The Jets are setting a record for one-game win streaks.
Gang Green can’t seem to put two good weeks together and that was on display Sunday in a 19-6 loss to the previously winless Steelers, coming just six days after a promising win in Atlanta.
The Jets have failed to win two straight games this season, and they pulled off the feat only once in 2012. Every time you think the Jets could put together a string of wins, they fall on their faces. This season they have alternated wins and losses through six weeks, leaving them at 3-3.
“We talk about we want to be a playoff team, but to be a playoff team you’ve got to win more than one game [in a row],” linebacker Calvin Pace said. “You win one, lose one you’re going to end up 8-8. We’ve got to be better than that.”
Right now, they’re not.
Rookie quarterback Geno Smith threw two more interceptions, both deep in Steelers’ territory, bringing his season total to 10, and the Jets offense was largely ineffective. The Steelers gained 328 yards, mainly on the arm of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who completed 23-of-30 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown.
The Jets offense failed to score a touchdown, setting for two field goals, using an offense more conservative than they showed last week against the Falcons. The Steelers, who entered 0-4, took away the deep ball from Smith and forced him to beat them underneath. With no Santonio Holmes or Kellen Winslow, Smith could not pull off the feat.
“I felt like everything we wanted was there for us and we slipped up,” guard Willie Colon said. “We’ve got a quick turnaround. We need this one next week. That’s what we’re focused on. We’ll bury this one. It stings, but it is what it is at this point.”
Pittsburgh had a bye week last week and looked like the fresher team. Pittsburgh dominated time of possession, controlling the ball for 35 minutes, 49 seconds.
“They played exactly how we thought they would,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “We knew they’d be fresh, they’d be flying around and they were. … They outplayed us. The thing we have to do is we have to play with more consistency, obviously.”
The game was decided in the third quarter on a pair of possessions.
Pittsburgh took a 9-6 lead into halftime after a first half dominated by defense. The Steelers forced a three-and-out from the Jets to open the second half. Pittsburgh then caught the Jets on a third-and-1 when wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders beat Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie down the sideline on a play-action pass for a 55-yard touchdown and a 16-6 lead.
The Jets looked like they might answer on their next drive. They moved the ball to the Steelers’ 23 on seven plays. But then Smith threw an interception to Steelers safety Ryan Clark. Smith said he was trying to throw the ball away. Instead he threw to a group of Steelers at the goal line.
Smith threw his second interception in the fourth quarter when the Jets had one last gasp. He was hit by Jarvis Jones as he threw the ball from the Pittsburgh 12 and it was picked off by Lawrence Timmons, ending the Jets’ hope of a comeback. The disappointing performance for Smith comes a week after his best game of the season.
“I think you can say it’s a high and a low, but my demeanor has never changed,” Smith said. “To be honest, we wanted to win this game and we’re not really focused on last week’s win. We’re focused on today’s loss. Today we didn’t get it done.”
The Jets now sit at .500 and staring at a brutal three-game stretch before their bye week. They face the Patriots at home next week, followed by a trip to Cincinnati and then a game at home against the Saints. All three teams are in first place in their respective divisions.
It starts with the rival Patriots coming into East Rutherford.
“They’re going to be the same Patriots and they’re going to have the same guy on offense who has carved us up before,” Pace said. “That’s where it’s going to start. We’re going to have to affect him.”