4th-quarter follies keep Gang down
OFFENSIVE tackle Kelvin Beachum knew he wasn’t going to rest comfortably Sunday night. Not after the Jets blew a 14-point fourthquarter lead and lost to the Dolphins 31-28 at Hard Rock Stadium. “This is one I know personally I won’t be able to go to sleep, thinking about all the different opportunities you had in the game,” Beachum said in the quiet of the Jets locker room after the stunning defeat. “Maybe I could have held a block longer or said something to somebody on the offensive line to put us in a better position. This is a game that stings.”
It was a game that exposed the Jets. It exposed their propensity for penalties; exposed their flaws in the secondary; and exposed an offense that can’t impose its will late in games. There was a lot of talk about learning how to finish games. For the Jets, that starts with owning the fourth quarter.
The Jets (3-4) have been outscored 67-17 in the fourth quarter this season. There’s your lack of killer instinct. As games wear on, the Jets wear out. That’s what happened in the Miami heat, where the Jets offense wilted when it needed to show strength.
Their fourth-quarter drives, where one touchdown would have sealed the game, ended thusly: punt, punt, punt, interception. The Jets managed just one first down during those possessions. It came when Matt Forte ran for 11 yards on first down with 6:19 remaining. The Dolphins had just forced a 28-28 tie, and the Jets needed to answer. But that drive was typical of the Jets’ late-game struggles. After Forte pushed it to the Jets 11, Bilal Powell gained 1 yard on the next play and Forte got just 3 yards on the second down. On third-and-6 from the Jets 40, McCown was sacked for a 9-yard loss. Punt.
False starts on each of the first two drives in the fourth quarter didn’t help and are part of a growing epidemic for the Jets, who were flagged 12 times for 124 yards. But the Jets’ failure Sunday was more about bad execution, including the interception thrown by Josh McCown that set up the Dolphins’ game-winning field goal. “We had penalties in the fourth quarter, we had turnovers in the fourth quarter, we had a lack of execution in the fourth quarter, and if you finish a game like that, no matter how close the game is, you’re going to struggle,” Forte said. “Most times, if it’s within two scores, you’re going to give the game away.”
That’s what the Jets did. While inexperience and a lack of poise were evident in wide receiver Robby Anderson throwing his helmet and drawing an unsportsmanlike penalty in the final seconds, the Jets’ most experienced players have failed late in games. McCown, a 15-year veteran, was throwing to Jermaine Kearse, a six-year veteran, on the final interception. The offensive line that needs to dominate late in games includes James Carpenter (seven years), Brian Winters (five years), Beachum (six years) and Wes Johnson (four years).
Beachum didn’t want to hear talk about the Jets being inexperienced and needing to learn how to win.
“Whether we’re a young team, old team, new team, expansion team, you’ve got a team down two scores, and you have to find a way to demolish them,” Beachum said.
Fourth-quarter follies and failures are dooming the Jets.