How does a game that is competitive in the first half turn into a 35-12 beatdown? The New York Jets found out the hard way Sunday in Kansas City. The Jets went toe-to-toe with the Chiefs early, then spiraled in the second half and never recovered.

It was a brutal loss. There were a couple of bright spots for New York, along with plenty of blame to go around. Here are the winners and losers from this one.

Winners

CB Qwan’tez Stiggers

Stiggers made one of the best plays of the day for New York. He forced a fumble early on kick coverage, and the Jets recovered it. That set up a field goal at a time when things were just getting rolling.

It was a phenomenal play from Stiggers. When your offense struggles to finish drives, a special teams takeaway that puts three points on the board matters.

K Jason Sanders

Sanders hit four field goals in the first half. His lone miss came from beyond 50 yards, and that was bound to happen at some point.

The Jets kept putting Sanders in tough spots, asking him to make difficult kicks because they couldn’t find the end zone to save their lives. He delivered. Frankly, he was the only reliable source of points New York had given that no one else put any up.

Edge Rusher David Bailey

The biggest winner of the day was the rookie David Bailey, and it wasn’t close. Bailey tied for the team lead with nine tackles. He also racked up two sacks, three tackles for loss, and a ton of pressures.

Bailey lived in the backfield and got to Patrick Mahomes for a good majority of the afternoon. He even landed a big hit that left Mahomes a little banged up and feeling it in his elbow.

Look, the Jets didn’t get much to feel good about in this game. Bailey is the exception. He was awesome, and he looks like a true building block for this defense.

Losers

RB Braelon Allen

Allen has been phenomenal this season. He had to split carries today with Breece Hall, who returned from injury and was finally back on the field.

Allen ended up having a costly fumble in the first half while the Jets were competing hard, and the Chiefs made him pay. Kansas City turned it into a Kenneth Walker touchdown just two plays later. That’s a tough one for a guy who has been so good all season.

WR Malik McClain

McClain committed an offsides penalty on a Chiefs field goal attempt at the end of the first half, which gave Kansas City a second chance. Harrison Bucker still missed the kick, so the Jets got away clean.

The bigger issue is the pattern. New York has been horrible in the final two minutes of the first half all season, and for its entire time under coach Aaron Glenn. Mental mistakes like McClain’s only add to the problem.

WR AD Mitchell

Mitchell had a phenomenal game last week against the Raiders in his return from injury. This week went the other way. Mitchell didn’t record a catch and had multiple drops.

One of those drops came on a perfectly thrown deep ball from quarterback Geno Smith. It looked nearly identical to the play Mitchell made against Las Vegas a week ago.

J.J. Watt and Jim Nantz pointed out the cast on Mitchell’s surgically repaired finger multiple times during the broadcast. I have no doubt that it is affecting his ability to catch the football at this point in the season.

CB Azarey’eh Thomas

Thomas struggled in coverage all day. He drew matchups with Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, and Travis Kelce at different points and simply couldn’t hold up in man-to-man coverage. Mahomes noticed and picked on him.

RT Armond Membou

Right tackle Armon Mimbu had a rough afternoon and gave up multiple sacks. Chris Jones and George Karlaftis went to work on him, and the Chiefs’ front won that matchup more often than not.

The Jets in the red zone

The biggest loser of the day was the Jets in the red zone on both sides of the ball. Really, it was everything from the 30-yard line in.

Offensively, New York couldn’t punch it in, which explains why Sanders attempted five field goals. Defensively, the Jets couldn’t keep the Chiefs out once they got close. You won’t beat Kansas City at Arrowhead settling for three while giving up seven.

What’s next for the Jets

Obviously, nobody expected an easy afternoon in Kansas City. The Jets showed they can hang with a team like the Chiefs for a half, and that counts for something.

But until New York cleans up the red zone and stops beating itself late in halves, games like this will keep slipping away. Bailey gives the Jets a reason for optimism. The rest of the roster has a lot of work to do. 

This team needs to start leaning more and more into its young talent as the playoff hopes rapidly slip away. It may be the only way to get something out of the rest of this season.