Sometimes in the NFL it’s really about surviving.
There are weeks when your team desperately needs a win. It doesn’t matter how you get that win. You just have to get it, somehow, somehow.
The Jets faced one of those moments in Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns. A loss would send the team to a 1-4 record. The weather will be out of control. Discussion will begin to turn to the 2027 NFL Draft and coaching candidates for next season as the fate of both the team and Aaron Glenn seems sealed.
Amazon’s Al Michaels was mocked Thursday night for saying Dallas’ game against Tampa Bay was not a “must win” but a “can’t lose.”
Silly as it may sound, I view this game for the Jets as a “can’t lose” rather than a must win.
I didn’t know that this victory was turning around the 2026 season. I hope it happens. Cow.
The team just couldn’t handle losing to the Browns because of everything it would have brought.
It wasn’t always pretty, but the Jets found a way to get the win they desperately needed. They might have committed 10 penalties. They may have thrown for just 120 yards after their first possession. The winning score may have been set up by a colossal Cleveland special teams miscue. But when the clock hit 0:00 in the fourth quarter, the scoreboard showed the Jets with more points than the Browns.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it was a poor performance across the board for New York. The defense had a good day a week after an embarrassing effort in Chicago. Everything is better for the team on that side of the ball.
The standout performance came from rookie David Bailey who had a breakout game with 3 sacks, a quarterback hit, and 7 to 8 pressures depending on which tracking website you want to use.
Bailey has been a target of criticism all week in the media. I had a hard time understanding why. Through the first four weeks, the Jets haven’t been able to generate enough pressure as a defense, but Bailey is at the top of most pressure statistics among rookies. For whatever reason, Bailey blamed major free agent signing Joseph Ossai, who did nothing, or fourth-year player Will McDonald, known for doing feast or famine, or a defensive tackle group that didn’t show the ability to collapse the pocket.
The number two pick in the Draft had high expectations, but listening to the New York media, you’d think it was a disaster that Bailey wasn’t Lawrence Taylor within his first four games.
Even more surprising is the implication that the Jets made a colossal mistake in passing on Bailey for Arvell Reese. Reese, of course is an outstanding prospect, who will likely be a great player for the crosstown Giants. But his success will come in a role where he doesn’t rush the passer. If the problem is a lack of pass rush from a first round pick, it’s hard to see how Reese, who just had his first sack yesterday in Week 5, will fix that.
In any event, Bailey silenced his critics against Cleveland. Many of those critics would no doubt declare Bailey a superstar in this performance. Again, this would be premature. Bailey is a talented prospect maker. His game, especially his pass rush moves, still needs refinement. He’s on track to be where you want to be as a highly drafted rookie. He creates things with enough space to grow. That’s how he should look before the game. This is how he should look now.
The other star of this game for the Jets was Braelon Allen. Allen was an afterthought for most of his three-year career, essentially getting his carries in short-yardage situations and when Breece Hall needed a break. The Jets may want to reconsider using him.
It wasn’t about a big game for Allen, who ran for a career high 116 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. It’s about the skills he brings to the table. Allen is a true North-South runner who falls forward and gains positive yardage almost every time he runs. Hall is a homerun hitter but is inconsistent in reading his blocks and tends to dance too much behind the line of scrimmage. None of this is to say Hall is a player the Jets should trade to make room for Allen. But Allen’s ability to keep the Jets’ offense on schedule is something important that deserves a heavier workload. In many ways, Allen’s strengths are Hall’s weaknesses and vice versa. It has the makings of a very effective running back duo if the Jets can see clearly.
All in all, there are a lot of standout performers in this one. T’Vondre Sweat, Jamien Sherwood, and Darrell Jackson Jr. was among other standouts for a Jets defense that shut down the Browns for most of the game and finished with 8 sacks.
As mentioned earlier, the game is not good. The Jets committed 10 penalties. The temptation is to deny this by noting how difficult it is to rule. And to be clear, it’s both difficult and one-sided in Cleveland’s favor. However, aside from the fourth-quarter shaky flag on Brandon Stephens, the Browns’ direction calls were likely on plays where Cleveland committed clear penalties, and the officials refused to throw the flag. The calls against the Jets were more correct, an indicator of sloppy play that must be cleaned up.
The Jets’ passing game has also been an issue for the second week in a row. There’s no easy answer to what doesn’t work when the Jets throw the ball. Adverse circumstances certainly played a role. The offensive line struggled in pass protection, especially Joe Tippmann, who had perhaps his worst game as a pro. The receiving group reached a deep level of emergency once Kenyon Sadiq left the game with a concussion. All of the injuries have left the Jets with none other than Garrett Wilson showing the ability to make a big play. And for the second week in a row, Geno Smith showed an inability to operate in the pocket. Smith can be forgiven for a lack of explosive plays because of all of the above, but a 14-year veteran needs to be able to navigate the pocket better, find his outlets, keep the offense on schedule, and avoid taking bad sacks at a rate better than what we’ve seen from Geno the past two weeks.
So there are obvious things that need to be cleaned up. The Jets need to cut down on penalties and get more out of their passing game if they want to beat higher caliber opponents going forward.
However, for this week, they got just enough to win.
It was one of those weeks that was all about survival, and they survived.
Wins are important in the NFL. The Jets got one in Week 5, and that should be celebrated.