The Jets' season continues to slip by as mistakes mount

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Aaron Rodgers went through it Monday night.

He slammed his left palm on the back of the bench after a third-down pass in the red zone to Breece Hall bounced off the running back’s hand. It was the first series of the game, and Hall had tried to catch the ball by extending just one arm.

After several of the eleven penalties assessed against his team, he often looked up at the sky in disbelief. And then, after the game, he gingerly stepped out of the shower, dejectedly punched Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses, and said a few solemn words.

The New York Jets entered Monday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills with a chance to move to the top of the AFC East. Instead, the Jets (2-4) are in danger of seeing their win-now season derail after another loss marred by sloppy play, lack of execution and lack of attention to detail.

“We have to get going,” said Rodgers after the 23:20 defeat. “This was a unique opportunity. Some games you win in the NFL, some you give away; that was a gift. I mean, we performed horribly in the red zone, missing two field goals and not converting after a two-minute drive. We had a lot of chances.”

In fact, New York struggled inside the 20 points, converting only one of its four trips into touchdowns. And it was the team’s final outing of the night that was the most devastating.

Late in the third quarter, the Jets were marching inside the 5-yard line when running back Braelon Allen pushed his way through the Bills defense in what would have amounted to a 4-yard touchdown rush; it would have given the Jets a seven-point lead. Instead, a holding penalty on left tackle Tyron Smith — a “phantom” hold, as Rodgers would later say — wiped out the score.

On the following play, a would-be touchdown was ripped out of receiver Garrett Wilson’s hands after he was trapped by two Bills defenders.

On the following play, kicker Greg Zuerlein missed a 32-yard field goal attempt.

“We have to keep our eye on the details,” Rodgers said. “It’s always little things.”

That this happened in the first game since Jeff Ulbrich took over as interim head coach, replacing the recently fired Robert Saleh, showed that New York’s problems go deeper than replacing the head coach. The team has continually undermined its own operations, and most worryingly, there appears to be little progress being made.

Four of New York’s 11 accepted penalties were defensive pass interference, which resulted in huge advantages for Buffalo. Over the last four games, the team has accumulated 382 penalty yards. When the Jets got the ball trailing by three points with 3:43 to play, their attempt to win the game was slowed by two penalties, one of which was the equalizer.

Yet despite all the self-destruction, there were signs of growth, particularly on offense, and the unit played its first game under Todd Downing as game manager and de-factor offensive coordinator.

Downing’s game plan called for a concerted effort to activate Hall and Wilson, both of whom had a slow start to the season.

With Hall, Downing made several lateral stretch plays and throws that allowed Hall to gain speed and destroy the Buffalo defense once the perimeter blocks cleared the rushing lanes.

Hall gained 101 of his 113 rushing yards – or 89.4% – on 12 runs outside the tackles; He only managed 12 yards on his six attempts inside the tackles.

Rodgers looked for Wilson early and often, and Downing sped up his passing plays with quick-moving opportunities, allowing the veteran quarterback to lean on his quick release to get Wilson the ball in open space.

“Our focus was on getting our best players the ball,” Hall told USA TODAY Sports. “We came out and established the run. We played a good game today, but it just wasn’t good enough. We have to get better offensively. There are things we can move forward, but there is still much we need to leave behind. We have to be better in the red zone. Me and Garrett both felt like we left some meat on the bone. We felt like we should have won that game. That’s annoying.”

The Jets are now two games behind the Bills (4-2) and have a tough matchup against a physical Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) team. In two weeks they will face the Houston Texans (5:1).

Whatever offensive gains the Jets made on Monday, it honestly won’t matter if New York continues to get in its own way.

“It’s harder than it sounds, that’s what I’m learning,” Wilson said. “We gotta find it, man. I really don’t know. If I had known all the answers, we would have won the game.”

The Jets’ season continues to slip by as mistakes mount

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