Gang Green look to finish strong after tough loss

A day after their 15-10 loss to the Buccaneers, the Jets were lamenting one that got away from them. They now enter their bye week at 4-6 with their playoff hopes all but dashed. “I think it was definitely a missed opportunity — a chance for us to go on the road and get a win before a bye week,” wide receiver Jermaine Kearse said. “Now, we have to sit through this bye week with kind of a sour taste in our mouth. … We’ve got six more games left. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We have an opportunity to finish strong. We know we’ve got some tough games coming ahead. We know we have to prepare.” The Jets played their worst game of the season Sunday in Tampa, something they will think about for the next week. “We knew the situation we were in coming into the game,” safety Marcus Maye said. “Getting back to .500 was big for us. We had everything in that we needed to get the job done but once we went out there on the field we didn’t execute as a team.” The Jets players will work Tuesday and then break until next Monday. The coaching staff will do some self-scouting before taking its own break at the end of the week. “When we come back we’ve got six games to go. We’ve got to be ready to go,” coach Todd Bowles said. “Some people can get healed over the bye week. We’ll do our homework as coaches. They have to do their due diligence as players to stay healthy and stay out of trouble. We come back, we get raring to go and get ready for Carolina.”

Even though the Jets were viewed as a team that would win very few games this season, the Jets do not feel like they have overachieved.

“We’re not happy that we’re 4-6 just because people thought we were going to have zero wins,” defensive end Leonard Williams said. “We still knew who we were and we still wanted to achieve greatness this year. We’re definitely not happy or complacent about being 4-6. We knew that we should have had a better game [Sunday].”

Maye was asked how he thinks he and fellow rookie safety Jamal Adams have played in their first 10 games.

“It’s been all right. It’s been OK,” Maye said. “We’re definitely not satisfied. We’re definitely not happy with the performance and how everything’s going. We’re still excited. We’re still looking to learn every day. Our goal is to do the best we can, make as many plays for our team as we can and just go out and play the game the way we know how. It’s a team effort. We’re just doing our part to help out our team.”

Bowles had no updates on injured players Morris Claiborne (foot) or Matt Forte (knee).