NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It’s such a fickle science. One week, the Jets offensive line can look like a combination of the old Redskins’ Hogs and the old Giants’ Suburbanites; that would be last week, when across 60 minutes, the Jets allowed the Buffalo Bills exactly zero sacks.
Zero.
Seven days later, it can look like this: invisible. Or at least vulnerable, if not worse. Five times the Titans sacked Geno Smith Sunday during Tennessee’s 38-13 ransacking of the Jets. Eleven times the Titans got close enough to the Jets quarterback to hit him, knock him down, and otherwise batter him.
Smith had an admittedly terrible day. But his foxhole guys up front surely didn’t do much to help the cause.
“They did everything we expected,” Jets guard Willie Colon said. “I don’t think they did anything we weren’t prepared for. We have to be more efficient up front. It’s about being one. Right now, the worst thing we could do is not stay together. So we have to stay together and move on.”
What helps, in a way, is that they were all on one similar page Sunday: they were awful and they were also sloppy. Vlad Ducasse was called for two penalties (though only one counted since Smith fumbled on one of them). D’Brickshaw Ferguson was whistled for one. And Colon had a killer, negating what would have ben a catch to Kellen Winslow inside the 10 when the game was still manageable.
Combine that with the jailbreaks they allowed up and down the field? It was enough to have Rex Ryan shaking his head.
“We’ll have to look at it,” Ryan said. “We knew they were going to pressure us. I think we got hit on a few screen passes that we have to do a much better job on, for sure.”
And while the focus of much of the concern postgame was on the rookie quarterback, it was clear he didn’t exactly have much support, running for his life as often as he was.
“We have to look at what we’re asking our guys to do,” Ryan said. “We’ve got to … there’s got to be accountability with everybody. And we certainly will be.”