CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jets general manager John Idzik stood in the losing locker room with a grim look on his face. He spoke to a few Jets staffers, but seemed unsure where to go or what to do.
You can tell he’s new here.
Idzik has not been with the Jets the last two seasons when they fell short of the playoffs by losing crucial games down the stretch the same way they did this year. The 2013 season was basically finished Sunday as the Jets lost to the Panthers 30-20 at Bank America Stadium.
The Jets being the Jets did it in spectacular fashion with breakdowns on offense, defense and special teams. The loss does not officially eliminate the Jets from the playoffs, but a Ravens win over the Lions on Monday night would seal that deal. Even if that does not happen, the Jets need a miracle … make that a few miracles to make it to the postseason.
Instead, it looks like a third consecutive season without a playoff appearance.
“This one would be Ripley’s if we pull this one off,” coach Rex Ryan said.
The Jets fell to 6-8 with the loss, their third straight non-winning season. That had not happened to the Jets since 1994-96. What does that mean for Ryan’s future? Only Woody Johnson knows, but it’s not good when your teams are being compared with those from the Rich Kotite era.
There is little left to play for now. The Jets will be eliminated from the playoffs officially with the next win by the Ravens or Dolphins.
Now Ryan is looking at a third straight year watching the playoffs.
“Hell, obviously that’s not our intent going into a season or any other time,” Ryan said. “We want to win it all. That’s been clear from the day I took the job.”
The Jets have now lost four of their last five games. After upsetting the Saints and looking ready to make a playoff run, they have gone into a tailspin of turnovers and giving up big plays.
“I don’t know what to say,” veteran linebacker Calvin Pace said. “It’s the same old stuff here and there. I always say it’s tough to play against an opponent and yourself.”
The self-inflicted wounds that have been a staple of Ryan’s Jets the last three years were back again Sunday. Rookie quarterback Geno Smith threw his fifth pick-six of the season and the Jets gave up a blocked punt that erased their hopes of an upset victory.
It looked like the Jets might pull off the upset when defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson lined up as a running back and scored a 1-yard touchdown at the end of the third quarter to cut the Panthers’ lead to 16-13. But things fell apart quickly.
“We had the ball in our hands only down three points in the fourth quarter,” wide receiver David Nelson said. “That’s kind of where the good teams take advantage and we didn’t do that for whatever reason.”
The special teams miscue came early in the fourth quarter and swung the game in Carolina’s direction. Panthers linebacker Jason Williams blocked Ryan Quigley’s punt, giving the Panthers the ball at the 14. Four plays later Panthers running back Mike Tolbert plunged in from the 1-yard line and the Panthers had a 10-point lead again.
“It just snowballed on us and the game got out of hand at the end there,” Ryan said. “Against a good football team you can’t have those critical errors that we had today.”
Less than three minutes later, Smith (15-of-28, 167 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) threw his pick-six to Panthers cornerback Captain Munnerlyn and the Panthers had a 30-13 lead and the game won. Munnerlyn is part of a secondary Santonio Holmes labeled the “weakest link” of the Panthers’ defense this week. That secondary was clearly motivated and played a good game while Holmes was quiet for most of the game.
Holmes said he did not regret his comments and did not think it motivated the Panthers, but at least one of his teammates disagreed.
“The first series it was like they were just gunning for us,” Nelson said. “Even if the ball wasn’t in one of our hands, if Geno was scrambling, they were coming to be physical with us. They tried to set the tone from that first series. One of the players said to me, ‘You guys messed up’ or ‘10 messed up’ something like that.
“It died down as the game went on, but at the same time you could definitely tell those comments didn’t go over too well with them.”
The Panthers looked like they were going to take off with the game in the second quarter when Cam Newton (16-of-24, 273 yards, 1 TD) threw a screen pass to DeAngelo Williams and Williams ran right past the Jets defense for a 72-yard touchdown and a 13-6 lead. David Harris and Dee Milliner both got blocked badly on the play and Ed Reed took a bad angle, allowing Williams to score.
“The screen pass, obviously, was a backbreaker,” Ryan said.
Ryan sounded like a man who has seen this before. You wonder if Idzik will give him the chance to see it again.