A GAME YOU CAN’T FORGET
5 takeaways from a truly awful Jet afternoon
The Jets’ 26-22 meltdown loss in Nashville on Sunday revealed a few truths about this flawed team amid this awful season.
“It’s one of those games you remember for the rest of your life as a player or a coach,” Todd Bowles said Monday. “You’ll never forget about it. It can propel you to be better at your job or it can make you go in a shell. I don’t think we have those kinds of guys. But, of course, everybody’s frustrated and p----d off.”
I have – and always will – have a lot of respect for Bowles. While I appreciate his competitiveness, the reality is that Sunday’s choke job was a December loss by a 3-8 team. This wasn’t a playoff loss or even a playoff-deciding game. There were no postseason implications. So, what does it say about the current state of affairs when a largely meaningless defeat is viewed in such a dramatic light?
1. WANTED: Closers
The Jets’ inability to close games has been a recurring theme in the Todd Bowles Era. Sure, they’re a dumb team (more on that later), but they still had every opportunity to win this game. Alas, they crumbled in pivotal moments like all bad teams. How ugly was the fourth quarter? Well, Jeremy Bates’ offense had five fourth-quarter possessions that yielded four punts (including three three-and-outs) and a game-ending interception.
Bowles’ defense allowed four plays of at least 25 yards in the fourth quarter. Four! Gang Green gave up completions of 55 and 44 yards to Taywan Taylor, a 25-yard completion to a tight end named Firkser and a 25-yard scramble to Marcus Mariota. That’s flat-out embarrassing.
So, why can’t these Jets finish in crunch time? Bowles pointed to “just dumb mistakes at dumb times” after the game, but there are more defined reasons for the shortcomings.
This team has no killer instinct. None.
Bowles, visibly annoyed yesterday, admitted on Monday that his search for answers won’t stop.
“You never run out of answers as a coach… (or) you might as well retire,” Bowles said. “You can be at your wits’
end and be p——-d off and be frustrated and not sleep at night. But you still have to wake up the next day. It’s my job to lead them into next week and to correct the mistakes and be the leader. And them following to make sure they’re ready to play next week and understand their mistakes. That’s just part of coaching.”
2. WANTED: Smarter football players
Bowles doesn’t escape criticism… and he’ll ultimately pay the price for the Jets’ regression. But let’s not give these players a free pass. It’s mindboggling how so many different guys make so many silly, stupid errors at inopportune times.
How the heck does this team get flagged three times on the Titans’ game-winning drive? It’s inconceivable. Yet it happened: A holding penalty by Mo Claiborne (offsetting), an illegal use of hands penalty by Jordan Jenkins and a crushing facemask penalty on Trumaine Johnson.
“I guess we got to weed out the guys who aren’t disciplined,” said wide receiver Quincy Enunwa, one of the team captains.
Enunwa is 100000000 percent right. There will be a lot of changes in that locker room in the offseason.
3. WANTED: A new coaching staff.
Bowles has been privately frustrated about the lack of talent on his roster for, well, years. But that cannot be an eternal crutch. Has general manager Mike Maccagnan stocked the roster with oodles of talent? Well, no.
But I’m not sure how a lack of talent contributed to the fourthquarter collapse on Sunday? The Jets had enough talent to take a 16-0 lead. They had enough talent to take a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter.
But they didn’t have the killer instinct or football I.Q. to seal the deal. Is that a function of poor talent? To be fair, the answer is no.
There’s no cut-and-dried answer, but it’s naïve at this point to absolve the head coach and his staff for what has transpired. Players defended Bowles Sunday for the umpteenth time, but they’re not blind to what’s on the horizon.
Johnson went so far as to say that this team needs to get better at situation football. Well, anyone who knows anything about this sport knows that coaches greatly impact a team’s ability to master situation football. Just ask every Patriots player who has ever played for Bill Belichick, who prepares his team for every situation virtually every time. That’s why New England has been one of the best situational football teams for a decade and a half.
Situational football is coaching. Period.
“This game will stick with me for the rest of my life,” Bowles said. “I’ve been in about three of them. And this will go right up there with those games. You’re at your wits’ end for a second and then you come back. How can we get better? What do we got to do? How can we improve?... And you keep on moving.”
There are only four games left… for a lot of people in that locker room.
4. WANTED: Scientists who can clone Jamal Adams.
Win or lose, Jamal Adams continues to impress me (and just about everyone else on One Jets Drive). The dude, frankly, deserves better than the slop we’ve seen for the better part of three months.
He was terrific once again with a team-high 11 tackles, including 10 solo ones. He added a sack, quarterback hit and forced fumble to a resume that should help him earn a Pro Bowl berth.
Real talk: If this guy isn’t a Pro Bowler this season, then they should cancel the damn game.
Adams flies around from start to finish. He’s everywhere all the time. At times, you have to wonder whether there are actually three or four No. 33s out there.
Say what you want about this Jets regime, but they couldn’t have gotten it any more right by picking Adams last year. He is a one-man wrecking crew who is trying his best to change the culture around here. Can you imagine if Adams were not here?
What a painful thought.
5. WANTED: Sam Darnold, please.
Bowles wouldn’t commit to starting Darnold against the Bills, but let’s put an end to the gratuitous gamesmanship and secrecy. Barring an unforeseen setback, the rookie will be back under center in Buffalo this weekend. He’s fully healthy and looked like his normal self in practice last week, according to sources.
There’s absolutely no valid reason not to play him after his month-long hiatus.
Thank God. Because what else do Jets fans truly have to look forward to in December?