Monday Night Football between the Los Angeles Chargers and New York Jets inside MetLife Stadium seemed to set NFL offenses back decades.
Los Angeles came out on top by the score of 27-6 as its defense and special teams stepped up. Justin Herbert did not do much of substance in the win, completing 16-of-30 passes for 136 yards.
However, it was the Chargers’ defense that got to Zach Wilson for seven sacks that made the difference here. Joey Bosa (2.5) and Khalil Mack (2.0) did most of the heavy lifting for the Chargers. Meanwhile, Jets quarterback Zach Wilson was a disaster class with 206 net passing yards on 49 attempts.
By virtue of this win, the Chargers move to 4-4 on the season. New York falls to 4-4 itself after yet another ugly offensive showing. Here’s a look at the top highlights and analysis from this ugly game.
Monday Night Football highlights Week 9
Zach Wilson and the Jets have been an absolute disaser class. That included Wilson losing a fumble on a Khalil Mack strip sack.
One player later, and the Chargers would score a touchdown to pretty much put this away and the Jets out of their misery. What a terrible performance on Monday Night Football from Robert Saleh’s squad.
The Los Angeles Chargers were pretty much looking to put this one away early in the fourth quarter when Keenan Allen made what could be the best catch of the NFL season thus far.
We have absolutely no idea how Allen made this catch. It went for 23 yards on third-and-four, setting up a Chargers touchdown and a 20-6 lead. It also put Allen over the 10,000-yard plateau for his career.
Wilson just couldn’t get out of the way of the Chargers’ pass rush throughout the first three quarters or so. Even with New York looking to drive and make this a one-point game, it was Joey Bosa that took the Jets out of field goal position with another sack on Wilson.
A total of four of the five times Wilson has been sacked thus far on Monday Night Football have come on third down. That’s not a recipe for success for the New York Jets.
The Jets’ first possession to open up the third quarter started out swimmingly with Zach Wilson connecting on a 31-yard pass to Garrett Wilson.
It looks like the Jets were on to something here, driving all the way down to the Chargers 11-yard line. That’s when Wilson found himself sacked on multiple plays by Khal Mack, Morgan Fox and Joey Bosa, respectively. New York had to settle for another field goal and a 17-6 deficit.
Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker nailed a 55-yard field goal as the first half came to a conclusion, giving the road team a 17-3 lead.
The first half was a complete and utter disaster for the Jets’ offense with Zach Wilson (81 yards on 23 pass attempts) struggling big time. They’ll need to do something to make this a game.
New York wasn’t able to fully capitalize on its defense stepping up. Facing a third-and-8 at the Chargers 32-yard line, Zach Wilson opted to pass the ball to Michael Carter rather than run for what would’ve been a first down.
The completion came up short of the market, leading to Greg Zuerlein connecting on a 47-yard field goal to put New York on the board. It’s been a rough going for Wilson early on Monday night.
Down 14-0 after another three-and-out, the Jets’ defense really needed to make a stand. That’s exactly what it did with Jermaine Johnson recording a big sack on Justin Herbert on second-and-six.
Let’s see if New York’s offense can finally do something of substance moving forward on Monday Night Football.
The Chargers took advantage of Wilson’s fumble, scoring a touchdown from one-yard out on an Austin Ekeler run to make it a 14-0 lead.
This can’t be seen as good news for New York in that the team has failed to score as many as two touchdowns in any game thus far this season.
Jets quarterback Zach Wilson committed the teams second turnover in the first quarter with a strip-sack recovered by Joey Bosa.
It’s already looking like a mistake-filled game for the Jets after wide receiver Garrett Wilson fumbled earlier in the first quarter and their special teams gave up a huge punt return for a touchdown.
After both teams went three-and-out to open the game, it was special teams that stepped up big time for Los Angeles. Rookie Derius Davis returned a punt 87 yards for a touchdown to give the road team a 7-0 lead.
Talk about turning on the after burners and making a huge early-game play to change the momentum big time. The fourth-round pick out of TCU continues to be electric on special teams.
Contrary to popular belief, Chargers fans do exist. While they don’t take to SoFi Stadium too well, supporters of the team did make their way to Jersey and greeted star edge rusher Joey Bosa.
Led by Zach Wilson, the Jets made their way on to the field as they look to remain very much alive in the AFC Playoff race.
Los Angeles Chargers inactives
- RB Elijah Dotson
- RB Isaiah Spiller
- OL Zack Bailey
- DL Scott Matlock
- S Jaylinn Hawkins
New York Jets inactives
- RB Isreal Abanikanda
- WR Jason Brownlee
- WR Randall Cobb
- OL Dennis Kelly
- DE Carl Lawson
- LB Chazz Surratt
- DB Jarrick Bernard-Converse
Everything you need to know about Chargers-Jets game
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