In a matter of three weeks, the New York Jets have turned into an offensive juggernaut.
For a third-straight game, Sam Darnold and Gang Green put up a 34-point effort in a 34-3 dominating victory over the Oakland Raiders.
The Jets are on their first three-game winning streak since Weeks 3-5 of the 2017 season.
Darnold had another strong outing in what arguably was his best game of the year — completing 20-of-29 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns.
It was the Jets defense, though, that completely neutralized the Raiders offense.
They would spot Oakland an opening field goal, but that was all.
Gregg Williams’ unit held the Raiders to 207 total yards on the day while starting quarterback Derek Carr was pulled during the second half following a 127-yard effort.
The Jets’ offense did the rest of the work.
They looked as though they scored a touchdown on their first drive for a fifth-consecutive game. But a Demaryius Thomas eight-yard touchdown reception was wiped out by a reviewed offensive pass interference call, forcing the Jets to settle for a tying field goal instead.
Darnold wouldn’t squander a second-straight opportunity in Oakland’s red zone when he took a keeper four yards into the end zone to put the Jets up 10-3. It was another long, methodical drive as the Jets went 96 yards on 12 plays in over seven minutes.
The Jets would eat up 50 yards on their next drive to get back into the red zone, but Darnold was sacked by Max Crosby to stymie the drive, leading to Sam Ficken’s second field goal of the day with three minutes left in the first half.
Darnold’s offense kept rolling into the second half, though, when a Ryan Griffin one-yard touchdown put the Jets up 17 two minutes into the third. The easy score was set up by a quick pass from Darnold to Braxton Berrios that the receiver broke open for 69 yards down to the Raiders’ 1-yard-line.
It was the Jets’ longest non-touchdown play from scrimmage in six years.
Down 20-3, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden went into desperation mode to try and get his team back in the game, but it only made the deficit worse.
Alec Ingold was stopped on a 4th-&-1 on the Raiders’ 39-yard-line to give the Jets supreme field position. It took them only four plays to make it 27-3 when Darnold hit Anderson for a one-yard score.
The Jets defense got in on the fun when Brian Poole reeled in a one-handed interception off a Carr attempt and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown to keep the rout going.
