Following in the footsteps of one of his linebacking mentors, C.J. Mosley, Jamien Sherwood paced the Jets with 13 tackles (6) solo in Sunday's game against Buffalo. In the opener against Pittsburgh, the fifth-year player out of Auburn (where he played safety) shared the team lead with Quincy Williams, each with 6 takedowns.
Sherwood, one of the team's captains who is coming off a strong 2024 season, has emerged as the quarterback of the defense on the field and a thoughtful game analyst off the field ... as he was after the Bills' 30-10 victory.
"Obviously, when we go on the road, it's going to be even harder," Sherwood said, speaking about the Week 3 game at Tampa Bay after two games at MetLife Stadium to start the season. "Nobody's going to give us a chance when we go on the road. But again, like I tell them all the time, it's all about the men in this room. Nobody else matters. You got to believe the man to your left and to your right, and then you just got to fight for him."
The Jets managed only a field goal (Nick Folk's 51-yarder) and left the field after the first half trailing by 17 points. Buffalo ran 38 plays to the Jets' 23 in the first 30 minutes, converted 3 of 7 on third down and had 14 first downs to the Jets' 5.
"We had some three-and-outs at the end of the game, but we have to have that same momentum at the beginning of the game," Sherwood said. "And we got to do a better job on defense, giving our offense the ball back quicker, so they can go put up points."
QB Tyrod Taylor: 'Remain Confident'
Now in his 16th season in the NFL, QB Tyrod Taylor has pretty much seen it all. After starter Justin Fields left Sunday's game with a head injury and was placed in the concussion protocol, Taylor came on and completed 7-of-11 passes for 56 yards and a TD pass, with a 106.6 QB rating.
"Obviously, we left some plays out there on the field," he said. "There's a lot that we can clean up, but the main thing is that you remain confident. Find out what we did wrong, understand why we did it wrong, correct those mistakes and move forward and learn from these games."
With Fields in concussion protocol and his status uncertain for Sunday's game with the Buccaneers, it's possible Taylor could get his first start with the Jets Sunday in Tampa against the Buccaneers.
"We've now played two games," Taylor said. "There's some positives that we've done, and there's some, some not so things that we've done as well, too. The main thing is that you learn from both and continue to keep building your games early on in the season."