Monday Morning Quarterback: New York Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Oct 27, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) passes the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Well, at least if the pattern continues, we should beat the Saints next week. (half-hearted smile)

That was fun yesterday, wasn’t it? That was about as ugly as it can get for a Rex Ryan team. They couldn’t stop anything, and couldn’t get anything going on offense either. Otherwise, they did an excellent job.

Let’s talk about it, because the sooner we do, the sooner we can forget about it.

The tone of the day was set right away on the opening drive. The Bengals took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field on the Jets, driving the ball 10 plays in 5:01. The drive was capped off with the first of four TD passes to Marvin Jones to put the Bengals up 7-0, and they didn’t look back.

Before you looked up it was 14-0, and the game never really felt that close. Andy Dalton again threw for over 300 yards (325), and five touchdown passes, giving him 11 over the last three games. You have to give a lot of credit to the Bengals’ offense on this one. Yes, the defense played badly, but not for nothing, the Bengals are clicking on all cylinders right now. Anybody going up against them is going to have a rough fight on their hands.

Then, we had two more pick-sixes for Geno. He definitely took a step back yesterday, but the whole team did. This loss can in no way be placed on Geno Smith’s shoulders. Yes, the two passes were ill-advised, but it is not as if they were going to win the game if not for those passes. He played badly, end of story. Everyone played badly.

And as much as I am a fan of Matt Simms, his coming into the game yesterday by no means indicates a controversy. He was simply taken out so he wouldn’t get hurt, and to give the backup quarterback a few snaps with the game out of reach. It was a very smart idea. After the second pick-six, frankly Geno looked like a deer in the headlights. If we wanted him to have any chance to play well against the Saints, he needed to clear his head.

Good call by Rex in my opinion.

And I have a question: What is wrong with Cromartie? He is getting beaten like a drum, over and over again. Would anyone really be surprised if we were to find out, after the season was over, that Cromartie has been playing through more of an injury than any of us thought? I’m sorry, but something just isn’t right with him. Our buddy Joe Caporoso said during the game that Cro might be playing his way out of a job here for next year. He may be right.

Ultimately, this is the team that we have, a .500 team. We aren’t as bad as everyone thought we were going to be, but we aren’t as good as we would like to be. We have to take the good with the bad in a season like this.

But sometimes, the bad is…very bad.