When Sam Darnold made an ill-advised throw across his body that was picked off by Quandre Diggs for a 37-yard touchdown it was easy to think, "here we go again." The Jets drafted Darnold with the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and the worst way he could start his day was to suddenly look out of place on the grand stage of the NFL.
Panic was starting to set in for the fans, but it was not for Darnold and his teammates. The pick-six was just a hiccup in what turned into one of the biggest routes by the Jets in franchise history.The Jets scored 48 points, the most points the franchise has ever scored in a road game ever, and the most points they scored in a season opener since they blew out the Seattle Seahawks 41-3 to start the 1997 season.
Darnold settled in, throwing for 198 yards and two touchdowns in his season debut. The running attack duo of Isaiah Crowell and Bilal Powell shut up the critics by gashing the Lions on the ground for 162 yards. And the defense? Oh, the defense.
The Jets defense mauled the Lions forcing five turnovers, returning one of them for a touchdown and absolutely harassed Matthew Stafford all night. Stafford had one of the worst nights of his entire NFL career, tossing four picks, and leaving the game twice with an apparent knee injury.
It was outright domination by a team that nobody expected would pack such a punch. As Quincy Enunwa told SNY after the game, "We're here." For one week, it looked like the Jets have arrived in a big way.
Give the rookie quarterback a lot of credit. Sam Darnold could have easily let that interception destroy his entire night. He didn't let it happen. The Jets simplified the reads for Darnold, and he excelled. On the Jets third possession of the game, he engineered a nifty five-play 32-yard drive, relying heavily on Enunwa who hauled in three catches for 26 yards to move the ball to the Detroit Lions six-yard line. Isaiah Crowell capped off the drive by plowing through the Lions defense to score the game-tying touchdown.
Suddenly a bleak situation was starting to turn the corner. The Jets answered the tying score when Morris Claiborne picked off an overthrown ball by Stafford, handing the Jets some much needed momentum, which they cashed into three points to take a 10-7 lead.Fast forward to the later stages of the second quarter, and Darnold showed off his gun for an arm when he dropped a dime into the palms of Robbie Anderson for a 41-yard touchdown to give the Jets a 17-7 lead. Ford Field was silent in shock. Little did they know this was only the beginning of the Jets onslaught.
Even a 10-point rally by Detroit in the early stages of the third quarter was not enough to deter the Jets.
After the Lions tied the game at 17 with 13:10 to play in the third quarter, Darnold put the Jets on his back and drove them 75-yards on six plays to retake the lead on a nice 21-yard touchdown strike to Enunwa that gave the Jets a 24-17 lead.
New York would never look back.
On the third play of Detroit's ensuing possession, Stafford was picked off by Darren Lee who dashed passed everyone en route to the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown to give the Jets a 31-17 lead.
Moments later the Jets were in the end zone again when kick-returner Andre Roberts brought back a punt 78-yards for a score to push the Jets lead to 21 at 38-17.
Before Lions head coach Matt Patricia knew it, the Jets scored 24 points in a matter of four minutes and 21 seconds. The Jets lead 41-17, and the competitive nature of the contest was over.
The final score of the day came with 0:54 seconds to go in the third quarter when Crowell found a hole and broke free for a 62-yard touchdown, making it 48-17. It was the longest run by Crowell in two years.
Lions fans? Well they were quickly filing for the Jets 31-point third quarter persisted. Soon the entire crowd turned into a very pro-Jets crowd with a sea of green-and-white hovering over the Jets sideline. Fireman Ed, once the king of Jets Nation, who disappeared into obscurity after the ButtFumble was in attendance, doing what he does best, lead the J-E-T-S, Jets chant. Even Sam Darnold chuckled as he looked behind him and saw the Jet faithful at full throttle.
The victory is the Jets first opening day win since 2015 when the beat the Browns 31-10 in Todd Bowles first game as head coach. Darnold is also the youngest rookie to win his first professional start in the NFL. The Jets (1-0) host the Miami Dolphins (1-0) next week in their home opener at MetLife Stadium.
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