Jets Look Sloppy In 28-13 Loss to Saints

SAINTS 28, JETS 13

If this was what we can expect from the New York Jets in 2019, this is going to be a nightmare of a season.

The third preseason game is considered the dress rehearsal for the regular season; where the starters play the longest in their last real final prep before the regular season beings. To say the least the Jets got a lot of issues.

Forget the score, because in the first half of this contest the Jets were exposed on the offensive line; exposed at middle linebacker, and exposed in the secondary. The Jets were playing without Kelechi Osemele and Brian Winters for the second straight game. Center Ryan Khalil was a late scratch, so Sam Darnold had to work behind an offensive line that was basically in taters.

The results showed as Darnold had a extremely difficult time setting his feet in the pocket as he was constantly under duress. At one point he was blasted by Trey Hendrickson who came in unblocked on the Jets quarterback.

On a night where Andrew Luck retired because of all the injuries he racked up while playing behind a bad offensive line, the Jets are playing with fire right now with this O-line. They looked awful and the Saints took full advantage; even the Saints second team defense was getting tremendous push against the Jets up front.  One would expect the Jets to be fully healthy come Week 1, but it isn't, and if this line isn't on the same page, all the potential the Jets possess could be wasted.

At the very least, Darnold managed to put together one great drive, a seven-play, 65-yard drive that included a 41-yard strike to Robby Anderson. Darnold capped off the drive hitting Ty Montgomery in the end zone for a touchdown to cut the Saints lead to 10-7. That was about the only good thing that happened to the Jets all night.

Defensively, the Jets were picked apart by Drew Brees. Not surprisingly Brees exposed the Jets leaky secondary and banged up linebacker corps to engineer a crisp 72-yard scoring drive to open the game. Alvin Kamara, and Michael Thomas each played a role in dissecting the Jets defense. Kamara caught a huge 25-yard pass when he was uncovered down the sideline, and Thomas went up and caught two big passes, including a touchdown. That was all Saints coach Sean Payton needed to see from his starters.

For the rest of the night they Jets watched Teddy Bridgewater and Taysum Hill tear their secondary to shreds as the Saints escaped 28-13 in a game that was marred by 31 penalties, six field goals and a safety.

The Jets have a lot to clean up in the next 15 days ... a lot.

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