Jets say they’ll keep the faith, but that’s hard to believe after getting smothered by Cowboys

ARLINGTON, Texas. – Who are the real Jets?

We didn’t know during the preseason, when there was only a brief glimpse of Aaron Rodgers during the last game before the team was set to embark on a year in which there was more hope surrounding it than seemingly ever before thanks to their future Hall of Fame quarterback.

And we sure didn’t know during Week 1, when Rodgers lasted just four plays before an Achilles injury, but the team rallied behind backup Zach Wilson and relied on a defense considered to be among the best in the league to upset the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.

How do we know we didn’t know?

Sunday.

A 30-10 mugging in front of 93,689 fans at the still sparkling, standard-setting AT&T Stadium in Arlington at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys that had that “same old Jets” feel to it that’s lingered around the franchise for a decade now.

A game that never felt even remotely as close as the score might indicate.

A game in which it seemed as though there was no carryover of momentum whatsoever from the previous one.

A game that would provide cause for real concern moving forward.

“It won’t snowball,” said Jets head coach Robert Saleh after the game. “It’s not going to snowball. Dallas played a really freaking good game, and that’s a good football team, too. They played about as good as you could. Hats off to them, but like I said, when you can’t get off the field on third down, you’re adding plays to your legs, and eventually you’re going to run out of gas. And I felt like that’s what kind of happened to us, especially on defense.”

The Jets converted just one of their ten third down attempts, while Dallas managed to come through on nine of their seventeen, with Dak Prescott leading long, effective drives for the Cowboys seemingly all day long to keep the defense on the field; he completed his first 13 pass attempts over the first 20 minutes of the game, and ultimately finished 31-for-38 for 255 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers.

Wilson, meanwhile, wasn’t as fortunate, but the blame hardly falls on him.  The offensive line allowed him to be pressured on more than half of his dropbacks – Duane Brown, who memorably missed his cut block on the play Rodgers was injured on, was beaten several times by Micah Parsons on Sunday – which helped lead to three interceptions in a largely miserable day.

Making matters worse? Wilson was their leading rusher; no Jets running back accounted for over nine yards on the ground, including electric second-year back Breece Hall, who was used sparingly given the team’s inability to ever establish the run.

“I only got four touches, that’s why we struggled,” he said. “But it is what it is. I think we just got down early today and kind of just abandoned the run. I feel like, with any team, that kind of stuff happens. That’s just how it is, you feel like you have to get back in the game. It just slips away. So that’s just what it was.”

Dalvin Cook, a prized off-season acquisition, was also limited to just five touches, with Wilson often unable to utilize the weapons the team had put around he and Rodgers over the past few years, with the exception of a 68-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson that accounted for nearly a third of the team’s overall total yards (215) on the day.

With the team headed back home to face the New England Patriots next Sunday, Zach Wilson was asked about positives he could take away from such a disappointing showing, and had to pause for a second before attempting to provide hope to a fanbase that had no shortage of it just seven days ago.

“Just keep going,” he said. “This team, we have a lot of grit and no one is going to quit. Of course, I would like to take some of those throws back. That’s just everybody just trying to get us back into it. We’re trying as an offense to go…it’s really unfortunate to show that as an offense. We’ve got to be better. I need to be better. But we are right there. So, it’s long season. We’re going to watch this film and see how we can improve. Everyone trusts and believes in each other. Everyone loves each other. We’re excited for the challenge.”