Before becoming the 12th different Jets QB to start against Brady, Wilson said, "it's definitely not me against him." Wilson (22) and Brady (44) both share the same birthdate (Aug. 3) and they both were solid in the first half. Wilson started 8 of 11 for 71 yards with 1 TD and he converted four consecutive third downs through the air to open the game. Wilson hit six different targets in the first half, amassing 149 yards through the air.
And with the Jets up, 17-10, to start the third quarter, Wilson stayed hot. There was great patience before a touch pass to Ty Johnson that resulted in 23 yards and he followed that with a 21-yard rope to Keelan Cole. That set up Johnson's 1-yard TD and the Jets were up, 24-10. Wilson now has thrown 136 consecutive passes without an interception and he has accounted for 8 TDs and just 3 turnovers since returning to action following a four-game absence due to a PCL sprain.
"That's the goal, that's the mindset every single week -- we're working for something more than just this game this year," Wilson said. "We're working for the future. We can't hang our heads low from this. It does suck, it does hurt, especially because we had it right there. The guys have to keep their chin up and understand we're getting better. We're on the right path and we have to keep working, keep doing our things and things will take care of themselves."
Brady countered Wilson's first two TD drives with 10 points, hitting Mike Evans on a 4-yard TD and following that with a 39-yard field goal from Ryan Succop. TE Rob Gronkowski had 5 catches for 80 yards in the first half as Brady started 15 of 20 for 176 yards and the score. But his 21st pass was intercepted by rookie cornerback Brandin Echols as the Jets took a 14-10 lead into the third quarter. Brady was surgical late against a Jets defense that battled all day but couldn't get the stop they needed late. He led Tampa Bay on a 9-play 93-yard drive that culminated in Grayson's 33-yard touchdown.
"It's unfortunate that we're going to be talking about the last sequence of events there, but I thought our guys were outstanding today," HC Robert Saleh said. "They deserve better. We won that game and we have to be better for our players. Zach was outstanding, our run game was outstanding. All the way across the board, everyone was outstanding. Defensively we held up, did a lot of great things. A lot of young guys made a lot of great plays and there was a lot of things that I thought was fantastic from our group against a championship football team. They deserve better."
Saleh added of the touchdown play: "We have to better from a coverage standpoint. They shouldn't be getting explosives in that situation, we're basically in a two-shell [defense] and he still managed to catch a fade ball. It's not good. I felt with no timeouts that we'd do a good job of keeping the ball in front of us. I thought we did a good job a couple times tackling in bounds making sure the clock ran. We had an op, we just need to tackle him in bounds one more time and we would have been looking at a last-play effort to win it. Unfortunately it didn't get to that."
And with the Jets up, 17-10, to start the third quarter, Wilson stayed hot. There was great patience before a touch pass to Ty Johnson that resulted in 23 yards and he followed that with a 21-yard rope to Keelan Cole. That set up Johnson's 1-yard TD and the Jets were up, 24-10. Wilson now has thrown 136 consecutive passes without an interception and he has accounted for 8 TDs and just 3 turnovers since returning to action following a four-game absence due to a PCL sprain.
"That's the goal, that's the mindset every single week -- we're working for something more than just this game this year," Wilson said. "We're working for the future. We can't hang our heads low from this. It does suck, it does hurt, especially because we had it right there. The guys have to keep their chin up and understand we're getting better. We're on the right path and we have to keep working, keep doing our things and things will take care of themselves."
Brady countered Wilson's first two TD drives with 10 points, hitting Mike Evans on a 4-yard TD and following that with a 39-yard field goal from Ryan Succop. TE Rob Gronkowski had 5 catches for 80 yards in the first half as Brady started 15 of 20 for 176 yards and the score. But his 21st pass was intercepted by rookie cornerback Brandin Echols as the Jets took a 14-10 lead into the third quarter. Brady was surgical late against a Jets defense that battled all day but couldn't get the stop they needed late. He led Tampa Bay on a 9-play 93-yard drive that culminated in Grayson's 33-yard touchdown.
"It's unfortunate that we're going to be talking about the last sequence of events there, but I thought our guys were outstanding today," HC Robert Saleh said. "They deserve better. We won that game and we have to be better for our players. Zach was outstanding, our run game was outstanding. All the way across the board, everyone was outstanding. Defensively we held up, did a lot of great things. A lot of young guys made a lot of great plays and there was a lot of things that I thought was fantastic from our group against a championship football team. They deserve better."
Saleh added of the touchdown play: "We have to better from a coverage standpoint. They shouldn't be getting explosives in that situation, we're basically in a two-shell [defense] and he still managed to catch a fade ball. It's not good. I felt with no timeouts that we'd do a good job of keeping the ball in front of us. I thought we did a good job a couple times tackling in bounds making sure the clock ran. We had an op, we just need to tackle him in bounds one more time and we would have been looking at a last-play effort to win it. Unfortunately it didn't get to that."