NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Have the Jets solved their kicker dilemma?
They did a lot of things well in their 23-10 win over the Titans on Sunday at Nissan Stadium, and one of those things was kicking — for the most part.
Jason Sanders, whom head coach Aaron Glenn tapped to be the kicker for the game, was 3-for-4 on field goals in the game, though his one miss was an ugly one. It was a massive hook from 54 yards with the ball never getting more than about 10 feet of airtime and falling about 20 yards short.
To his credit, though, after that ghastly miss with 2:41 remaining in the first half, Sanders rebounded with a 51-yard field goal in the third quarter that gave the Jets a 20-3 lead, and then a 52-yarder in the fourth for a 23-3 lead.
“I thought he did a good job,’’ Glenn said of Sanders after the game. “He had one miss, which we’ll talk about when we get back, but overall I thought he did pretty well.’’
Sanders, who was released in the final cuts after competing with Cade York all summer, was re-signed to the practice squad. Then Blake Grupe was signed.
Glenn said before Sunday’s game that the kicking competition is still ongoing, allowing for Grupe to get more practice reps with long snapper Thomas Hennessy and holder Austin McNamara.
“Grupe, I want to make sure that he gets a solid chance,’’ Glenn said. “I want to make sure that I give him the proper chance for the competition, so I want to let this thing play out.”
Now, it’ll be interesting to see what Glenn has to say about that Monday when he’s asked who the kicker will be in Week 2.
Sanders missed all of last season with a hip injury. In his last full season in 2024, Sanders was 37-for-41 on field goals (including 12-for-14 from 50-plus yards) and missed two of his 28 extra-point attempts for the Dolphins, with whom he played seven seasons. He has a career 84.6 percent success rate on field goals.
Jets defensive back Qwan’tez Stiggers was a man on a mission in kick and punt coverage Sunday.
Stiggers recovered a fumble on a Jets kickoff by Titans returner Chimere Dike, forced by linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball in the second quarter.
He also blew up a punt return play when he blocked a Titans player into Dike, the Tennessee returner who never had a chance to field it.
Later in the game, Stiggers downed a McNamara punt at the Tennessee 2-yard line.
“I was kind of like in a flow state,’’ Stiggers told The Post after the game. “This has just been marinating in my heart for a long time — marinating since my rookie year, through all the travel and the trials and tribulations. This year is a really big year for me, my third year. I’m trying to be the best special teams guy in the league. I’m just going to keep it going.
“This is just a small sample right here,’’ he said of this game. “It’s going to get real. It’s going to get real good. Just keep watching.’’
McCrary-Ball, who forced the fumble Stiggers recovered on the kickoff play, said Stiggers “knocking the ball out, then downing the ball … that was fire.’
The Jets lost starting S Minkah Fitzpatrick to a groin injury in the first quarter and he never returned. Then rookie WR Omar Cooper Jr. left with an ankle injury in the first quarter and also never returned.
“I’ll give you more information as we go through the week, but I wouldn’t be too worried about either of them,’’ Glenn said.
Rookie top draft pick David Bailey had a solid, but not spectacular, debut. He got his first NFL sack, pushing Titans QB Cam Ward out of bounds on a scramble that didn’t reach the line of scrimmage.
One of the storylines entering Sunday was whether the Jets defense would finally produce an INT, something it failed to do all last season on 515 pass attempts by opposing QBs. Not getting an INT was one of the few things they didn’t accomplish Sunday.
With INT statistics having been tracked for nearly 100 years, the Jets became the first team to go an entire season without picking off a single pass.
The Jets defense recorded only four takeaways in 2025 (all fumble recoveries), which was an all-time league low.
