Receivers' mistakes help bring down Jets
Jerricho Cotchery #89 of the New York Jets sits on the field after missing a catch in the fourth quarter against the Green Bay Packers on October 31, 2010 at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Packers defeated the Jets 9 - 0. Credit: Getty
Long after the game had ended, Jerricho Cotchery still seemed stunned.
The Jets receiver tried to make sense of it - all the miscues, misreads and dropped passes - before finally settling on a simple explanation. "It's not like us," he said quietly.
The Jets have one of the best groups of wide receivers in the league, yet on a day when their defense held Green Bay to nine points, the unit fell short in every facet of the game.
"We just started pressing," Cotchery said. "It's where you're not making enough plays as an offense, you start pressing. Once you start pressing, you end up making more mistakes. And that's what happens out there."
Cotchery was among the offenders. Mark Sanchez targeted him 13 times during yesterday's 9-0 loss, but he had only four catches for 89 yards and had a ball taken away from him for an interception.
"I don't ever want to play on Halloween again, I can tell you that much," said Cotchery, who had a pass broken up by a hard hit from safety Charlie Peprah with 3:21 to play. "This is a very frustrating game for me because I had some plays that could have been made."
He wasn't the only one.
Santonio Holmes (three catches, 43 yards) had a chance to score on a crossing route with 13:35 left in the third quarter and the Jets trailing 3-0. But Holmes, who had beaten cornerback Sam Shields, dropped Sanchez's pass at the 40-yard line, and the Jets had to punt.
Holmes did not speak to the media after the game because of what was called a personal emergency. Neither did Braylon Edwards (one catch, 32 yards). Edwards turned his back to reporters before mumbling, "I'm talking tomorrow," and leaving the locker room.
Dustin Keller (two receptions, 45 yards) said the Jets "definitely took a step back."
Sanchez tried to shoulder some responsibility, saying, "With every dropped ball today, I think there were twice as many poor throws on my part." But Rex Ryan didn't let his receivers off the hook.
"It was uncharacteristic of this team to drop some balls. Just frustrating," he said. "They're pros. We've been catching the ball in practice in a lot windier conditions than this. We've got some outstanding receivers. For whatever reason, it just wasn't our day."
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