Wideouts Kerley, Smith spin their wheels

With the Jets missing two of their top three wideouts — Eric Decker and Chris Owusu both out with knee injuries — persona non grata Jeremy Kerley and rookie Devin Smith essentially saw their first action of the season Sunday. And despite having mostly single coverage and plenty of opportunities, they hardly excelled in the Jets’ 2417 loss to the Eagles.

With Chris Ivory sidelined as well, Philadelphia didn’t have to worry about the Jets’ running game, so the Eagles doubleteamed Brandon Marshall for much of the afternoon. Kerley and Smith were targeted 20 times, catching just nine passes for a modest 72 yards and a touchdown between them.

“I think we came out flat, didn’t come out as fast as we should have,” said Kerley, the more effective of the pair. “They played a good game. We should have converted earlier. There was a third down that I should have converted on.”

The veteran had seen just a single snap on offense in each of the Jets’ first two games after falling to fourth on the depth chart. On Sunday, he got his first extended action and grabbed six passes, including his first touchdown of the season. But he totaled just 33 yards in a passing game that was all about Marshall.

Asked if the Jets’ insistence on short patterns and refusal to test the Eagles deep let Philadelphia play closer to the line, he replied, “You can say that. Every defense plays different. Our game plan was pretty good. We had some drops early. We had some opportunities we should’ve converted on, myself in particular.’’

During the week, a confident Smith — who missed the preseason due to fractured ribs and was a healthy scratch for the first two wins — said as far as he knew he’d never had a teammate faster than him or found a foe he couldn’t run past.

But Sunday the secondround draft pick from Ohio State replaced Decker in the starting lineup and finished with just three catches for 39 yards. And when he tried to run past the defense on a goroute in the third quarter, he didn’t fight for the ball and saw corner Eric Rowe pick it off in the end zone.

“It’s always tough when you have to slow down and come back for the ball,” said Smith, who was a longball artist at Ohio State but wouldn’t secondguess the lack of deep tries. “But it’s not his fault, it’s my fault. We just have got to execute better. ’’