If you only watched the first quarter of the Sunday Night Football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, you would’ve thought the Chiefs won in blowout fashion. After putting up 17 points in the first quarter and shutting out the Jets, New York’s physical defense set the tone with a constant pass rush resulting in a safety early in the second quarter to get the Jets on the board. This moment led to the Jets out scoring the Chiefs 12-3 to go into the halftime break down 20-12. Coming out of the break Wilson led a 7 play 76 yard drive in the third quarter to tie the game at 20 after a 10 yard touchdown reception from Wilson to Allen Lazard and a two point conversion on the quarterback scamper from Wilson.
Coming into the fourth quarter Patrick Mahomes had looked off after a stellar offensive output in the first quarter to give the Chiefs a 17 point lead. The Jets defense dug in and ended Patrick Mahomes’s night with a stat line of 18-30, 203 yards, 1 TD, 1 int along with getting sacked 6 times. The change in defensive scheme and pressure led Mahomes to go off schedule due to collapsing pockets and Mahomes trying to force the envelope on multiple drives. This could be a sign for future defensive coordinators to try to use similar blitz packages and pressure to make Mahomes uncomfortable. With Mahomes below average performance in the passing game was made up for with Mahomes having multiple first down scrambles and a major game ending scramble, sliding on the two yard line to run the clock instead of going up 10 points with a little over a minute left in the game. Isaiah Pacheco took on the offensive load that Patrick could not handle this evening rushing for 20 carries, 203 yards, and a touchdown. Overall, the Chiefs seemed to struggle with a solid Jets defense and exposed how limited of options Patrick Mahomes has in the passing game but still managed to pull out the win 23-20. It will be interesting to see how the relationship with this rag tag receiving core will develop as the season progresses and games mean more. The Chiefs travel to the 1-3 Minnesota Vikings next week to hopefully move to 4-1 and maintain top position in the AFC West.
A #Chiefs win, to be sure. But a sliver of optimism for #Jets fans that maybe Zach Wilson could be what they hope. His best performance, thus far.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 2, 2023
The Jets fan base was skeptical if 2022 second overall pick Zach Wilson was the signal caller that could salvage their season after losing Aaron Rodgers in the first game of the season. It could be argued that this was one of it not the best performances of Zach Wilson’s career after going 28-39 for 345 yards and 2 touchdowns. Wilson unfortunately had a terrible fumble with 7:24 left in the fourth quarter to turn the ball back to the Chiefs, eventually to salt the game into a Jets loss. Jets faithful should be somewhat optimistic about the quality of product that Wilson produced in primetime tonight due to many calling for him to be replaced following their 15-10 loss to the New England Patriots in week 3. If Wilson can continue to keep the chains moving and the Jets defense off the field to insure freshness, Wilson should maintain the starting job for the rest of the season until Aaron Rodgers returns. The Jets could have a bounceback win next week as they travel to the 1-3 Denver Broncos to face off with the struggling Russell Wilson led offense and bottom three defense in the Mile High City.
