Inside Slant

The Sports Xchange

December 07, 2018 at 6:34 pm.

Shooting themselves in foot a Jets specialty

Shortly after the New York Jets completed their latest bad loss by collapsing in the fourth quarter against the Tennessee Titans, the Green Bay Packers announced they fired longtime head coach Mike McCarthy.

Social media lit up and so did sports talk radio wondering if the Jets can fire Todd Bowles as the Packers did and if McCarthy would be a candidate.

Bowles was not fired and will be there again stoically on the sideline hoping he does not have to say how ticked off he is again when the Jets head to Buffalo this week four weeks after the Bills scored on the second play of the game in a 41-10 romp in New Jersey.

“It’s personal,” safety Jamal Adams said. “They don’t like us and we don’t like them.”

The losing streak has featured all sorts of showings. Lackluster losses to Minnesota and Chicago, an interception plagued loss to Miami, a humiliating blowout engineered by a fourth-string quarterback Matt Barkley to Buffalo and then an utter debacle of penalties and shaky play-calling against a team that did not appear it wanted to win until the Jets handed them numerous opportunities.

It also showed a different side of Bowles when he took the podium to address the media. Normally stoic and full of short answers, Bowles easily showcased his contempt for blowing a 16-point lead in the latest loss.

While the tone of his voice remained normal, the words were different when he used the phrases “dumb mistakes” and “disgusting.”

“Dumb mistakes at dumb times cost us ballgames,” Bowles said. “That’s why we’re in the position we’re in.”

With less than two minutes left, the Jets had the Titans pinned deep in a three-point game. One stop and the losing streak ends.

Instead, the Titans scored and were aided by three penalties, a holding call on cornerback Morris Claiborne, illegal use of the hands against linebacker Jordan Jenkins and a facemask by cornerback Trumaine Johnson

“Pissed off,” Bowles said when asked what he told the team after the latest loss. “Frustrated. Look in the mirror. Just look in the mirror. We won’t be a good football team until we’re a smart football team.”

So what’s next for a team careening towards another hideous season and perhaps a 3-13 record, something not seen by the Jets since going 1-15 in 1996 under Rich Kotite?

For one, correcting some of the foolish penalties would be a start, regardless of who is at quarterback.

“We beat ourselves,” Johnson said. I hate losing. I hate losing. I hate losing. You look back at this game, we dominated most of the game and we came up short.”

Quarterback Josh McCown started for the third straight game and it appears the Jets are not going to announce whether Sam Darnold will start. He fully participated in practice all week, and was not on the status section for the injury report.

It was not so long ago they scored a deceiving 42 points on the Indianapolis Colts, misleading only because half of those points came via the foot of rookie kicker Jason Myers, who made seven field goals.

Since then the offense has cratered considerably and even before his foot landed in a walking boot and kept him out for the last two games, Darnold was struggling with half of his 14 interceptions in the losses to Minnesota, Chicago, and Miami that followed the win over Indianapolis.

During their skid, the Jets are averaging 13 points with one offensive touchdown in the last five games for the first time in team history.

If scoring average is not an indictment on the current state of the Jets’ offense, there are other dubious numbers.

Such as time of possession which is 166 minutes, 14 seconds.

Such as 1,361 yards gained for an average of 226.8 per game.

Such as a 20.7 percentage (17-for-82) on third downs.

And if you want more, consider the lack of big plays in recent weeks since the Jets only have 47 of 379 snaps going for double-digit gains, giving the Jets a 11.4 percent clip.

It is an ongoing disaster for the Jets and now only playing for pride remains while trying to fix an offense that ranks 28th in the league in yards per game (302.9), 26th in points (20.1), last in red-zone percentage (40.74) and haven t had a 100-yard rusher or receiver since Week 5.

SERIES HISTORY: 116th regular-season meeting. Bills lead series, 61-54. The last meeting was Nov. 11 when the Bills scored 49 seconds into the game en route to a 41-10 rout. The Jets are 3-7 in their last meetings with the Bills and 1-4 in their last four visits to Buffalo.

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