It was another disappointing loss in a season of full of disappointment for the Jets.
Thomas Jones rushed for 106 yards and Jerricho Cotchery finished with over 100 yards receiving, but the Green and White couldn't cap off scoring drives with touchdowns and the defense didn't make a big stop late as the Jets fell to the Browns 24-18 on a dreary afternoon at the Meadowlands.
The Brownies held a 17-6 lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Jets mounted a late push and cut the lead to 17-15 thanks to a quick score and an onside kick recovery, but it wasn't enough as the Gotham Green fell to 3-10 on the year.
REASONS TO GET UP ON MONDAY:
Toughest receivers in the league. It would not have shocked me if both Cotchery and Laveranues Coles were absent from this game, but these two guys possess intestinal fortitude. Cotchery was doubtful after breaking his finger and Coles was nursing a high ankle sprain, but that didn't stop both wideouts from churning out impressive performances on Sunday. Cotchery was all over the field and finished with 6 catches for 119 yards and Coles brought in 7 passes for a tough 48 yards.
Over the century mark. Thomas Jones meandered through the first three quarters, but the eight-year pro from Virginia didn't quit and his perseverance resulted in his fourth 100-yard rushing performance of the season. The downside was that Jones failed to punch the ball into the end zone on two plays from the Cleveland 1-yard line early in the second quarter. It's almost as if an invisible wall drops around the goaline for TJ. Still, Jones finished with 106 yards on 24 carries and added one catch for 13 yards.
Four in a row. Safety Kerry Rhodes intercepted a pass for the fourth straight week. Rhodes picked off a pass at the Browns 25-yard line and returned it 13 yards to the Cleveland 12. That was the good news. The bad news was that the Jets couldn't turn the turnover into points. Rhodes finished with 4 tackles and his 5th snag of the year.
REASONS TO SLEEP IN ON MONDAY:
Punchless. The Jets were up against the league's worst scoring defense, but managed to score only six points through 57 minutes of football. Kellen Clemens finished 24 out of 41 for 286 yards and a rushing touchdown, but his two picks were killers. The first came on a third and goal from the Cleveland 2-yard line that kept the game scoreless early in the second quarter. The second came on a 2nd-and-5 from the Jets 48-yard line that destroyed a chance for New York to cut into the Browns 17-6 advantage with 10:41 left in the game. KC was also under attack all game from the blitz-happy Browns. Cleveland finished with 4 sacks and a slew of QB pressures.
The stop that never came. The Jets defense played relatively well for most of this game, but they failed to make a critical stop with 1:31 left in the fourth. Cleveland led 17-15 and faced a 3rd-and-4 from the Jets 31-yard line. A stop could have forced the Browns to punt or, at the worst, forced the Brownies to decide whether to kick a field goal or go for it on fourth down. The tough decision never came as Jamal Lewis took the handoff and rumbled 31 yards for the back-breaking touchdown.
So close and yet so far. Recovering one onside kick is tough enough so I wasn't expecting lightning to strike twice. The Green and White lined up for their third onside kick attempt after Mike Nugent sliced the Cleveland lead to 24-18. The first one was recovered by Jets linebacker Brad Kassell and turned into three points for the Green and White, but the second was recovered by Cleveland's Joe Jurevicius and resulted in six for the Browns. The rubber kick was delayed after offsetting penalties cancelled an unsuccessful attempt, but Nugent got off a good kick and the Jets had a chance at a recovery with 37 ticks left in the game. Jets wideout Wallace Wright seemed to have his face right next to the ball, but somehow Jurevicius came away with his second onside recovery and sealed Cleveland's victory.
The unorthodox. I'll admit that I was a bit flummoxed when I saw Mike Nugent trotting on to attempt a field goal with 1:48 left in the game and the Jets down 17-12. True, the Jets were facing a daunting 4th-and-10 from the Cleveland 20-yard line and still had all three timeouts so a successful kick and a stop on defense could have led to a field goal attempt to win the game. It's not crazy reasoning (and it nearly worked), but that basically meant that Mangini had more faith in recovering another onside kick than in his offense converting on fourth and long. Ouch.
The Jets aren't headed to the playoffs, but they will be playing their Super Bowl next Sunday in New England.
Let's see how many times the word spy-gate is used this week.
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