New York Jets embarrassed by Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football

The New York Jets have fallen to 0-2 following an embarrassing, injury-riddled performance on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns.

The New York Jets and their fanbase entered their Week 2 Monday night showdown with the Cleveland Browns with little optimism. After all, how could anyone blame them?

A disastrous late-game meltdown in Week 1, more injuries and suspensions, and their starting quarterback coming down with a case of mononucleosis were the highlights of what was a disastrous week for Gang Green.

And Monday’s game only added fuel to the growing dumpster fire — to put things bluntly.

The Jets came out flat once again at home against Cleveland and were never able to get anything going on offense. Trevor Siemian received the start and did little with his time before suffering a potentially serious ankle injury late in the second quarter.

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That prompted former Washington State standout Luke Falk to see NFL action for the first time in his career. In fact, Falk had never even been active for a game prior to this week.

Nonetheless, Falk was given an opportunity and performed admirably given the state of the team around him. And that’s just it, it isn’t really fair to blame Falk or even Siemian for the Jets’ struggles on offense.

At the end of the day, they were simply put in a position to fail.

The offensive line looked completely overwhelmed by a dominant Browns front-four. Myles Garrett had his way with left tackle Kelvin Beachum — who played perhaps the worst game of his Jets career — recording three sacks on the night.

Center Ryan Kalil was replaced in the fourth quarter by Jonotthan Harrison and it’s unclear at the time of writing if that was performance-based or injury-related.

As a whole, the offensive line looked worse than they have in a long time. But at some point, the blame must fall on the coaching staff.

Head coach Adam Gase did little to help out Beachum or rest of the offensive line leaving his linemen alone on islands where they struggled to match up against a clearly superior Browns defensive line.

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Where were the tight ends? Where were the running backs? Instead, Beachum was left to flounder against one of the best pass rushers in the league and flounder he did.

Fortunately, the Jets defense did an excellent job of keeping the Browns at bay — for the most part — as defensive coordinator Gregg Williams called an excellent game. Quarterback Baker Mayfield looked shaky as the Jets exceeded expectations on defense.

Surprisingly, the team’s cornerbacks held up pretty well with the starting trio of Darryl Roberts, Brian Poole, and Nate Hairston — playing in place of a benched Trumaine Johnson — putting together strong games.

The team clearly missed C.J. Mosley and Quinnen Williams in the front-seven but their losses weren’t the reason for the Jets struggles.

Rather, the offense’s anemic display contributed to the team’s ultimate defeat.

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Elsewhere, injuries continued to pile up for a Jets team that was already without some of their top stars going into the game. Jordan Jenkins left with a calf injury, Demaryius Thomas re-injured his hamstring, and of course, Siemian’s hurt his ankle.

With injuries mounting and a difficult schedule ahead, things are looking bleak for the Jets. And after an 0-2 start, head coach Adam Gase might already find himself facing plenty of criticism.

The Jets need answers and quick. But searching for answers in Week 3 of the regular season is a recipe for disaster.

Next week, the Jets will travel to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots in a game that could get ugly if something with the offense doesn’t change.

Not just something, nearly everything must change.