Keidel: Jets Briefly Resemble Legitimate NFL Team Before Wheels Fall Off

By Jason Keidel
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On Sunday, the Jets were doing something you didn't expect when they flew five hours to California to face a Super Bowl contender: playing like an NFL team.

They were about to jog chest-out back to the locker room, knowing they were just four points down (14-10) on the road and getting the ball to start the second half.

MORE: Oakland's Marshawn Lynch Runs For TD As Jets Lose To Raiders

Then the Jets turned a routine punt into a reminder why some didn't see a win from this group all season.

Just after the two-minute warning, the Raiders punted the ball high into the Oakland sun. As it sailed down, Kalif Raymond shuffled over, like an outfielder catching a lazy fly ball. Then, of course, it thudded into Raymond's facemask.

Bad teams rarely catch breaks. And Gang Green is no exception. Raymond was just a yard from the sideline, but the ball couldn't just bounce out of bounds or plop right in front of him so he could just jump on it and coddle it.

No, the ball somehow banged into his helmet, then somehow squirted over him and behind him, where he had no chance of seeing or recovering the ball. Oakland pounced on it, and the opportunity. The Raiders also remembered the one thing that eluded the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX: Marshawn Lynch knows how to score. Carr handed Lynch the football and watched Beast Mode barrel his way past the goal line, making the score 21-10.

CBS' Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts coined it a "game-changer." They were being diplomatic. It was a game-breaker, a line or paragraph in this postmortem.

If you placed your hand over one eye and just looked at the Jets' offensive stats, you'd be pleased. The Jets rushed for 126 yards, on five yards per carry. They held the ball for 29 minutes, just two minutes fewer than the Raiders (2-0). Josh McCown may have only passed for 168 yards, but he was quite prudent with the ball, tossing two touchdowns and zero interceptions for a 113.1 passer rating.

But it was their allegedly robust defense that betrayed them. Derek Carr had all day to throw the ball, and did, finding nine different receivers, completing an obscene 23 of 28 throws (82.1 percent) for three TDs and no interceptions. Carr finished the game with a PlayStation passer rating of 136.6.

That's on the Jets' D, which can't say it was gassed by the Raiders' time of possession (31:02). Oakland (55) ran just one more play than the Jets (54). Gang Green's offense, meanwhile, gained a healthy 5.0 yards per play, but surrendered an absurd 7.5 yards per snap. Oakland averaged an unacceptable 6.7 yards per rush and rolled the Jets with 180 yards on the ground. Overall, the Raiders lapped the Jets, 410 yards to 271.

The rest, of course, was a fait accompli. The Raiders scored more and more points, their 21-10 lead ballooning into 28-13, then 35-13. Then they unleashed the hounds, led by all-world pass rusher Khalil Mack. Each time McCown stepped back, it felt like a jailbreak by the Raiders. It all added to a 45-20 drubbing before frothing fans at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. Ironically, the really good team with perhaps the most loyal and vocal fans has been slapped with the high, aristocratic hand of finance and politics and is set to leave for Las Vegas in two years. The Jets got a new place by piggybacking the Giants.

Rather than focus entirely on their poor performance and vow to improve, the Jets mused angrily over Lynch's dance on the Raiders' sideline. Linebacker Jordan Jenkins was particularly appalled by Lynch's gyrations and long, flopping hair. Perhaps Mr. Jenkins should watch tape of another Jets game in Oakland, when Mark Sanchez was caught gobbling a hot dog on the sideline.

So, the last time the Jets started 0-2 was 2007, a season they finished 4-12 -- which would be an epic success for them this year.  So many fans suggest the Jets just tank for either quarterbacks Sam Darnold of USC, Josh Rosen of UCLA or Josh Allen or Wyoming (assuming Louisville's Lamar Jackson and Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield are better contoured to the college, not NFL, game.)

The Jets have a sprawling history of high draft picks and first-round busts. Why will it work this time? What if Darnold, who loves playing for the Trojans, stays another season? What if one or more of them aren't as good as we thought? What if the Jets finish just outside the top three and are still bereft of a franchise QB?

Maybe the Jets won't be favored in any game they play this year, but they'd be doing themselves a favor by at least trying. And worry about your embarrassing deeds on the field, not someone dancing on the sideline.

Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel

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• Las Vegas Raiders
• New York Jets