JETS FALL APART IN MIAMI
Pages 44-45
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Jets closed the feel-good chapter of this peculiar season with an epic meltdown filled with stupidity, human error and petulance. For all the cool vibes surrounding Todd Bowles’ team through the first six weeks of the season, this 31-28 soul-crushing loss to the Dolphins Sunday will leave an indelible mark. The Jets (34) were on the verge of becoming contenders before everything unraveled so quickly. Now what? Josh McCown’s ill-fated interception in the wan- ing seconds will be on the marquee, but make no mistake: There were too many culprits to count in this horrific defeat. The overly generous Jets gift-wrapped the game for their South Florida buddies.
Gang Green was an undisciplined and disjointed mess en route to coughing up its second two-touchdown lead in as many weeks. The stench from this one will linger.
“Too many mistakes, too many blunders,” Bowles said. “At some point, we got to develop some killer instinct to finish the ballgame.”
The Jets’ fourth quarter should be memorialized in an instructional video on how to gag away a football game. It was the first time the Jets coughed up a game after leading by 14 points in the fourth quarter since Rick Kotite was calling the shots in 1995, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Here’s the anatomy of a collapse (look away if you’re squeamish):
1) The Jets were flagged seven times in the fourth quarter (five penalties were accepted). In total, Bowles’ bunch committed a ridiculous 12 penalties for 124 freakin’ yards.
2) The Jets’ five fourth-quarter possessions: Punt, punt, punt, interception, lost fumble (lateral on the final play)
3) Wide receiver Robby Anderson capped the disaster by getting penalized for spiking his helmet in frustration on the final drive.
Frustration and annoyance levels were high after this choke job. One perturbed player’s shouting voice could be heard outside the losing locker room: “We all got to fix this thing, man! It starts tomorrow!” Too bad it didn’t start Sunday. McCown said that Muhammad Wilkerson, who played his best game of the season on his 28th birthday, addressed the team after the brutal loss.
“Too many times, we’re up on teams and we don’t finish on both sides of the ball,” Wilkerson said. “We just got to look at ourselves and figure out a way — and find out a way — to change that.”
That’s evidently easier said than done. It’s one thing to blow an early 14-point lead to Tom Brady like the Jets did a week ago, but coughing up that cushion in the fourth quarter to Matt Moore, who replaced an injured Jay Cutler on the first drive of the second half? Absolutely inexcusable. “Anytime you’re up by 14 points in the fourth quarter and you come out with a loss,” cornerback Mo Claiborne said matter-of-factly, “you gave it away.”
If ever there were a team that couldn’t afford to fork over free lunches to their opponent, it’s these Jets, who had exceeded expectations entering an important divisional game. The Jets simply don’t have the requisite talent to consistently overcome the rash of self-induced errors that plagued them down the stretch.
McCown was brilliant for three quarters before one poor decision marred his afternoon. The veteran quarterback picked on Dolphins rookie cornerback Cordrea Tankersley on a pair of firstquarter touchdown passes to Jermaine Kearse and Anderson. He scored on a second-quarter quarterback sneak before his 10-yard touchdown strike to Austin Seferian-Jenkins gave the Jets a seemingly commanding 28-14 lead late in the third.