All-out blitz sacks Jets, not Tebow

DENVER

It isn't often that you see Rex Ryan at a loss for words. But when the Jets' coach was asked to detail the stunning decision to send an all-out blitz at Tim Tebow with Thursday night's game on the line late in the fourth quarter, Ryan clammed up.

"I'd rather not," he said.

But this will be one of the most talked-about plays for a long, long time.

We'll set the scene:

Trailing 13-10 with 5:54 to play and starting out at their own 5, the Broncos drive the ball deep into Jets territory in the final minutes. They get to the Jets' 20 and face a third-and-4 with 1:06 to play in regulation. A field goal here ties it and sets up overtime.

The expectation is that Tebow will run the ball, as he had done so often throughout the game, particularly on this drive. But in a startling move, the Jets decide to blitz Tebow.

Ordinarily, blitzes are called when a pass is expected, but not in this case. The Jets send eight men to the line of scrimmage, with only cornerbacks Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson covering receivers on the outside.

But Tebow withstands the initial onslaught of pass-rushers and makes it around left end. In front of him is nothing but open field and he races toward the end zone. Only Jets safety Eric Smith has a chance to catch him from behind, and he lunges at him near the 5-yard line. But Tebow eludes his grasp and scores the touchdown, putting the Broncos up 17-13.

Game over.

A stunned Jets locker room tried to explain their second straight loss, this one every bit as painful as Sunday night's 37-16 clunker against the Patriots at MetLife Stadium.

"Obviously, it was a critical error," Ryan said. "But Tebow made the play. We thought that play was coming but we never got it defended."

The play -- and the drive -- ruined what had been an excellent defensive effort against Tebow, who had almost single-handedly won three of his previous four starts for the Broncos.

With the Broncos pinned at their 5-yard line, all the Jets needed was a stop to seal the win. Instead, Tebow passed and ran for 92 yards on the dramatic 95-yard drive, capping it with the play that surely will haunt the Jets for days to come. Maybe longer.

"You don't bring all-out pressure when you expect the run," said Smith, who declined to second-guess the play call. "We just run what's called. It's really frustrating. It's a letdown. It's a bad feeling."

What was it like for Smith as he chased Tebow with the game on the line?

"It's one of those things where you just have to catch him, because nobody else is around,'' he said. "It's frustrating when you play like that and you get to that last drive and they go 95 yards and you can't stop them."

Two straight losses after a three-game winning streak, and now the Jets (5-5) are teetering as they enter the final six games of the season. With New England (6-3) finishing things off with six games out of seven against teams that currently have losing records, the Jets' best hope likely will be the wild-card route they took the previous two seasons. That's not the way Ryan had envisioned it, instead hoping to win the division title and get at least one home playoff game.

"We just have to worry about the next game," wide receiver Santonio Holmes said. "The only thing we can control is the next game. It's a loss. We've got to chalk it up. We can't come on anyone else's field and give them the game like we did."

The Jets gave away plenty, and not just at the end with the Broncos' 95-yard drive. Mark Sanchez threw a pick-six in the third quarter that brought the Broncos back into a 10-10 tie, and he didn't do much to convince the skeptics with a second consecutive poor outing.

"I let the defense down, however you want to phrase it," Sanchez said. "It's just an embarrassing day for me. We're not making things easy on ourselves."

But Sanchez hasn't lost the locker room. At least not yet.

"He's our starting quarterback," Holmes said. "He's our guy we got to ride it out with the rest of the season. He has to step it up."

Can he?

"I honestly believe he can," Holmes said. "I believe in him. I continue to believe in him. I signed with the Jets in order to be a part of a winning program, and I believe he can get the job done."

But at this point, with the season on the line, only a dramatically improved effort will be good enough.

"It starts with me," Sanchez said. "You have to take a good, long look at yourself in the mirror and figure out the player you want to be the rest of the season."