SUPER BAD
Early signs point to Gang being as lousy as expected
ORCHARD PARK — We’ll start by paraphrasing the late Dennis Green: The Jets are what we thought they were.
(We’ll stop short of saying that Green, being unable to watch Bills 21, Jets 12, at the present time, was among the lucky ones. Even if it’s true.)
And since we’re emptying our dog-eared version of “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (NFL Edition),” let’s also trod the familiar pastures seeded by former Jets coach Herman Edwards, who is very much alive (and as a working NFL analyst for ESPN, probably saw a healthy chunk of Bills 21, Jets 12; let’s hope he saved his NASA glasses from the solar eclipse): “Hello! You PLAY to WIN the GAME!”
Well, that used to be a credo for the Jets, anyway. Sunday afternoon, under a bright Buffalo sun and in front of a loud Buffalo crowd, the Jets offered a burst of hope, but not in the way you would normally expect. It was a different silver lining than the one you normally affix to an opening-season loss.
Because what we saw on the turf at New Era Field was a team that really, honestly, could be every bit as bad as advertised by those who see the possibility of a fourth NFL team since World War II going winless in a non-strike year, a team that may yet earn a spot at the table with the 1960 Cowboys, 1976 Buccaneers and 2008 Lions.
We saw an offense that might not have looked as inept as feared (although it’s still painful to watch), one that will certainly see worse days ahead, probably as soon as next Sunday in Oakland.
But we also saw a defense — the team’s alleged pride and joy — that allowed running back LeSean McCoy to frolic at will up and down the field, that allowed quarterback Tyrod Taylor — less than a week removed from concussion protocol — to shred it for 224 passing yards and another 38 on the ground.
“If we can’t run the ball and can’t stop the run, we’re going to have problems,” coach Todd Bowles said in summary.
Well, we also saw early signs that Bowles is going to be just as puzzling to observe this year as he was last year.
(Although that’s going to be some kind of strange dynamic. If we assume that most Jets fans are onboard with this full-speed ahead tanking, how are they supposed to respond to poor coaching? Is this the one time in a million — in a billion — when they see otherwise infuriating in-game decisions and
toast the TV instead of kicking a wall?)
The decision that caused the most angst — or giddiness, depending on how you interpret it — was Bowles’ decision to punt on fourth-and-8 from the Jets’ 44-yard line, down nine, four minutes left. It felt like a give-up move at the time (Cue the masses chanting J!E! T! S!) and it wound up being a give-up move, and it was a patented part of Bowles’ coaching dossier a year ago, too.
“We had good field position and three timeouts and I thought we’d stop them and get the ball back,” Bowles explained, which would have made perfect sense if he’d spent the game’s first 56 minutes trapped in a tunnel.
He’d seemed to reveal a newer, bolder side of himself by going for the two-point conversion after Josh McCown’s 1-yard plunge with 2:06 left in the third quarter brought the Jets within 14-12. Conventional wisdom says you wait to break the two-point card out of your wallet until the fourth quarter, but in the Land of Horrible Football Teams, it’s often best to push the envelope whenever possible.
Of course, in the Land of This Horrible Football team, both decisions proved to be the wrong ones (which makes them the right ones). Which is usually enough to keep the lights burning in Internet chat rooms, in talk-radio studios and in columnists’ angry consciences for days at a time, because what’s better than crucifying a coach?
Only in this year, that’s known as Bowles doing his part.
“We’ve got to coach them better and we’ve got to play better,” Bowles said
“We played hard but didn’t play smart,” he maintained.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board,” he promised
“One game doesn’t define us,” he insisted, and that may be true.
But it sure provided a solid blueprint for what the other 15 might look like. Good luck with those. Be sure to wear your eclipse glasses.