Line of blight
Gang Green’s ‘O’ front allows six sacks
TAMPA, Fla. — Jets left tackle Kelvin Beachum’s assessment of the offensive line was all you needed to know Sunday.
“We didn’t do our jobs today,” Beachum said. No, they did not. The Jets offensive line had its worst day of the season. It gave up six sacks to a Buccaneers team that entered the game with an NFL-low eight sacks. Jets quarterback Josh McCown was hit 14 times. The rushing attack was nonexistent, averaging 2.9 yards a cary.
“They didn’t play well,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “That’s one of the areas that didn’t play well, but all areas didn’t play well. They played in our backfield all day long. We missed blocks or we got penalties. It was just a cluster.”
Right guard Brian Winters may have had the worst day of all the linemen. He was called twice for holding and had no answer for Tampa Bay star Gerald McCoy, who disrupted the Jets’ offense all day long in the 15-10 loss.
“We’ve got to own what we did,” Winters said. “I know I didn’t play up to my standards at all. I’m not speaking for anyone else. I’m just going to speak for myself. I know I have a lot to do to improve my game and work on that.”
Winters wondered aloud if the Jets took McCoy lightly.
“He’s a good player, really good,” Winters said. “I don’t know if we underestimated him or what. He’s an elite guy. We should have concen- trated a little more on that.”
CB Morris Claiborne returned after missing last week’s game with a left foot sprain, but did not last long. He left the game in the first quarter after feeling like his foot was not healthy enough to play on.
“I felt better than I did,” Claiborne said. “I really wasn’t trying to miss anything. I wanted to give it a shot to see where it was, to see if I could make it through the game. … I didn’t want to hurt myself or hurt the team.”
Claiborne said the injury is a sprain on the top of his foot. He said the foot injury was not aggravated or worsened in the game. It felt like it did all week, he said, but he was struggling to cover DeSean Jackson. The Jets are now 1-4 on the road this season … This is only the second time in team history the Jets have lost to the Buccaneers. They are 10-2 overall. The other loss came in 1984. … Darryl Roberts recorded the first interception of his career, picking off Ryan Fitzpatrick in the second quarter. … Rookie receiver Chad Hansen caught three passes in the fourth quarter, the first receptions of his career.