Passing, on Offense and Defense, Is Jets' Undoing Against Lions
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - To those who play and coach on Sundays, every play of every series of every game is critical. But as the Jets lumbered out of their locker room for the start of the third quarter, they faced the most important 30 minutes of their season.
They trailed Detroit by two touchdowns. Their offense was functioning at a level comparable to elementary school recess - disorganized and chaotic. Their defense had yielded two scoring passes and bushels of yards through the air.
With a brutal three-game stretch looming, how the Jets responded would define their season. But this game ended much as last week's did, much as the week before that's did - with a loss, this by 24-17 at MetLife Stadium.
It plunged the Jets into a state of flux heading into a game at San Diego, with questions about the viability of both their secondary, which allowed Matthew Stafford to throw for 293 yards and two touchdowns, and their starting quarterback, Geno Smith, who committed two more turnovers - running his season total to seven in four games. Smith, who completed 17 of 33 passes for 209 yards, heard boos and then chants for his backup, Michael Vick, after an unsightly interception.
His final incompletion was not his fault. The ball bounced off the hands of Chris Ivory, on a third-and-2 at his team's own 24, and the Jets elected to punt. Detroit took over, gained two first downs and ran out the clock.
The Jets finished the first quarter of their season at 1-3, slain by games against talented quarterbacks - Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler and Stafford - who carved up their defense. Still, the harder section begins next weekend. The game in San Diego commences a 12-day stretch that also includes a home matchup with Peyton Manning and Denver and then a Thursday night trip to New England.
Baseball fan that he is, Jets Coach Rex Ryan during the week likened his team's predicament to the grind in that sport.
'In the N.F.L. it's the equivalent of a 10-game losing streak when you lose one game,' he said.
If so, the Jets have lost 30 straight.
As poorly as their offense played Sunday, the defense also failed them. A trend has emerged in these last three losses: Whenever the Jets need a stop, they do not get one.
Two weeks ago Green Bay romped 97 yards for a touchdown just before halftime. Last week Chicago drove 80 for a touchdown just after halftime. On Sunday, after cutting their deficit to 17-10 on an 11-yard touchdown catch by Eric Decker, the Jets had Detroit pinned at its own 10-yard line, facing a third-and-10.
Stafford found Golden Tate for an 11-yard gain, then Reggie Bush for 10 yards on a third-and-9 and then Ryan Broyles for 21 on a third-and-2. After Tate bowled over Darrin Walls on a 16-yard catch-and-run, Stafford ran into the end zone from 1 yard out, extending the Lions ' lead to 24-10.
Detroit entered Sunday allowing 63.7 rushing yards per game. The Jets gained 52 on the ground - on their first drive. Smith played the role of automaton, turning to hand off the ball to Ivory, again and again, nine times in all.
The play calls reflected a commitment echoed all week by the Jets: more running, more Ivory. That opening series, which produced a Nick Folk field goal, presaged little, though.
A snap from Nick Mangold came early, sailing beyond Smith. Passes floated wide or long. A false-start penalty turned a third-and-short into a third-and-long, which gave the Jets a fifth straight drive without a first down.
On those drives, the Jets gained all of 10 yards. Boos cascaded from the stands. They were loudest at halftime, when the Jets trudged into their locker room trailing by 17-3.
The score was far closer, tied at 3-3, deep into the second quarter. The Jets' pass rush, complemented by a stout run defense, shoved Detroit into unwieldy down-and-distance situations. Even though Stafford succeeded at completing short and intermediate passes, that was all the Jets allowed.
For a time. Because Stafford was not content to exclusively pick apart the secondary underneath. He waited and waited - for a favorable matchup, a miscommunication - until such an opportunity presented itself, on a third-and-10 at his own 41.
During the week, Calvin Johnson said he was looking forward to playing against the Jets because they often used single-high safety looks - a safety sinking deep to help prevent a cornerback from being exposed in man-to-man coverage - against Green Bay and Chicago.
On this play, Jeremy Ross split cornerback Antonio Allen and safety Calvin Pryor, beating them so badly that he had time to turn around at the Jets' 20 and catch an arching pass that was slightly underthrown. He shed a tackle by Allen and galloped 15 yards into the end zone to put the Lions ahead, 10-3.
If the efficiency of that series - five plays, 83 yards - stunned the Jets, then the suddenness of Detroit's next touchdown drive left them reeling. It lasted 46 seconds, covered 47 yards and ended with Stafford zipping a perfect pass up the seam to Eric Ebron, a rookie tight end, for a 16-yard score. Stafford went 16 of 21 for 209 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
The Jets, as they hoped, were negating Johnson, the star receiver, who was limited by a balky ankle. They lined up an outside linebacker across from him - Calvin Pace or Quinton Coples - and then passed him off to a cornerback.
They just struggled to contain Johnson's teammates - Ross and Ebron and, especially, Tate, who caught eight passes for 116 yards and slithered into space all afternoon.
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