponents trying to cover the G-man. The nine flags (Wilson drew eight interference calls, with six marked off and two declined) are significant since only three other Jets WRs reached at least nine in a season since 2000 — Brandon Marshall in '16 (10 for 129), Santonio Holmes in '11 (10 for 120) and, way back in '00, Wayne Chrebet (12 for 119).
Special Teams: Dynamic Element
Not much on the teams this year due to the spinning wheel at placekicker. But it is intriguing to suggest that one measure of STC Brant Boyer's coaching strengths is that he and his group of coverers and returners were one of the masters of the first year of the new dynamic kickoff rules. The Jets KO returners averaged 30.3 yards/return, fourth in the league, while the Green & White's coverage team allowed 26.1 yards/return, seventh in the league.
