Jets run into roadblock in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Mark Sanchez wasn't able to munch on any hot dogs this time, not with the Raiders leaving him cut up, bruised and battered.

But the Jets still ate a little something yesterday: a heaping dose of humble pie.

Their supposed vaunted defense allowed 24 unanswered points, was gashed for 234 rushing yards and was flagged for four brutal penalties on Antonio Cromartie. It all added up to a 34-24 Jets loss.

The Jets' defense flopped from the outset, yielding a 76-yard drive on the game's opening possession.

"We didn't come ready to play, there's no doubt about it, for whatever reason," safety Jim Leonhard said. "You can't point any fingers anywhere. When a team comes down and goes 70-something yards that quickly, you weren't ready.

"Right now, we are 1-for-3 as a defense. We played one great game and now two very poor games. So we have a lot of issues we need to correct."

The Jets (2-1) had no answer for the Raiders' ground attack. Darren McFadden carved them up for 164 yards and two touchdowns, including a 70-yarder, in the first three quarters and finished with 171 yards.

"We did exactly what we said we weren't going to do -- let them get big plays," linebacker Calvin Pace said. "When you are not in the right place, anybody can beat you. We lost to a team that was not as good as us, inferior to us. But give them credit. They made plays and we didn't."

Sanchez completed 27 of 43 for 369 yards but took a beating behind a line that was missing All-Pro center Nick Mangold for the first time in more than five seasons. Sanchez was sacked four times and wore a plastic shield on his facemask in the second half after a first-half pounding.

"I think we all had our hand in this," he said. "I don't think there's one side of the ball to blame. We started out OK in the first half. I threw a pick early after a sudden change, which can't happen. It takes away a guaranteed three points, if not seven. And that could've broke their will. Who knows? We had momentum going in our favor and we kind of let them hang around, and this is a good enough team.

"So I wouldn't point a finger at the defense. There's plenty more that we can get better at on offense."

The score was tied at 17 at the half after the Raiders erased a 10-point second-quarter deficit, and the game turned on the Jets' third possession of the quarter. They failed to convert two successive short-yardage plays and turned the ball over on downs when Sanchez's slant for Plaxico Burress on fourth-and-2 at Oakland's 37-yard line fell incomplete.

The Raiders (2-1) made the Jets pay, needing only four plays to punch it into the end zone behind a little trickery. The Raiders had moved to the Jets' 23 when McFadden took the handoff and gave it to Denarius Moore on a reverse. Linebacker Jamaal Westerman missed a tackle and Moore slid past an overpursuing Bart Scott and extended the ball over the goal line just as he went down, giving the Raiders a 24-17 lead.

That's when things got even worse for the Jets. Cromartie muffed the ensuing kickoff and Taiwan Jones recovered the fumble at the Jets' 13. The Raiders needed only two plays to cash in. Michael Bush took it in from a yard on first-and-goal, making it 31-17.

Sanchez led a 10-play, 93-yard drive to get the Jets back into it. He connected with Burress for a 16-yard score that drew the Jets within 31-24 with 5:33 left.

However, Sebastian Janikowski's 49-yard field goal off the dirt infield with 2:32 left all but sealed it. Sanchez thought he ran in for a 2-yard score with 47 seconds to go on fourth-and-goal on the Jets' final drive, but he was ruled to have his right knee down about a half-yard short of the goal line, ending a frustrating day for the Jets.

The Jets took their first lead early in the second quarter, driving 79 yards in eight plays. Sanchez hit LaDainian Tomlinson him in stride for an 18-yard score and a 14-7 lead with 13:24 left in the half.

After Janikowski pushed a 56-yard field goal wide right, giving the Jets good field position at their own 46, they nearly put it in the end zone again. But tight end Matthew Mulligan dropped what would've been a 3-yard score, and the Jets settled for a 21-yard field goal by Nick Folk for a 17-7 lead.

McFadden made quick work of the Jets' defense on the Raiders' next possession, though. On second-and-1 from his 30, he took a pitch left and had nothing but daylight after the Raiders sealed off the left side of the line. He darted 70 yards into the end zone, slipping past Leonhard's last-ditch tackle attempt and leaving Cromartie in the dust, shaving the Jets' lead to 17-14. Oakland capped the half with Janikowski's tying 54-yard field goal, setting up a wild second half and beginning the Jets' three-game trip on a bad note.

Rex Ryan vowed he's going to turn around his defense.

"It's my responsibility," he said. "We've got to get this thing fixed. Communication, I don't know what it is, just physically getting beat. We'll look at it all.

"You have 439 yards on offense and lose the game. It's unbelievable."