Jets fire blanks in loss to Buccaneers
TAMPA » Same old Jets. But why?
Why, after what was arguably their most complete performance of the season on a national stage, did Gang Green revert back to what everybody thought they’d be at the start of the season?
Sunday’s 15-10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium was nowhere near as close as the score would indicate — Josh McCown’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson with 28 seconds left in the game made it a respectable game — and perhaps indicated larger problems with a team that’s likely overachieved to a 4-6 record that still has them woefully out of a playoff picture most of their fans didn’t want them to be a part of in the first place.
“It’s week-by-week; you’ve got to show up every week in this league or you get it handed it to you,” said Jets head coach Todd Bowles.
“And we didn’t show up today.”
Some statistics actually paint a different picture, although the eye test certainly didn’t. Thanks in large part to that late, ultimately meaningless drive, the Jets actually outgained the Bucs in total yards by a slim margin (275-271), but largely turned in a disjointed performance for the duration of the game; they converted on just three of 15 third down opportunities.
“First of all, you have to give credit to (Tampa Bay) and their scheme and the way they played, they played hard,” McCown said. “We didn’t execute, especially on first and second down we got behind the sticks early and put ourselves on third and long. It’s hard to convert at a high rate when you’re on third and long a lot. We’ve got to be better on first and second down.”
Both teams combined for just six points in a lackluster first half; former Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Buccaneers offense fizzled to the tune of just one Patrick Murray field goal through the first 30 minutes of play, while a 47-yarder by Chandler Catanzaro at the gun accounted for the 3-3 tie at the half.
Murray contributed two more field goals in the third quarter before Fitzpatrick put the game out of reach with 6:05 left in the fourth quarter when he connected with Charles Sims for a sixyard scoring strike to make it a 15-3 game; the twopoint conversion failed.
McCown and company showed one late flash of what could have been on a six-play, 70-yard drive that culminated with the Anderson touchdown to cut to 1510, but Catanzaro’s onside kick attempt went awry.
So too, it seems, has the Jets season. While many players were frustrated by the timing of the upcoming bye week, with the hope being that they could get right back out there and fix much of what was wrong on Sunday, there was still a belief that things could get turned around when their season resumes at home on November 26.
“If anybody in this locker room is doubting us, they shouldn’t be here,” said rookie safety Marcus Maye.
“We’re going to stick together, keep playing, keep fighting. I don’t think we have any quitters on this team, and we’ll be ready the next time we step out there.”