Oct 20, 2008 2:34 am US/Eastern
Analysis: Big Boot Aside, Jets Kicked Themselves
Don't Hate The Kicker, Hate The Fact That Favre & Gang Green Gave Away A Game They Should Have Had
By JEFF CAPELLINI, WCBSTV.com Sr. Sports Producer
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Fans of the Oakland Raiders look on prior to the game against the Denver Broncos on Sept. 8, 2008, at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, Calif.
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
If you wanted to pull your hair out and toss everything not nailed down in your living room on Sunday, join the club. The Jets managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Normally when a team loses on a 57-yard field goal in overtime, you just tip your cap to the kicker and move to your favorite beverage. But there was nothing "normal" about the Jets' 16-13 loss to the Raiders on Sunday.
On a day when Thomas Jones played like an All-Pro and Jay Feely kicked an incredible 52-yard field goal that sent the game into OT and gave the Jets all the momentum in the world, they still found a way to lose.
The NFL has never seen a leg like Sebastian Janikowski's. In all fairness to the great Jason Elam, he has nothing on the left foot of Oakland's wild and crazy kicker. Janikowski's winning boot would have been good from 67.
Sure, tip your cap to him and move on.
Not a chance.
The Jets regressed offensively on Sunday. Brett Favre was basically awful for the first 59 minutes and then for all 12:30 of overtime before Janikowski sent Gang Green home wondering if they are indeed good enough to make the playoffs and win the AFC East.
Favre leads the NFL in completion percentage, but that's because his receivers cannot get open deep. Over the last two games the Jets have looked a lot like the Chad Pennington-led Jets in that they are dumping off short passes down the field. That's all good and well, but if they don't get into the end zone it's just a big waste of time.
Favre was 21-of-38 for 197 yards and two interceptions on Sunday, by far his worst game as a Jet. He spent a good part of the afternoon staring up at the Bay Area sun. The Raiders pressured him into sacks, fumbles, batted balls and ill-advised throws almost at will.
Now, in fairness to the Raiders defense, they were pretty special, but that defensive unit should not be able to hold the Jets to 13 points. Favre threw the ball downfield maybe once in the first half and just twice in the second half. Of the second stanza's, the first was picked off after Jerricho Cotchery cut a pattern short and Favre tossed a Pennington-like rainbow to … wait for it … no Jet within 20 yards of the Raiders' D'Angelo Hall.
The second one was the killer. Tight end Chris Baker inexplicably fell down wide open some 25 yards downfield in overtime. He could have walked to the end zone or crawled into field goal range.
Some will say I'm being a bit hard on Brett because, despite all the adversity the Jets faced on Sunday, he still managed to move them into position for Feely's miracle kick in the final seconds of regulation. Okay, duly noted, but, in retrospect, on a day when Jones runs for 159 yards – by far the best day in his short Jet career – Favre has to do more than strong-arm throws seven yards down the field.
Could the Jets have run some play-action perhaps? Not on this day. Not even the Raiders taking their usual amount of stupid penalties mattered. Favre forced a ball into the end zone in the second quarter that was picked off by former Giant Gibril Wilson. Yeah, I know, the receiver fell down there too, but the throw wasn't great by any means either.
Favre isn't the only culprit here. The Jets' vaunted run defense, which came in ranked third in the NFL, allowing just 69 yards per game, gave up 153 to the Raiders. Darren McFadden had just 39 but he averaged nearly 5 yards per carry and got another 50 catching balls out of the backfield. Justin Fargas carried the load, finishing with 74 on 28 carries, and he harpooned the Jets on the first drive of the second half. The Raiders went up 10-3 and you started to get that all-too-familiar feeling again in the pit of your stomach.
The Jets' pass defense was brutal. At one point Kerry Rhodes came in on a safety blitz after about a 50-yard running start only to be upended before he even got near the line. JaMarcus Russell made him and the Jets pay that time with a big gainer over the middle, where Rhodes probably would have been had not been face down in the turf somewhere.
Russell, who is beginning to develop into a good NFL signal-caller, had probably his best game as a pro, throwing for 203 yards and a TD, but more importantly he didn't turn the ball over and was hardly touched all day.
The Jets needed to make some hay over this three-game stretch against Cincinnati, Oakland and Kansas City, teams that are terrible. They can still go 2-1 with a win over the lowly Chiefs next weekend at the Meadowlands, but if they miss out on the playoffs by a game, all of Gang Green nation will look back on this past weekend's disaster and cry.
Janikowski is the man for sure, but the bottom line is the Jets and their all-world old man of a quarterback were kicked around out there like freshmen trying to make varsity. They got manhandled at the line of scrimmage and beaten up at the skills positions by an Oakland team that will be lucky to end up anywhere near .500 this season.
They call them "trap" games for a reason everyone and right now the Jets are hanging upside-down in the woods far from civilization.
With the remaining members of "The Black Hole" closing in.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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