Game recap
Jets @ Lions
2026 Wk 3 · DET 31, NYJ 24
The Jets wiped out a 14 point fourth quarter deficit to tie it, and Detroit answered in four plays.
Detroit has scored exactly 31 points in all three of its games. Since 1999 only two other teams have opened a season with three identical point totals.
RareEvery team since 1999 to score the same total in each of its first three regular season games
| Season | Team | Week | Opponent | Site | Pts | Opp pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | NE | 1 | NYJ | Away | 38 | 14 |
| 2007 | NE | 2 | LAC | Home | 38 | 14 |
| 2007 | NE | 3 | BUF | Home | 38 | 7 |
| 2023 | SF | 1 | PIT | Away | 30 | 7 |
| 2023 | SF | 2 | LA | Away | 30 | 23 |
| 2023 | SF | 3 | NYG | Home | 30 | 12 |
| 2026 | DET | 1 | NO | Home | 31 | 30 |
| 2026 | DET | 2 | BUF | Away | 31 | 41 |
| 2026 | DET | 3 | NYJ | Home | 31 | 24 |
That is the complete cohort: the 2007 Patriots at 38, the 2023 49ers at 30, and now the 2026 Lions at 31. The first two teams won all three of those games. Detroit's three 31s produced a one point win, a ten point loss, and this seven point win.
Why it matters. Scoring the same number three weeks running is a coincidence, but the company it puts Detroit in is not: the other two members of this list went on to reach the Super Bowl. The more useful read is the consistency of the output. Three straight games in the low 30s against three different defenses says the offense has a stable floor, even in the week it lost.
The Jets erased a 14 point fourth quarter deficit to tie it with 4:11 left. Detroit needed four plays and 96 seconds to take the lead back.
TrendEvery score in the game, with the running score (DET first)
| Qtr | Clock | Team | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 9:38 | DET | Bates 30 yard FG | 3-0 |
| 2 | 5:40 | NYJ | Smith to Sadiq, 24 yard TD | 3-7 |
| 2 | 1:40 | DET | Goff to St. Brown, 4 yard TD | 10-7 |
| 3 | 11:06 | DET | Gibbs 17 yard TD run | 17-7 |
| 3 | 6:26 | NYJ | Sanders 42 yard FG | 17-10 |
| 4 | 15:00 | DET | Gibbs 1 yard TD run | 24-10 |
| 4 | 11:21 | NYJ | Smith to Ruckert, 4 yard TD (2 pt failed) | 24-16 |
| 4 | 4:11 | NYJ | Smith to Wilson, 23 yard TD (2 pt good) | 24-24 |
| 4 | 2:30 | DET | Goff to Gibbs, 11 yard TD | 31-24 |
Detroit's go ahead drive, 4:06 to 2:30 of the fourth quarter
| Down | Ball on | Play | Yards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st and 10 | DET 35 | Goff deep middle to TeSlaa | 49 |
| 1st and 10 | NYJ 16 | Gibbs left end | -1 |
| 2nd and 11 | NYJ 17 | Goff short left to Gibbs | 6 |
| 3rd and 5 | NYJ 11 | Goff short right to Gibbs, TD | 11 |
Gibbs' second touchdown made it 24-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Two Geno Smith touchdown passes and a successful two point try later, the game was tied at 24 with 4:11 to go. Goff's 49 yard strike to Isaac TeSlaa on the very next snap covered most of the field, and Gibbs caught the go ahead score on third and 5. The Jets' answer drive reached the Detroit 28 before Chuck Clark's strip sack at 0:51, recovered by Detroit, ended it.
Why it matters. A 14 point fourth quarter comeback usually decides a game in the comeback team's favor, because the trailing side has spent its momentum and the leading side's defense is tired. Detroit skipped the long drive entirely: one explosive throw put the ball inside the 20 and a short third down conversion finished it. The Jets got the ball back with time to tie again, so the strip sack on the Detroit 28 is the single play that separated a win from overtime.
Detroit ran 17 times in the second half after 11 in the first, and its EPA per play went from 0.030 to 0.399.
SplitOffense by half, pass and run plays only
| Team | Half | Plays | Pass | Run | Yards | EPA/play | Success% | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DET | 1st | 35 | 24 | 11 | 146 | 0.030 | 51.4% | 1 |
| DET | 2nd | 27 | 10 | 17 | 237 | 0.399 | 70.4% | 3 |
| NYJ | 1st | 29 | 20 | 9 | 149 | 0.032 | 44.8% | 1 |
| NYJ | 2nd | 34 | 24 | 10 | 188 | 0.149 | 47.1% | 2 |
Both offenses were flat before halftime, within 0.002 EPA per play of each other. Detroit came out of the break with a run first script, went 17 runs to 10 passes, and produced 237 yards and three touchdowns on 27 plays. Its third quarter alone was 17 plays at 0.542 EPA per play and an 82.4 percent success rate. New York improved too, but from 0.032 to 0.149, a much smaller step.
Why it matters. The halftime shift is the clearest explanation for the final score. Detroit did not throw more to catch up; it ran more and got more efficient, which points to an adjustment in the run game rather than a passing game that simply heated up. A 70 percent success rate over 27 plays is well outside normal half to half variance, so this reads as a real change in approach rather than a small sample bounce.
The Jets' passing game was 0.43 EPA per play better than its 2025 self. Its running game gained 3.05 a carry and lost the game anyway.
AnomalyPass and run efficiency, this game versus each team's 2025 regular season
| Team | Type | This game plays | EPA/play | Success% | Yds/play | 2025 EPA/play | 2025 Success% | 2025 Yds/play |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYJ | Pass | 44 | 0.247 | 54.5% | 6.34 | -0.180 | 38.7% | 4.27 |
| NYJ | Run | 19 | -0.258 | 26.3% | 3.05 | -0.061 | 43.3% | 4.65 |
| DET | Pass | 34 | 0.357 | 61.8% | 7.35 | 0.168 | 48.1% | 6.95 |
| DET | Run | 28 | -0.011 | 57.1% | 4.75 | -0.041 | 41.2% | 4.75 |
Geno Smith went 31 of 37 for 321 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions, and Garrett Wilson (107) and Kenyon Sadiq (105) both cleared 100 receiving yards. The 19 Jets runs produced 58 yards and a 26.3 percent success rate, and Smith was sacked 5 times for 44 yards. Detroit's passing game also beat its 2025 baseline, and its runs succeeded 57.1 percent of the time against a 41.2 percent baseline.
Why it matters. New York finished 29th of 32 in offensive EPA per play in 2025, so a passing day this efficient is a departure from the team's recent profile rather than a return to it. The problem is that it came with a run game that failed on nearly three of every four carries, which left the Jets one dimensional on the downs that mattered and exposed Smith to five sacks, the last of which was the strip sack that ended the game. A one game sample, but the pass and run halves of this offense are pulling in opposite directions.
Gibbs' three touchdowns gave him five games with three or more scrimmage scores since 2023. Only Jonathan Taylor has more.
ComparisonMost regular season games with 3 or more rushing plus receiving TDs, 2023 to 2026
| Rank | Player | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Taylor | 6 |
| 2 | Jahmyr Gibbs | 5 |
| 3 | Christian McCaffrey | 3 |
| 4 | David Montgomery | 2 |
| 4 | Derrick Henry | 2 |
| 4 | James Cook | 2 |
Gibbs' five games with 3 or more touchdowns
| Season | Week | Opp | Rush TD | Rec TD | Carries | Rush yds | Rec | Rec yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 18 | MIN | 3 | 1 | 23 | 139 | 5 | 31 |
| 2025 | 10 | WAS | 2 | 1 | 15 | 142 | 3 | 30 |
| 2025 | 12 | NYG | 2 | 1 | 15 | 219 | 11 | 45 |
| 2025 | 14 | DAL | 3 | 0 | 12 | 43 | 7 | 77 |
| 2026 | 3 | NYJ | 2 | 1 | 20 | 99 | 7 | 65 |
Gibbs ran 20 times for 99 yards and two scores and caught 7 passes for 65 yards and the go ahead touchdown. All five have come in his last 22 regular season weeks, starting with the 2024 finale against Minnesota. Taylor's six lead the league over the span; McCaffrey is the only other back with more than two.
Why it matters. Multi touchdown games measure how often a back is the finisher near the goal line and in the passing game at the same time, and Gibbs is now the closest thing the league has to Taylor on that count. The receiving touchdown here matters as much as the two runs: it was the go ahead score on third and 5, which is the kind of play a pure early down runner does not get. Detroit's offense keeps building its scoring around one player, and so far he has held up.
The Jets had won all three of their visits to Detroit since 1999. This was the Lions' first home win in the series in the database.
MilestoneEvery Jets versus Lions meeting since 1999
| Season | Week | Site | Result | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 16 | NYJ | DET 10, NYJ 7 | DET |
| 2002 | 11 | DET | NYJ 31, DET 14 | NYJ |
| 2006 | 7 | NYJ | NYJ 31, DET 24 | NYJ |
| 2010 | 9 | DET | NYJ 23, DET 20 | NYJ |
| 2014 | 4 | NYJ | DET 24, NYJ 17 | DET |
| 2018 | 1 | DET | NYJ 48, DET 17 | NYJ |
| 2022 | 15 | NYJ | DET 20, NYJ 17 | DET |
| 2026 | 3 | DET | DET 31, NYJ 24 | DET |
Eight meetings in the database, and the series is now 4-4. Before this game every Detroit win had come on the road at the Jets, and every game played in Detroit had gone to New York, including a 48-17 rout in the 2018 opener. Six of the eight meetings were decided by 7 points or fewer.
Why it matters. Interconference opponents meet once every four years, so a home losing streak in this series took 24 years to build and could not be fixed quickly. The 2026 game also fits the series' pattern of one score results: this one was tied with 4:11 left. The claim is scoped to the database, which starts in 1999; earlier meetings are not included.
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