It seems that Quinnen Williams has arrived. And already, head coach Robert Saleh has said, "Quinnen is playing at a different level." That includes the different levels of numbers we're taking a look at this weekend in Inside the Numbers.
Williams had his career game —so far — with two sacks, a strip and three QB hits on the Packers' Aaron Rodgers. And he put a little dollop on top with his biggest special teams play as a pro when he blocked a Mason Crosby 47-yard field goal try. Instead of a 3-0 Pack lead on the first play of the second quarter and a possible 6-3 hometeam edge at halftime, Greg Zuerlein and the Jets kicked the first field goal and never trailed from midway through the second period.
The monster pass rush has been what everyone's been waiting to see, not only from Q but all his mates on the edge:
■ Williams' two-sack game vs. Aaron Rodgers and company was the third two-sack game of his career, and it gave him at least a half-sack in five straight games. That's the longest active streak in the NFL, the second five-game run this season and the sixth-longest in official Jets sack history (since 1982).
■ His five sacks are tied for 11th in the NFL and lead all interior D-linemen. His 11 QB hits are tied for 6th in the league and lead all interior linemen. His 9.5 QB knockdowns are eighth overall, 1st among interior linemen (statspass.com). And his 20 QB pressures are second among all interior linemen to only the 21 by Washington's Jonathan Allen (Next Gen Stats).
■ Williams is on a career tear. If he plays all games this season (keeping in mind he missed two or three games in each of his first three seasons), he could finish with 14 sacks, 31 QB hits and 56 QB pressures. The sacks would be the most by any Jet regardless of position since Mark Gastineau had 19, 22 and 13.5 sacks in 1983-85 respectively.
■ Four of his sacks have come on third/fourth downs, putting him 4.5 away from setting the franchise record (since '82) held by Hugh Douglas in 1995 with 11 games to do it.
Block That Kick
If we move from defense to special teams, Williams barged up the middle to reject Crosby's early go-ahead field goal. Combined with rookie Micheal Clemons' punt block returned 20 yards for the TD by Will Parks later in the game, the Jets dealt a special one-two punch to the Packers.
Clemons' blocked punt was the first by a Jet since 2020 (J.T. Hassel, on Johnny Hekker at L.A. Rams). Williams' blocked FG was the first by a Jet since 2018 (Anderson again, on Stephen Hauschka at Buffalo in 2018). And Green Bay was the first time the Jets had blocked two kicks of any kind in a victory since 1966, when the FG blockers were Jim Hudson and Paul Rochester and the blockee was San Diego K Dick van Raaphorst.
Combo Plate
If we combine the Jets' two ascendant units, we get this closing gem:
Since 2000, only three NFL players have notched two-plus sacks, at least one forced fumble and at least one blocked kick in a game. The first was Chad Eaton (a Jet for two weeks in August 1995), who snuffed two FG kicks for the Patriots at Buffalo in 2000. Then came Jason Pierre-Paul for the Giants at Dallas in 2011. And then came Quinnen Williams at Green Bay.
With all these numerals and factoids being thrown around, Williams has never been one to pound himself on the chest. It's more about patting his teammates on the back.
"Just having fun with the defensive line and the defensive team in general is a big thing that I love to do to keep the energy going," he said. "That's what we preach. Coach brought in some amazing energy guys like Will Parks and Kwon Alexander to teach us every day at practice to have fun and celebrate small victories. Then big victories will come even easier."
And with them, these Q-sized big numbers.
