When compiling facts and figures, stats and facts for our favorite green team, some games are arid deserts, and some are raging rivers. The Jets' 24-3 success over the Patriots on Thursday night was a veritable Nile of numbers.
Several more historical and otherwise interesting nuggets popped out for some individual Jets performers listed below. We'll wrap up the New England triumph with a few more Jets team achievements with "3 Stats to Know" on Tuesday.
More McDonald
Edge rusher Will McDonald IV is on quite a sack roll. The second-year man not only is second in the NFL in sacks after two weeks plus one game (Detroit's Aidan Hutchinson leads with 5.5) and leads the Jets after three games, but with his 2.0 sacks against New England, he has all 5.0 of his sacks in the past two games to land on the Jets' list of defenders with 5.0+ sacks in back-to-back games.
"You've just got to be patient," HC Robert Saleh said seemingly of expectations about McDonald. "He's coming along, though.
Here is the list, showing Mark Gastineau with the most in consecutive games and John Abraham with several two-game outbursts. All entries are from 1982, when individual defensive sacks became official:
| Player | Year, Games | Sacks, Gm 1 | Sacks, Gm 2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE Mark Gastineau | 1984 Gms 1-2 | 4.0 @ IND | 2.0 vs PIT | 6.0 |
| DE John Abraham | 2001 Gms 8-9 | 4.0 @ NO | 1.5 vs KC | 5.5 |
| DE Mark Gastineau | 1983 Gms 10-11 | 4.0 vs BAL | 1.0 vs BUF | 5.0 |
| LB Ken Rose | 1988 Gms 15-16 | 2.0 vs IND | 3.0 vs NYG | 5.0 |
| DE Dennis Byrd | 1990 Gms 15-16 | 3.0 vs NE | 2.0 @ TB | 5.0 |
| DE John Abraham | 2001 Gms 7-8 | 1.0 @ CAR | 4.0 @ NO | 5.0 |
| DE John Abraham | 2004 Gms 3-4 | 2.0 @ MIA | 3.0 vs BUF | 5.0 |
| S Jamal Adams | 2019 Gms 9-10 | 2.0 vs NYG | 3.0 @ WAS | 5.0 |
| EDG Will McDonald | 2024 Gms 2-3 | 3.0 @ TEN | 2.0 vs NE | 5.0 |
It's harder to research the unofficial sack era from 1960-81, but we can tell you that Ring of Honor member DE Gerry Philbin would also make this list with his 5.0 sacks vs. Boston and Buffalo back-to-back and belly-to-belly in 1968.
No. 8's Night of Distinction
Aaron Rodgers received much acclaim Thursday night but it's worth going over a few items that No. 8 laid out for Jets fans to chant and cheer.
For one thing, although he has a mere three starting wins as the Jets QB (yes, including the 2023 season opener), those W's have lifted him to 150 regular-season career starting victories. We're pretty certain he's not going to catch No. 1, Tom Brady, at 251 wins, and with 14 games left in this regular season, he can't catch Ben Roethlisberger at 165 ... this year. But congrats are in order for A-Rod climbing onto one of several plateaus. Next biggest on the horizon: He needs 321 passing yards to reach 60,000 for his career.
Rodgers also achieved an odd first in his 20th NFL season when he pinpointed Garrett Wilson for the duo's third-quarter 2-yard TD. He's thrown 525 career TD passes, including postseason, and that scoring strike was the first of his soried career to any WR drafted in Round 1. The only first-rounder to catch a scoring strike from Rodgers was TE Marcedes Lewis, who came to the Packers after his distinguished stay with the Jaguars.
A final numerical oddity for Rodgers. We've said before that not only did his '23 season last all of four plays but also just 4:04 of clock time before his Achilles gave out. Interesting, then, that in his second home opener as the Jets' field general, he lasted 70 plays and held the ball for 40:04 of clock time. Interesting numerology for the Jets' No. 8.
The Return of the TE
With all those historical facts, where does Tyler Conklin fit in? The Jets TE offered a modest appraisal of his five-catch, career-high 93-yard game vs. New England.
"A couple of those situations were scramble drills," Conk said. "I was just trying to do my best to get open for him. All I had to do was catch the ball. He made it pretty easy on me."
Conklin, on the other hand, made it pretty difficult on the Patriots with his three 22-yard receptions plus another 18-yarder, three of which converted third downs and one a second-and-17.
When was the last time a Jets TE caught three or more passes of 20-plus yards in a game? We don't have to go back to the misty past of the blue-and-gold Titans of New York for this answer, only to the short but dynamic heyday of Dustin Keller.
DK and Mark Sanchez teamed up for seven receptions, 115 yards and a touchdown in Game 2 of the 2010 season. That, of course, was the Jets' second RS game in their then-new home, New Meadowlands Stadium, soon to be rechristened MetLife. It was their first win in that stadium. And the opponent? None other than the New England Patriots.
