Making the first appearance of his NFL career, Zonovan Knight was instrumental in revitalizing the Jets' running game on Sunday in their big win over the Bears.
Knight, an undrafted playmaker out of NC State, rushed for 69 yards against Chicago on Sunday, taking 14 carries in the 31-10 win. He added 34 receiving yards on three catches, good for a total of 103 yards from scrimmage.
The 21-year-old told reporters after the game that he didn't know he was officially going to be active this week until walk-through on Saturday. He ended up taking James Robinson's spot in the running back room, a decision that head coach Robert Saleh made in search of a spark on offense.
"Bam's been doing a really nice job," Saleh said. "Felt like over the last few weeks, there's been a lot of meat on the bone in the run game. We felt like if we could just get vertical and get rolling. With James, he's still learning our system, there's still things he's getting comfortable with. So no one has seen the last of him. Just thought this would be an opportunity for a change of pace."
Factoring in contributions from Ty Johnson (who had a 32-yard touchdown run) and Michael Carter (who exited the game with an ankle injury), New York had a total of 158 rushing yards on Sunday. That's a significant change from the way the Jets performed on the ground last week, held to just 59 rushing yards in a 10-3 loss to the Patriots.
Quarterback play will understandably be the focus when breaking down the way the Jets have played on offense this season. Struggling starter Zach Wilson had a dreadful game in New England last week and was benched. Backup Mike White took over this time around and played extremely well, throwing for 315 yards with three touchdowns while leading New York to a 466-yard outburst.
Looking at this entire season, however, it's clear just how important New York's rushing attack is to what they're trying to accomplish on offense. In the Jets' seven wins this year, they have 93-plus rushing yards. Their most impressive performances have featured huge days on the ground (New York had more than 150 rushing yards in their wins over Green Bay, Denver and Buffalo).
Meanwhile, the Jets were held below 84 rushing yards in all four of their losses.
At halftime on Sunday, the Jets had only 26 rushing yards. Establishing the run in the second half was key as New York scored the rest of their 24 unanswered points.
"To give credit to Ty and Bam, especially when Michael Carter exited the game, I just thought they did a really good job," Saleh added. "They ran really, really hard, broke a lot of tackles. There's a lot of yards after contact for those two."
Knight came away with some history as well. His 69 rushing yards are the most by a Jet making his NFL debut since Matt Snell in 1964.
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