Al Iannazzone: Jets narrowing the gap, but progress isn't translating to wins
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn talks after an NFL game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday in Detroit. Credit: AP/Ray Del Rio
Aaron Glenn held his thumb and forefinger a few inches apart and pointed to the gap between them. That’s how close the Jets are, Glenn said, to pulling out games like the one they played Sunday in Detroit.
The Jets looked down and out when they fell behind the Lions by 14 points three seconds into the fourth quarter, but showing resolve and fight they didn’t have last year, they came back to tie it.
After the Lions took the lead again just before the two-minute warning, the Jets again were driving with a chance to tie, but a sack and a fumble ended their chance to either force overtime or win the game with a two-point conversion.
All that was left after a second straight crushing defeat — a 31-24 loss in Glenn’s return to Detroit — was hope that maybe, just maybe, the Jets are not that far off.
“These guys are going to fight,” Glenn said. “Man, we’re right here. And our guys know, it’s this gap right here that we got to close. We’re fighting our [butts] off to close that gap, and we will.”
Things will get more difficult if the Jets are without running back Breece Hall for an extended period of time. He left with a thigh injury in the fourth quarter and was ruled out pretty quickly. Hall is one of the Jets’ best players and playmakers. He will undergo further tests on Monday.
“It just sucks,” Hall said. “I felt something when I was running, then got tackled and planted and then felt something else. We’ll see when we get back.”
Hall’s health adds to the disappointment of the last two weeks. The Jets’ overtime loss to Green Bay the previous Sunday was a game they should have won. They gave that game away thanks to meltdowns in every area — offense, defense, special teams and coaching.
This was a far better performance, but breakdowns ultimately cost the Jets this game, too.
“I don’t think there’s such a thing as moral victories,” linebacker Demario Davis said. “I believe you’re able to find victories that are not necessarily on the scoreboard. When you’re building something, you got to be able to find those, those small wins that are in there.”
Eventually, the Jets have to find actual wins. Coming into this season, it was clear that they would have little to no margin for error in most games. They have talent, but they don’t have game-changers on either side of the ball and they don’t know how to win yet.
The Jets couldn’t close out the Packers and they couldn’t make the plays needed to win a game like Sunday’s.
It never comes down to one play. Geno Smith getting sacked and losing the ball on his last dropback with less than 50 seconds left isn’t the reason the Jets lost, although he said, “It’s on me. Bad play by me.” That, however, was only one bad play among numerous bad plays and decisions.
Smith actually had a strong game. He completed 31 of 37 passes for 321 yards, firing three touchdown passes to Kenyon Sadiq, Jeremy Ruckert and Garrett Wilson. Smith also completed a two-point conversion pass to Sterling Shepard to tie it with 4:06 left. The offense as a whole, though, left points on the field.
Clock management issues and poor execution at the end of the first half again cost the Jets.
They started a drive at their own 35 with 1:36 left and one timeout remaining. Glenn used it after Hall got a first down at the Detroit 45 with 41 seconds left. He could have had Smith clock the football there and preserve the last timeout to line up for a field goal, but two penalties in the next three plays killed those chances.
On their first drive of the second half, with Detroit ahead 17-7, the Jets drove to the Lions’ 7-yard line. Smith was sacked on second and third down and had to settle for a field goal.
Glenn’s defense also failed to execute at critical times.
The Jets came up with a big fourth-quarter stop before Smith threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Wilson and two-point conversion pass to Shepard. But the Lions needed only four plays to regain the lead on an 11-yard pass from Jared Goff to Jahmyr Gibbs (99 yards rushing, 65 yards receiving, three touchdowns).
There were too many gaps on that drive, and the Jets weren’t close to closing them
The defensive series got off to a bad start when Isaac TeSlaa ran a crossing route that went for 49 yards to the Jets’ 16 on first down. Another defensive breakdown led to the winning touchdown.
It’s inexplicable that Gibbs, who had two rushing touchdowns, was wide open when he caught a short pass and bounced into the end zone.
Glenn said the Jets will keep working to “be on the other side of these games.” They’ve closed the gap from last season, but they still have a long way to go.
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
