THIS IS TITAN-IC
With little on line in Nashville, we’ll learn a lot about these Jets and all that they’ve got
We're going to learn plenty about the Jets Sunday when they meet the Titans even if the game registers, oh, about a 0.69 on a 10-point juice scale.
Todd Bowles' 3-8 team might be circling the drain, but the next four quarters in Tennessee will separate the fighters from the frauds in his locker room.
Sure, the Jets were competitive against the Patriots coming off their bye, but they should have dismantled the whole damn franchise if players and coaches didn't put up a fight in the wake of an historic clunker against the Bills. Besides, it's easy to get amped up for The Evil Empire, because, well, they're evil (sort of ).
The true barometer for this wayward team will come in the Music City against a middling, desperate opponent still clinging to playoff hopes. (The Jets could officially be eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday even though we've unofficially known for weeks that this group isn't postseason material).
“We have everything to play for,” Bowles said. “It doesn't matter who we're going up against… whether they have a playoff record or non-playoff record. We're trying to get better as a group and as a team. So that's what we're playing for.”
Will the Jets actually dare to show up on the road for the first time since their season-opening Picasso in Detroit?
Bowles' bunch has been brutal away from home ever since. Consider: The Jets have scored fewer points (45) in four consecutive road losses than they did on that Monday night in Detroit (48). All told, Gang Green is 2-11 on the road dating back to the start of last season.
It boggles the mind and defies explanation.
Any theories as to why this team typically comes up short away from home?
“No, I really don't,” Bowles said. “It's been hard at home and hard on the road. We've just got to find a way to finish ball games. We have been in them on the road. We just haven't closed them out.”
The Jets have indeed been competitive on the road in all but one game (see: Jacksonville massacre in Week 4) this season. Of course, a loss is a loss is a loss. The 5-6 Titans, losers of two in a row, aren't exactly a juggernaut, but Vegas is most definitely not a believer in Gang Green. Somehow, the Jets are 7.5-point underdogs to a team with one of the most anemic offenses on paper.
Then again, the Jets won't be mistaken for the Greatest Show on Turf anytime soon, either.
Jeremy Bates' unit ranks in the bottom four in total yards (29th), passing yards (29th), third-down efficiency (30th) and red-zone efficiency (32nd).
That's the wrong kind of fearsome foursome.
Even the glass-half-full folks are seeking a second opinion during the Jets' five-game losing streak.
“Everyone is working hard,” Bates said. “Our goal is to win on Sunday. You feel it in the whole building, you feel it in the locker room and you feel it with the coaches. We don't accept losing. It's a tough business and when you don't win it makes it even tougher. We are going to keep grinding. We are going to keep working, but it is extremely disappointing because everyone is working hard.”
The offensive ineptitude (56 total points in the past five games with no more than 17 points in any game) is only part of the problem. Gang Green's defense is on the precipice of making the wrong kind of history this weekend.
The Jets would be the first team since the 1970 merger to go six consecutive games without forcing a turnover if they come up empty in Nashville. Bowles' group has managed just 10 takeaways in the past 10 games after racking up five in the season opener.
And their inability to stop the run in their last two losses (427 yards) has been downright alarming.
“We've just got to be exactly where we are supposed to be,” defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers said. “It's not effort. It's just one thing here, one thing there. Then next thing you know, it leads to a big play. So, we've got to fine tune that.”
“It's never a simple fix, but it's something that you constantly work at,” Rodgers added. “Because if one person makes a mistake, it could lead to a big play.”
That's been the soundtrack to this season.
Somebody invariably is in the wrong position or making the wrong decision. There's no shortage of culprits, which has made it that much more maddening for a franchise that will miss the playoffs for an eighth consecutive season.
All the talk about good weeks of practice ring hollow when the product on Sundays repeatedly disappoints. The refrain is predictable: Clean up a mistake here and there.
But this team hasn't been able to get away from this truth: The correctable mistakes aren't getting corrected.
We're going to find out Sunday which guys actually have professional pride and which guys only talk about having it. Time is fast running out.