Monday Morning Quarterback: New York Jets vs. Tennessee Titans

Sep 29, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive end Ropati Pitoitua (92) sacks New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) during the first half at LP Field. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

It was an epic fail yesterday in Tennessee as the Jets fell miserably to the Titans, 38-13. The Jets got nothing going until it was far too late, committing penalties and yielding turnovers like they were going out of style. Let’s get right to the unhappy recap, to paraphrase the late Bob Murphy.

The word of the day was “turnovers”. The Titans scored 28 points on turnovers, all attributable to Geno Smith. The tone of the game was set on the second play from scrimmage. Geno Smith was looking for Stephen Hill over the middle, instead sending into the waiting arms of Alterraun Verner for his first of two interceptions on the afternoon. Five plays later, Jake Locker hit Delanie Walker with a one yard touchdown pass, and the Titans were off and running.

You could break this game down quite easily. The Jets’ offense was never able to get any momentum going. When they did, they either turned the ball over, or were killed by penalties. No, they didn’t record twenty penalties, but they did still put up ten. Getting beaten by another team is one thing, getting beaten by yourself is entirely another. What it is, is inexcusable.

The key moment in this game was probably the Geno fumble on the scramble. The Jets had closed the game to 10-3 after a Nick Folk field goal, and had held the Titans to a punt. Geno Smith was on the move and about to pick up the first down, but instead, he was stripped and the Titans’ recovered. Why? Because Geno was not protecting the football. The Titans scored to make it 17-3, and the outcome was really never in doubt from there on out. The Jets finally scored a late TD when the game was out of reach.

The bottom line was this: Geno Smith was running for his life, turned the ball over too much, and the Jets committed too many penalties. Geno cannot be this careless with the football or he will not be the future of this team. He talks about having to get better at it, now he actually has to start GETTING better at it.

Hopefully the injuries to Santonio Holmes and Stephen Hill are not serious.

There were positives, mostly on the defensive side. Clearly, the game plan was to take Chris Johnson out of the game, and that is exactly what they did. “CJ2K” ran the ball 15 times for 21 yards. Like I said in the preview, they had to render him useless, and that is what happened. The negative was in the passing game, as Jake Locker was 18-24 for 149 yards and three touchdowns before leaving with a hip injury.

When the running game was used, it was effective. Bilal Powell ran it 14 times for 66 yards. When you get as far behind as the Jets were, you have to abandon the run a bit. But, they were able to execute a few running plays.

The kicker and punter looked good, so there is that.

Onward to the Georgia Dome next Monday night.