Quinnen Williams' big ability isn't the only thing that's showing these days. His big heart is as well. The fourth-year defensive lineman had a sack and three more quarterback hits against New England, but he preferred to talk about his teammates. He started out after the game with a commentary not on his sixth sack of the season but on a couple of mates who got their first sacks.
"Oh, it's amazing, anytime you get a first sack, anytime you get a sack in general, it's amazing," Williams said of rookie Micheal Clemons' first pelt on the wall. "Nathan Shepard had a sack today, which was amazing.
"These guys work extremely hard, do the right, necessary things to do, and it paid off, definitely. Just a mazing to see these guys get sacks and do the things that they want to do and get the stats that they want to have, so it's amazing to have these guys on my team, and amazing to have these guys in the room."
We've heard Quinnen enough and heard people inside One Jets Drive talk about him enough to know that's genuine team spirit from No. 95. But his heartfelt remarks also tell us something else: The Jets pass rush, despite the loss to the Patriots, spread the sack wealth around in taking down Mac Jones six times at MetLife.
The sixpack of sacks were recorded, one each, by six different Jets — Williams, Clemons and Shepherd, plus Carl Lawson, John Franklin-Myers and Jacob Martin (since traded to Denver).
How often does that happen for the Green & White? Six sacks are hard enough to get in a game, but six-plus sacks, recorded by six-plus defenders, each with at least one full sack? The answer is about once every 10 years.
Ten times in the last 10 seasons the Jets had six-plus sacks in a game. Five of them involved a half-dozen sackers, but most of those included two or more players who split a QB takedown and thus by scoring rules got 0.5 sacks on the play.
The last time six or more Jets defenders had one full sack or more, appropriately enough, came against Sundays' MetLife opponent, the Buffalo Bills, but a little more than nine full seasons ago. Here are the five games in the last decade in which the Jets recorded 6-plus sacks with 6-plus different sackers:
| Year, Game | Opp | Team Sacks | Ind Sackers | Ind 1.0+ Sackers | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 Gm 3 | vs BUF | 7 | 8 | 7 | Jets 27-20 |
| 2015 Gm 8 | vs JAX | 6 | 6 | 2 | Jets 28-23 |
| 2017 Gm 9 | vs BUF | 7 | 7 | 5 | Jets 34-21 |
| 2021 Gm 4 | vs TEN | 6 | 7 | 5 | Jets 27-24 OT |
| 2022 Gm 8 | vs NE | 6 | 6 | 6 | Patriots 22-17 |
The QB in that 2013 Bills game was EJ Manuel, who went down eight times. And the seven Jets sackers that sunny September afternoon at MetLife were David Harris, Calvin Pace, Demario Davis, Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson, Dawan Landry and Antonio Allen. Wilkerson had two sacks, all the rest had one each.
Coming to North Jersey this week are the Bills and resurgent Josh Allen, who hasn't been sacked more than four times in a game in two years. But the Jets, in their seven games against Allen since 2018, have hit him 38 times, sacked him 11 times and stripped him three times. It doesn't seem likely, but Sunday would be a great time for a half dozen Jets rushers to each leave some kind of calling card for the Buffalo QB. Half-sacks accepted as well.
