Highest Graded New York Jets Players From Disappointing Week 1 Loss

The New York Jets didn’t have the season opener they had hoped for, coming out slow in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Not all Jets players started slow, however, as there were a couple who served as bright spots throughout the contest.

As Pro Football Focus released the first edition of their weekly grades for the NFL season, the names at the top for New York were both surprising and expected.

Sitting atop the Jets rankings with the best performance of the day, receiving a great 86.2 grade, was quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

On the surface, it wasn’t the game that fans hoped for out of a future Hall of Famer. Rodgers was 13-for-21 for 167 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

PFF’s grading system still liked what he did, as he finished with the fourth-highest passing grade of any quarterback around the league. His adjusted completion perfect was risen to 71.4% when taking away the two dropped passes by receivers, making things a little better for the 40-year-old.

Rodgers also had two “big time throws” which are described as “a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window.”

The interception was an interesting evaluation as it was thrown into tight coverage, but came off of a deflection from the defender, so it wasn’t a normal “bad throw” pick.

It was a fine day overall, but the passer will certainly be searching for more production next time around.

The player who received the second-highest grade was the surprisingly effective Allen Lazard at a 78.7.

The maligned receiver hauled in six catches on nine targets for 89 yards and two touchdowns (one from Rodgers and one from Tyrod Taylor).

A lot of questions were raised about what the veteran’s role would look like in the new offense, but he already looks more involved than he was at any point last season.

Perhaps having his favored pass-thrower once again will have a huge impact and lead to a productive year he was expected to have when he signed in free agency.

No one else had a hugely impressive night, but the next couple of highest-graded players all received similar marks on the defensive side of the ball.

The most well-rounded of those was linebacker Quincy Williams, continuing where he left off from his All-Pro campaign a year ago.

Williams had six tackles and allowed four completed passes on six targets with just three yards after the catch.

These are all players who will be hugely important for New York this season, they’ll just need to hope for more from the players outside of that list when they take on the Tennessee Titans in Week 2.