Can We Be Done With The Jets Playoff Fantasy Now?
The Cardinals faced a third-&-7 early in Sunday’s second quarter on a possession after the Jets cut their deficit to 14-6. Arizona quarterback Tyler Murray checked it down to his tight end Trey McBride well short of the sticks. Jets two-time All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner was right there; all he had to do was take McBride down on the spot and New York’s defense would get off the field.
Not only did McBride break free of Gardner, who had no help from teammates who were allegedly prepped by Head Coach Jeff Ulbrich to “get multiple hats on the ball,” he chugged upfield for another 10 yards or so before being pushed out of bounds at midfield.
Arizona was thus able to continue their march for their third consecutive touchdown en route to a 31-6 thrashing that dropped Gang Green to 3-7.
If ever a play epitomized this Jets season, one where the public vastly overrated the ability, preparation, and urgency of this entire organization, this was it. In a game that they hyped as critical to their chances to end a 14-year playoff drought, everyone no-showed, including their supposed best players.
The only reason the Cardinals didn’t score on every one of their possessions through the end of the third quarter against this vaunted Jets defense was because they couldn’t beat the halftime gun and had to settle for a field goal. ESPN’s Rich Cimini reported that the Jets missed 20 tackles on Sunday, the most by any team this season. Arizona turned those into 123 yards after contact, their season high.
James Conner, who entered the game ranked fourth in the league in rushing yards after contact, had a bunch of them after taking a Murray screen pass down to the 1-yard line on Arizona’s fourth play from scrimmage. Conner didn’t do much damage on the ground, but his backups Trey Benson (10 carries for 62 yards) and Emari Demercado (3 carries for 22 yards) clearly benefitted from Jets failures to properly wrap up.
And then there was Murray, whose legs were always going to be a problem for this Jets defense. In addition to his two rushing touchdowns, Murray gave them a pre-Thanksgiving carving lesson by completing a franchise record 17 straight passes during a pristine 22-for-24 for 266 yards outing. Jets linebacker Quincy Williams delivered a hellacious sack, but Murray was hit only one other time by an otherwise meek pass rush.
As for New York’s offense, it had chances to stay with the hot Cardinals early, but it couldn’t finish drives into the red zone with touchdowns. The usual suspects (other than penalties, as the Jets played relatively clean) reared their ugly heads, with questionable play-calling, missed blocking assignments, and disconnection between quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his receivers conspiring to keep the Jets out of the end zone against a defense that had been allowing nearly 24 points per game this season.
Can we be done now? Can we stop tracking how other AFC teams fare as if the Jets had a miracle run to the finish line up their sleeve? Some of the media questions related to how the Jets could come out so flat knowing that the Bengals, Broncos, and Colts, the teams ahead of them for the last wild card slot, all lost this week. Cue the Jim Mora “Playoffs?!!!” rant. Can they put together more than one good game in a row first?
The more important section of the standings going forward is the race to the bottom. Yes, Jets fans should again be bookmarking tankathon.com, which currently shows New York just one game out but have eight teams to jump for the No.1 overall pick.
Like I figured, all last week’s 21-13 victory over Houston did was delay the process of acceptance to the Jets’ fate. They let the trade deadline go with nothing to show for it but a fifth rounder for dissatisfied wide receiver Mike Williams (who caught the game-winning touchdown bomb for Pittsburgh to beat Washington on Sunday by the way) and put all their chips into being rested for their trip to the desert.
I joked on Twitter that I couldn’t wait for Ulbrich’s standard “This is not who we are” line at his press conference. Instead, he got it out of the way during his CBS interview prior to the second half kickoff.
After ten games, everyone knows who the Jets are—not a serious football team.
There isn’t enough air freshener in the world that’s capable of covering up the stench that permeates out of the N Y Stinks team headquarters in Florham Park.
In a game that they needed to win, the NY Stinks probably played one of the worst games in team history.
Sorry I said play, because the effort given by the defense yesterday did not resemble anything shown by the other 31 NFL teams.
How many times have we heard a HC say that the team had a great week of practice and then they proceeded to get blown out.
Well, soon to be unemployed, interim HC Ulbrich said that the extra time was spent this week on tackling. Any Jet fan with a modicum of intelligence knew what was coming. The NY Stinks missed 20 tackles.
Did I mention it was a game they needed to win.
In case everyone forgot, the Jets were on a 10 day rest, they last played on Halloween.
All week, all we heard was that the Cardinal’s rushing attack would destroy the Jets.
The Cards came out throwing and didn’t stop until they were up 30-6.
Murray set a new team record with 17 completions, going 22 for 24, 266 yds and 1 td. He also had 3 Carrie’s for 21 yds and 2 tds. Clemons another great job of holding the edge on the first td.
The Cards also had 132 yds rushing on 32 carries for a 4.6 average and 3 tds.
The Jet coaching staff never knew what hit them
Per Ulbrich, “After a long layoff there they were not prepared to play,” interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “We didn’t execute even close to our standard and that falls on my shoulders, 100 percent.”
What standard is that, coach.
Did I mention it was a game they needed to win.
It was a total annihilation of the Stinks vaunted defense.
Since every great defense needs a name, based on their performance yesterday and other games this year. Let me introduce you to The Green Sieve.
The Sieve really came through in a game they needed to win.
Not saying it would have made any difference, I think it’s fair to say that NFL officials are either crooked, blind or incompetent.
In the 2008 NFL opener, Tom Brady was sacked by a Chiefs defender that was on the ground. He grabbed Brady’s ankles causing a season ending knee injury. The NFL legislated the Brady Rule which penalized lower leg tackles on quarterbacks in the pocket.
I guess that rule wasn’t allowed to be called yesterday.
Rodgers was sacked, tackled by the ankles, Jets punted, commercial or two, referee starts the clock, Murray takes the snap, fumbles it, McDonald recovers it, referee says no play, do over
WHAT THE FUCK IS A DO OVER.
Between watching the Stinks imitating an NFL team and the official’s calls, that was it for me.
I Flipped the station to Tulsa King, fantastic show.
What happens every November, Thanksgiving, Xmas Shopping and for Jet Fans talking and studying for next year’s draft.
Of course, this also seems to coincide every four years with the presidential elections, Jet fans discussing who the new GM and HC will be.
Unfortunately the loyal, long, suffering fans cannot get the opportunity to discuss who the new owners can be.
Yes, by the way, yesterday’s game was a must win game.
Mike Williams was signed to be the Jets deep receiver, He ran specific routes. His height was a factor in the routes he ran.
When he was still imprisoned in Florham Park, the Jets in dire need of a long sideline completion, called his specialty.
Except for one itsy bitsy teeny change, instead of calling on 6’4 Williams to run the route, the Jets offensive brain trust had 5’9 Xavier Gipson do it. We know how that ended.
Of course Williams fell out of favor from GM/HC/starting quarterback Rodgers and was barely used.
Rodgers did a fantastic job of throwing him under the bus.
Do you know why the Steelers are so successful, because they have an organization that is top shelf.
Tomlin is only the third HC since 1969.
Yesterday, with about 2 1/2 minutes to play, needing a td to win, the Steelers put the newly acquired Mike Williams in.
They called his specialty, you know the results.
Game winning td. As he crossed the goal line, if you look hard, you can see the bus tire marks.
It was just one play but it showed why Pittsburgh is a great organization from ownership all the way down to the ball boys, while the Jets constantly suck.