As the Jets were quietly filing into the locker room after their 10-7 loss to the Falcons this afternoon at Giants Stadium – the latest in a string of inexplicable losses that have marred their season – word of the Dolphins losing to the Titans in overtime began filtering into the room.
As Jets safety Kerry Rhodes quickly dressed in front of his locker stall, he wasn’t aware the Dolphins, one of the Jets’ chief rivals in the AFC wildcard race, had lost until he was informed by The Post.
“They did?’’ Rhodes said with a tone of utter exasperation. “This (bleep) is crazy, man. We (bleeping) got exactly what we (bleeping) wanted and we couldn’t get it done.’’
No, as usual, the Jets didn’t get it done.
Despite having everything on the line, riding a three-game winning streak that pushed them back into the playoff conversation, the Jets (7-7) couldn’t get it done against a Falcons team that had just been eliminated from playoff contention by virtue of Dallas’ win on Saturday night in New Orleans.
They couldn’t get it against a dome team from the South in their frigid house with wind-chill temperatures dipping into the mid-teens and 24-mph gusts. “Our weather,’’ Rex Ryan had crowed before the game.
They couldn’t get it done despite their defense dominating the game, allowing the Falcons a mere five first downs and 125 yards in offense for the first three quarters.
Why?
Because these are the Jets, the perennial NFL leaders in maddening, head-scratching losses.
“We couldn’t have asked for any more help,’’ Jets S Jim Leonhard said, referring to the recent string of positive results for the Jets that included today’s Miami loss and Thursday night’s Jacksonville loss. “We got the most help out of any team I have ever seen, and to miss another opportunity, I’m just at a loss for words the way that we’ve shot ourselves in the foot the entire season.’’
It all added up to what amounts to the unofficial end to the Jets’ playoff chances. They’re not mathematically eliminated, but, even if they win their final two games, so many things would have to continue to fall right for them to get in it’s completely unrealistic.
Oh yes, did we mention that their next game is against the 14-0 Colts Sunday in Indianapolis?
“This is tough, because we’re obviously out of the playoffs,’’ Rex Ryan said. “We thought we had a great chance to make it to the playoffs. This is hugely disappointing.’’
The anatomy of this Jets’ loss is rather simple to dissect:
– Mark Sanchez, returning after missing last week’s game with a sprained right knee, threw three INTs, the first of which came on the Jets’ opening offensive possession.
– Despite entering the game having been successful on 25-of-29 field goal attempts this season, the Jets failed on three of them – the first one never got off because of a Kellen Clemens muffed hold, the Jay Feely sailed the second one wide right and the third one was blocked.
– As well as the Jets defense played, they dropped several potential INTs.
The Falcons (7-7) won the game on six-yard Matt Ryan TD pass to TE Tony Gonzalez on fourth-and-goal with 1:38 remaining in the game.
That game-winning drive was set up by the 37-yard Feely FG that Falcons’ DE Chauncey Davis blocked with 4:27 remaining in the game.
The game-winning TD, the first TD the Jets defense had allowed in 34 possessions, had Ryan apoplectic because he said the Jets knew the exact play the Falcons were going to run and they had the perfect defense called for it and they still couldn’t stop it.
“I was pretty shocked,’’ Ryan said. “We knew the exact play that was coming; we just never defended it, never executed it. There’s no way they should be able to complete that ball in that coverage.’’
The Jets, rushing only three and dropping back in zone coverage, were trying to bracket Gonzalez with extra DBs.
CB Donald Strickland took the blame, saying, “I let the defense down. If I was sitting in the spot I was supposed to be there would have been no play for him.’’
The Jets, who trailed 3-0 after the Falcons got a FG out of that first Sanchez pick, took a 7-3 lead on a marvelous 65-yard Sanchez (18-of-32, 226 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs) scoring pass to Braylon Edwards with 2:48 remaining in the first quarter.
From there, though, the Jets could never put the vulnerable Falcons away, leaving an ominous sense of impending doom in the frigid air.
“You can’t keep letting an NFL team hang around,’’ Rhodes said.
“A wasted opportunity,’’ Jets RT Damien Woody said.
“We left a lot of ‘what ifs’ out there,’’ TE Dustin Keller said.
This, of course, is another area where the Jets excel. They, too, are the perennial NFL leaders in “what ifs?’’