Jets’ recipe for upset at Lambeau: Solid ‘D,’ blocked punt and ground game

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Jets are proving they should be taken seriously, and they may be playing meaningful games in December and maybe even later.

The Jets stunned a capacity crowd at Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon, beating the Green Bay Packers, 27-10. It was the Jets’ third straight win and improved their record to 4-2. It’s the first time the Jets are two games above .500 since the 2015 season.

“It’s just confirming a lot of what everyone in this locker room already believes — that we can be a great team,” defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said. “It’s just furthermore showing the rest of this world that we’re not just a team that you can write off, or we’re not a team that, ‘Oh, maybe they’ll be good in a few years.’ No, we’re coming to win right now.”

No one outside of the Jets’ locker room could have predicted this start with such a young team. But the kids are growing up quickly and the veteran players are helping them.

The Jets are becoming a strong second-half team. They outscored Green Bay 24-7 after halftime and 10-0 in the fourth quarter.

“Winning is becoming normal,” cornerback D.J. Reed said. “It’s expected, really.”

This was the Packers’ first regular-season home loss in 16 games. They also dropped back-to-back games for the first time under coach Matt LaFleur, who was 9-0 after losses. The Packers were booed several times by the home crowd.

Rookie running back Breece Hall had another big game. He carried the ball 20 times for 116 yards and a touchdown. Zach Wilson only threw for 110 yards and no touchdowns, but he didn’t throw any interceptions either.

The defense dominated this game and made the reigning two-time MVP Aaron Rodgers look like just another quarterback.

Rodgers, who was slowed this week by a thumb injury in his throwing hand, completed 26 of 41 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown. The Jets sacked him four times and had nine quarterback hits. Rodgers was replaced by Jordan Love late in the fourth quarter.

“He was definitely frustrated, but that’s what we want to see,” Rankins said. “That’s our objective every week — to [frustrate] every quarterback that we have to line up against in a smart, dominant, violent way and I think we were successful doing that.”

Quinnen Williams had a huge game with two sacks, three quarterback hits, two tackles for loss and a blocked field goal. The Jets also held the Packers’ two running backs Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon to just 60 total yards rushing.

“We love our D-Line,” Robert Saleh said. “We think they’re a rolling ball of butcher knives and there’s a lot of them that can play at a high level.”

The Jets’ special teams also had a big impact. Rookie Micheal Clemons blocked a punt in the third quarter that Will Parks picked up and returned 20 yards for the touchdown to give the Jets a 17-3 lead.

This was a 3-3 game at halftime as both teams struggled to get anything going. The Jets opened things up with two touchdowns in less than 2:30 of game clock in the third quarter.

Braxton Berrios scored on a 20-yard touchdown run on an end around with 8:11 left in the third. The play was set up by a 41-yard completion from Wilson to Corey Davis.

On the ensuing defensive series, Williams got his second sack of Rodgers on third down, forcing the punt that Clemons blocked. The Jets appeared to be very much in control with 5:43 remaining in the third quarter.

The Packers came right back and scored on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Allen Lazard. The Jets had two killer defensive penalties, both on third downs, to extend the drive.

The Jets’ offense gained the momentum right back as Wilson led another touchdown drive on the next series. Hall capped it with a 34-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

On the score, Wilson faked a pitch to Michael Carter. The Packers bit. Wilson handed off to Hall who had a lot of wide-open field in front of him and ran it in to make it 24-10. Hall called his own audible on the play that ended with him doing his own version of the Lambeau Leap.

“It was supposed to be a reverse pass,” Hall said. “I was supposed to pitch it to Garrett [Wilson], but I felt the D-end was too far up field so I couldn’t get the pitch off. I just saw daylight, just let my natural ability take over.”

There was no Rodgers magic this time. After he threw incomplete on a 4th–and-14 on the next series, the Jets took over with 9:12 left.

They marched down the field to the Packers’ 1. The 13-play drive stalled there. The Jets went ahead 27-10 on a 23-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein. They ate up 6:38 of clock on the drive. Rodgers’ day was over the Jets had the unexpected victory.

“It just shows how hungry we are. It just shows we’re trending upward,” Hall said. “We played good football, but we’re not satisfied. A lot people expected that it would be a surprise if we won this game, but we expected to come in and win this game.”