MIAMI — Prosperity stared the Jets right in the eyes last night and they blinked.
The Jets not only had a chance to take a lead in the AFC East over the Patriots, they had a chance to drive a stake through the Dolphins, virtually crippling Miami’s hopes of repeating as division champions.
A Jets win would have given them a one-game lead over New England with a win over the Patriots already in the books. They could have gone to 4-1 and left the Dolphins adrift at 1-4.
But the Jets failed to convert on the huge opportunity before a national TV audience, losing to the Dolphins in a scintillating 31-27 shootout last night at Land Shark Stadium.
It was the Jets’ second consecutive loss after their 3-0 start and it leaves them in a tie with the Patriots for first in the AFC East at 3-2 with the 2-3 Dolphins a game behind.
The Jets’ defense, which entered the game having allowed three touchdowns in four games, was sieve-like in the fourth quarter, giving up three TDs to the Dolphins in the final 14:17.
“A complete embarrassment by our defense and by me,” a dazed Rex Ryan said afterward. “I’ve never been involved in a game like that in my life. Our offense played tremendous, gave us every opportunity to win the game.”I’m kind of at a loss for words with our defensive performance. Just a horrendous, horrendous day for our defense. We couldn’t stop the run or the pass. Other than that we played great. We made that quarterback [Chad Henne] look like Dan Marino.”
Henne, making his second career start, outplayed Mark Sanchez (12 of 24, 172 yards, 1 TD) and stunned the Jets, completing 20 of 26 attempts for 241 yards and two TDs. In the fourth quarter, Henne was 9 of 12 for 121 yards and two TDs.
Henne engineered the game-winning drive in the final minutes after the Jets had taken a 27-24 lead on the second of Thomas Jones’ two rushing TDs with 5:12 remaining.
Fittingly, the Dolphins won the game using their “Wildcat” formation, which the Jets’ defense never solved. It was the 13th time in the game they used it — with the decisive score coming on a Ronnie Brown 2-yard scoring run with six seconds remaining.
In a shocking display of abysmal clock management, Ryan didn’t use either of his two remaining timeouts as the Dolphins were marching toward the winning TD, leaving his offense no time to try a desperate comeback.
“At the end I thought about using timeouts, but I said, ‘You know what? They’re not scoring,’ ” Ryan said. “But I was wrong.”
Ryan repeatedly took total blame for the defensive performance, but his players were the real culprits.
Cornerback Darrelle Revis, who was having a Defensive Player of the Year kind of season, allowed Miami wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. to get behind him for a 53-yard TD catch to give the Dolphins a 24-20 lead with 10:10 remaining in the game.
The second half was frenetic after a tight-to-the-vest first half, led by the Jets 13-10 on a Braylon Edwards TD catch and two Jay Feely field goals, highlighted by two successful fake punts that kept drives alive.
A two-yard Henne pass to Anthony Fasano gave the Dolphins a 17-13 lead with just 43 seconds into the fourth quarter, and that’s when the fun began.
Jones scored from one-yard out to give the Jets a 20-17 lead two minutes later, but that was trumped by Ginn’s 53-yard TD catch just 2:07 later for the 24-20 Miami lead.
When the Jets took the 27-24 lead with 5:12 remaining on Jones’ second TD, the Jets had to feel good about securing the win with the way their defense had clamped down all season.
But that Miami game-winning drive — 13 plays, 70 yards in 5:06 — was sobering for Ryan and his defense that fancies itself as one of the best in the league.
“This is very shocking, not like us . . . we’re very upset,” Revis said.
“It’s the fifth game of the season and we’re still in first place,” Ryan said. “But it doesn’t feel like that right now.”