ARLINGTON, Texas — A snowball effect is a term used to describe how a minor action can cause an even bigger action down the road.
The Jets are confident Sunday’s 30-10 loss to the Cowboys isn’t going to cause an adverse chain reaction for their team.
“It won’t snowball, it’s not going to snowball,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “Dallas played a really freaking good game and that’s a good football team too.
“They played about as good as they could. Hats off to them, tip your hat off to them. Like I said, when you can’t get off the field on third down, you’re adding plays on your legs and eventually, you’re going to run out of gas and I felt like that’s what happened to us.”
The time of possession was uneven as the Cowboys held the ball for 42:15 to the Jets 17:45. Gang Green’s defense also couldn’t get Dallas’ offense off the field as it converted 9 of 18 on third downs.
Everything that went wrong just about did for the Jets as they couldn’t block edge rusher Micah Parsons all day.
The Jets came off a rollercoaster of a 22-16 overtime Week 1 victory against the Bills in which they lost quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the rest of the season due to an Achilles tear on the fourth play of the game. The Green and White had to rally back from a 13-3 halftime deficit to win.
Not only did the Jets have to deal with the aftermath of Rodgers’ injury, but they also had to prepare Zach Wilson to start his first game since last December when he was booed off the field during a brutal 19-3 loss against the Jaguars.
The Jets certainly didn’t lose the game because of Wilson’s play, as he was 5 of 10 for 94 yards and a touchdown at halftime. However, the team couldn’t generate much offense, as they only managed a total of 215 yards the whole game.
Worst than that, the Jets running game was nonexistent as running back Breece Hall, who registered 127 yards against the Bills, only had nine yards on four carries.
Part of that was the Cowboys front seven consistently caused havoc in the Jets backfield as they registered three sacks. The other part was that the Jets simply didn’t run the ball enough.
“I only had four touches, that’s why we struggled,” Hall said. “It is what it is. We just got down early today and just abandoned the run.
“I feel like with any team, when that stuff happens, that’s how it is. You feel like you gotta get back into the game and everything.”
Last season, the Jets, with Wilson as their starter, began the year 6-3 at their bye week. And everything came crashing down in the final eight games of the year.
Gang Green finished 1-7 in its final eight games as Wilson was benched following a 10-3 loss to the Patriots last November in a game in which he completed 9 of 22 passes for 77 yards.
Wilson would start again in games against the Lions and Jaguars, but his confidence took a severe hit as he was later benched again, this time for the rest of the season.
The Jets have been complimentary of Wilson’s maturity and improved leadership on and off the field since the addition of Rodgers. While it’s hard to pin the entire loss on Wilson’s shoulders, he did throw three interceptions, with a couple of them bad decisions and completed 44.4% of his passes.
Next week, the Jets will try to regroup against a team that has had their number for the last eight years, the Patriots. Wilson has yet to play well against New England, as he has thrown for 693 yards with two touchdowns and seven interceptions in four losses.
The Jets entered this year with playoff aspirations after acquiring Rodgers. Now the team has to rely on Wilson to get them there with a defense that also gave up 382 yards and 30 points on the scoreboard on Sunday.
The Jets hope history doesn’t repeat itself against the Patriots next week or like last season when they lost six straight to end the year.
“I feel like I’m seeing it well,” Wilson said. “We gotta be better, I gotta be better, but we are right there.
“We are going to go back, it’s a long season and we are going to go watch this film and see how we can improve and everyone trusts and believes in each other and love each other.
“But we are excited for the challenge.”
Antwan Staley
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