The New York Jets took on the Atlanta Falcons in preseason action on Friday, and of particular interest is the quarterback position. With Geno Smith set to miss time with a broken jaw, the play of the guys in his place is even more important, and on Friday both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Bryce Petty got some playing time.
2015 NFL preseason scores and results: Bryce Petty shows improvement in Jets win
Without Geno Smith, the Jets saw positive play from both Ryan Fitzpatrick and Bryce Petty on Friday night.
Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Fitzpatrick is Smith's primary backup, but Petty is a rookie that many folks believe has starting, franchise quarterback potential, or at least they did before the 2015 NFL Draft. Fitzpatrick got the start on Friday, and wound up getting plenty of playing time. He completed 13 of 19 passes for 118 yards with no touchdowns, but also no interceptions. He was sacked once for a 9-yard loss.
Petty played the rest of the game, and he had a much better showing than his debut. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown, and made multiple throws that had to give Jets fans some hope for the future. He’s probably not going to unseat a veteran like Fitzpatrick any time soon, but he definitely seems to be improving out there.
3 things we learned from Friday’s games
Devin Hester is still a thing
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Devin Hester has a legitimate claim to being the best kick returner in NFL history. In fact, he had legitimate claim to that honor quite a long time ago, but he's still plugging away and making other people look silly in the process. On Friday, he was in preseason action against the Jets and had a pretty awesome return:
Hester comes so close to making it to the end zone, and passes up his main blocker before he can actually block anybody. That ultimately means he didn’t manage to score a touchdown on the play, but it was a pretty awesome run regardless. He had 18 returns for 240 yards and a touchdown last season. Hester has 14 career touchdowns and is looking in fine form heading into his 10th season in the NFL.
Tackling is hard
On defense, your job is typically this: go after the guy with the football and tackle him. If you're on offense, you don't typically make a tackle unless your quarterback happens to toss an interception. That didn't stop the Kansas City Chiefs from giving it a try on Friday:
That's running back Jamaal Charles, catching a short pass and turning hopefully upfield, where he was set to attempt a 3rd and long play. Charles is one of the more difficult-to-tackle running backs in the league, and apparently offensive tackle Laurent Duvernay-Tardif really wanted a piece of that tackling action. So he was right in Charles' way and in what seemed like an effort to keep him upright actually sort of tackled him. Hey, at least it's preseason, right?
Alex Smith CAN throw TDs to WRs
Alex Smith is a fine quarterback -- he's done more for the Chiefs than anybody expected of him after his disastrous time with the San Francisco 49ers. But he went the entire 2014 season without throwing a single touchdown pass to a wide receiver. The last time he threw a touchdown pass to a wide receiver was on Dec. 8 2013, when he hit Dwayne Bowe for a 22-yard score against Washington. His streak kind of came to an end on Friday:
That's Smith hitting Jeremy Maclin, a wide receiver, while playing the Seattle Seahawks in preseason action on Friday. Of course, there is a caveat outside of it being the preseason: Maclin was lined up as a running back on the play. So if you really want to go there, feel free, but that is Smith hitting a wide receiver for a touchdown at the end of the day.
Final scores
New York Jets 30, Atlanta Falcons 22
The Falcons have to feel good about their starting offense on the day. Quarterback Matt Ryan completed 4 of 5 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown, with a perfect quarterback rating. He led the Falcons on a pair of scoring drives before calling it a night. The first ended in a Terron Ward rushing touchdown and the second was Ryan's touchdown toss to Leonard Hankerson.
Other than the promising play of Petty for the Jets, they also had Chris Ivory run 36 yards on five carries, and he had a touchdown. They've been hurting at the running back position for a while and Ivory looks focused at this point. They also saw wide receiver Brandon Marshall catch four of the five passes thrown his way for 62 yards, a promising sign that he's their top receiver at this stage.
Kansas City Chiefs 14, Seattle Seahawks 13
The Seahawks had freshly paid quarterback Russell Wilson attempt 15 passes, and he completed nine of them for 78 yards. He also had the one carry, picking up just 2 yards as the Seahawks likely told him to play it safe. That certainly makes some sense, doesn't it? Unfortunately, they didn't get much out of promising backup running back Christine Michael, who had 10 carries for just 27 yards in the game.
For the Chiefs, Smith completed 11 of 18 passes, including the aforementioned touchdown to Maclin. Unfortunately, he also had a bad interception, and was sacked twice for a total loss of 15 yards. Maclin looked solid out there as well.
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