Game effort not enough in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS » You can geaux home now, Jets fans.
With their 31-19 loss to the Saints in front of a crowd of 73,018 on a rainy Sunday afternoon at New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Gang Green has officially been eliminated from playoff contention.
That marks the seventh straight year in which they haven’t made the postseason, the longest such drought since an 11-season stretch from 1970-1980.
“We’re going to keep fighting,” said head coach Todd Bowles.
“Obviously, this is going to turn. I believe we have a good core group, we just have to eliminate some of the mistakes and some of the situational football things, and we’re going to be OK.”
Truth be told, while it wasn’t the most entertaining game, the Jets were in it for the majority of it despite some untimely penalties, uneven play from starting quarterback Bryce Petty and a defense that allowed half of Drew Brees’ 26 completions to come to running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara.
Furthermore, after a 3-2 start that shocked many experts, the Jets have now lost seven of their last nine to fall to a 5-9 record heading into next Sunday’s home finale against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“We’ve got to fight,” Bowles said. “I don’t worry about how many we’ve lost in a row. I know how we lost and why we lost. We’ve just got to fight…two games left, we’re trying to win two games.”
Seemingly, there wasn’t a lack of fight in the Saints loss, they were simply beaten by the better team. That was evident from the get-go when it seemed that Ingram had scored on a 64-yard passing play from Brees on New Orleans’ first drive, but he was ruled to have stepped out at the ten-yard line; the Saints had to settle for a 23yard Will Lutz field goal to take a 3-0 lead just 3:24 into the game.
On New Orleans’ next possession, Ingram capped off a 13-play, 82-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to make it a 10-0 game just one play after Michael Thomas’ seven-yard touchdown catch was overturned after he was ruled to have been down by contact just short of the goal line.
However, the Jets fought back. Bilal Powell’s hard, two-yard run on third and goal cut the Jets deficit to 10-7 with 10:58 remaining in the second quarter, but Brees marched the Saints right back down the field on their next drive, and found Kamara for a ten-yard pitch and catch to get New Orleans’ lead back to ten.
Chandler Catanzaro kicked back-to-back field goals — one with time expiring in the first half and another on the Jets’ second possession of the second half — to get it back to a one-possession game, but it was as close as Gang Green would ultimately get.
After yet another overturned Brees to Thomas connection, the two finally got together for one that counted with 7:39 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Saints a 24-13 lead. Eli McGuire hauled in a two-yard pass from Petty to again cut the deficit to one score, but the Jets ensuing two-point conversion and onside kick attempts failed.
In his first start since he got the nod in the last three games of the 2016 season, Petty finished 19-for-39 with one touchdown, two interceptions and 179 passing yards. Bowles said Petty will start against the Chargers.
“(There were) good things, bad things,” he said. “There are things I need to work on and improve, mechanically. But as far as understanding the game plan and knowing what you see out there, I felt really confident. That’s good stuff to pull from. The more time I get out there and the more I see it, it’ll get better. So, I’m leaving positive.”