Quincy's Catching EverythingQuincy Enunwa had a revealing take on his being targeted on 14 passes and catching 13 of them so far this season. He said one of the biggest catches Thursday at Buffalo's New Era Field almost didn't happen.
"Honestly, I didn't even see the ball," Enunwa said of his dazzling 34-yard first catch against the Bills. "The lights are so bright there. I kind of threw my hands up and so my hands are like this [holding them a yard apart] and then I was squeezing it. I got lucky, I guess, or it was skill, whatever you want to call that."
We'll call it skill, which is what "Q" has demonstrated so far as the rising third wideout on the Jets. In researching my Jets receiving numbers for the past two decades, I couldn't find a set of back-to-back games in which any pass catcher had 13 receptions and only one target that wasn't caught, although several examples came close.
Last year against the Giants, Brandon Marshall had 12 receptions on 13 targets. Percy Harvin at Kansas City in 2014 was 11-for-13. In 2008, Jerricho Cotchery was 12-for-13 in Games 4-5.
Among RBs, Bilal Powell was 12-for-12 in last year's games vs. Tennessee and at Dallas. And Curtis Martin during one crazy 10-game stretch in 2001 caught 28 of the 29 passes thrown his way.
Another way to look at Enunwa's sure-handed start is to convert his receiving numbers into a "receiver rating" using the NFL's passer rating formula. Quincy's line — 14 passes, 13 receptions, 146 yards, 1 TD, no INTs — calculates to a 133.9 rating.
I asked the engaging second-year WR if he can keep up this pace.
"I don't know," he said. "Hopefully it's something that keeps going. One thing that I know, I'm just going to keep having fun. And as long as I do that, I can keep making plays."
Red Zone ReboundAfter settling for field goals two too many times in the opener against Cincinnati, Ryan Fitzpatrick vowed that the Jets would have to do better in the red zone.
There are different measures of red zone success. One is just in getting inside the opponents' 20, and the Jets succeeded in that quest at Buffalo, gaining the zone on seven drives. That was the 11th time the Green & White had at least seven RZ series in a game since 1974, when the concept of the red zone began with the moving of the goalposts from the goal line to the back of the end zone.
On those seven drives vs. the Bills, the Jets produced four touchdowns and three field goals. Going 7-for-7 in scoring RZ points is something the team has done only six times, most recently in 2007 at Miami, when they also had four TDs and three FGs in their 40-13 win. The only 8-for-8 in franchise history was the 62-28 triumph over Tampa Bay in 1985, when the Jets scored six TDs and kicked two FGs.
Rescued VictoryThe Jets combined a blown double-digits lead and a stirring comeback all in one last Thursday. They built a 20-7 advantage in the second quarter, only to fall from ahead after two Bills touchdowns in the first four minutes of the third quarter. But the offense righted itself to reopen a 13-point lead in the fourth frame at 37-24.
It was only the ninth time in franchise history that the Jets have taken a lead that large, fallen behind, then pulled out the W. Six of those nine wins have come since 2000.
The first such blown lead, on Thanksgiving Day in 1962, was also the largest. The Titans opened a 24-7 lead at Denver, then fell behind, 45-32, before rallying for two TDs to pull out the 46-45 holiday win.
More recently, the 2010 Jets went from 23-7 ahead to 27-23 behind at home against Houston before Mark Sanchez's late passing to Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes pulled out the 30-27 victory. And in a fantastic finish to the 2013 Monday night game at Atlanta, then-rookie Geno Smith led a march to Nick Folk's walk-off field goal for the 30-28 win after the Green & White took a 27-14 lead into the fourth quarter.
