HAPLESS JETS WEST TOAST
After slow start, Raiders romp over Gang Green
OAKLAND — For a moment Sunday, as Marquette King’s punt soared through air above the partially dirt field inside Oakland Coliseum, the Jets held onto a glimmer of hope. The second quarter was winding down, and thanks to an unexpected performance against a superior opponent, the Jets were getting the ball back, down four points, with a chance to take the lead over the Super Bowl-contending Raiders before halftime.
The wobbling punt carried toward the sideline. Jets returner Kalif Raymond drifted underneath the ball near his own 15-yard line. It fell from the heavens, but Raymond bobbled the catch. The ball ricocheted off his hands, bounced over his head, and dropped to the turf. Raiders special-teamer Johnny Holton jumped on the fumble. Oakland’s explosive offense took over at the Jets’ 4-yard line.
Three plays later, Marshawn Lynch punched in his first rushing touchdown of the season. The Jets never rebounded from the momentumswinging play, which took a virtual sledgehammer to Todd Bowles’ chances at victory. The Raiders pulled away in the second half and handed New York a 45-20 loss. The lesson here, according to Bowles: The Jets don’t have enough talent to make those types of mistakes and still have an opportunity to win.
“We were in the game. We had a fighting chance,” an honest Bowles said after the loss. “We’re not good enough to correct our mistakes and win the game. We got to play pretty good, sound football. And at times, we didn’t.”
When asked how small the margin for error is, Bowles added: “Obviously, it’s very small.”
“We got new guys, we got young guys,” Bowles said. “As we come together, we got to make sure that we’re on point on everything. We can’t afford to give games away and give plays away and try to make up for them.”
Forty-five points are the most a Bowles defense has given up in the coach’s three seasons in New York. The loss also marked the first time since 2007 under Eric Mangini that the Jets dropped two games to open the season.
The Jets allowed 180 rushing yards Sunday after allowing 190 to the Bills in a Week 1 loss. Half of those 180 yards came on two touchdown runs in the second half.
Lynch rushed for 45 yards on 12 carries, and angered members of Gang Green by showing off his sideline dance moves, delighting Raider Nation.
“It’s getting to the point where it’s getting out of hand,” linebacker Jordan Jenkins said of the long runs, which plagued the Jets in Buffalo, as well. So how do they fix it? “You get physical, and you just hit. You keep f---ing hitting every day. …You don’t back away.”
Jenkins was especially annoyed by Lynch’s dance party.
“That irks my ever-living nerves,” Jenkins said. “I was out on the field on kickoff return, and I saw that happen, and it just was infuriating.
The one positive for the Jets (0-2), of course, is they’re one defeat closer to securing the No. 1 pick in the draft, and the franchise quarterback the organization so desperately craves.
The Raiders (2-0) have already achieved that truly necessary feat, after selecting Derek Carr in the second round of the 2014 draft. (For the record: the Jets selected Christian Hackenberg in the second round in 2016, but the former Penn State QB was inactive for Sunday’s contest, still unable to edge out Bryce Petty for the backup job.)
Carr looked the part Sunday, showcasing his pinpoint accuracy and confident decisionmaking. He finished 23-of-28 passing for 230 yards and three touchdowns.
All three scoring strikes went to Michael Crabtree, including two in the first 17 minutes that gave Oakland an early 14-0 lead. The Jets rallied with 10 unanswered points on a 34-yard touchdown from Josh McCown to
Jermaine Kearse and a 46-yard Chandler Catanzaro field goal. The defense, meanwhile, forced back-to-back three-and-outs.
At the two-minute warning, the Jets trailed 14-10. King jogged back to punt. This was a game. Then came Raymond’s fumble. After that, the Jets unwound like a ball of yarn. “You got a job to do. You got to go back there and do it,” Raymond said. “That’s definitely one I wish I could have had back.”
The Raiders scored on three straight possessions to start the third quarter -- a 43-yard touchdown run from Cordarrelle Patterson, a 52-yard scamper from Jalen Richard and a 1-yard touchdown catch from Crabtree.
A Karl Joseph sack fumble set up Crabtree’s third touchdown of the day. With 12:34 remaining in regulation, the Raiders were up by 29 points.
An hour earlier, the Jets were looking to take the lead. But one mistake, and the Black Hole swallowed the hope. “It hurts, but we got to find a way to overcome it,” McCown said of the muff.
“Sometimes you find yourself in different stages than other teams, and we’re a young group coming together. That’s a lesson we have to learn.”