The Miami Dolphins (6-10) officially eliminated the New York Jets (8-8) from playoff contention for the second time in four years on the final game of the regular season, 19-17.

This half-hearted effort and eventual defeat didn't seem to matter, as the Tennessee Titans (9-7) defeated the Houston Texans (10-6), 23-22, to eliminate the Jets as well.

Tennessee needs a Cincinnati Bengal defeat to snare the sixth seed in the AFC.

A back-breaking, 12:29 minute, 21-play drive that saw Dolphin quarterback Matt Moore go 12-of-13  with a touchdown gave the Dolphins the lead for good despite the fact neither Reggie Bush or Jake Long suited up for the season's final contest due to injuries.

The Miami drive was the longest given up by a Jet defense since a 21-play sequence by the Buffalo Bills in 1993.

In the end, Mark Sanchez was responsible for three interceptions that resulted in nine points, including a 58-yard field goal, before the half that swung momentum to a surging Dolphin club into intermission.

The Dolphin victory is the fifth in seven games against the Jets, as New York now leads the NFL with 126 points due to turnovers.

In the end, the Jets finished the season on a three-game losing streak and did what they do best—beat themselves!

Two interceptions by interior linemen further amplified Sanchez's inability to get the ball over the rush, as his anemic five yards per completion ratio displayed his inability to stretch the field or move the chains all day long!

SANCHEZ DONE AS A JET? - Mark Sanchez is sacked by the retiring Jason Taylor, who ended a 15-year NFL careeer.
Marc Serota/Getty Images

Further illustration was Sanchez's inability to find Santonio Holmes all afternoon, as the Jets seemed more intent to get the ball to Dustin Keller, Jerome Kerley or Patrick Turner than Gang Green's team captain!

More importantly, the Jets offensive line failed to protect this struggling quarterback who was unsuccessful to get the Jets to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.

At 8-8, this was the team's worst regular season finish since 2007.

Sanchez dropped to 26-20 as the Jets regular season starter, and it's become very apparent he's lost the confidence of the offense, as well as the offensive line.

Kerley's gadget pass to tight end Matthew Mulligan was the most explosive offensive play of the afternoon, as the Jets would leave the running game when things were going well on the ground despite little red-zone effectiveness with the pass over the last month of the season.

All in all the Dolphins defeat magnified the problems of a team that has become undisciplined, ineffective and unfocused when the outcome is on the line.

In three losses in which Mark Sanchez has regressed rather than improved, one has to believe everyone and everything will be evaluated with the New York Jets organization for 2012.

Questionable personnel decisions that saw Brad Smith, Jericho Cotchery and Shaun Ellis leave the organization, the Jets saw themselves weakened season over season on the defensive side of the football as the running game became equally a challenge.

REX'S WATERLOO? - Rex Ryan congratulates Jason Taylor, who retired today in ousting Gang Green from the playoffs.
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

For whatever reason, the New York Jets committed to passing the football way too much while abandoning a running game that was one of the most feared in the NFL. Despite this switch, Shonn Greene was able to reach the 1,000-yard plateau today, becoming the first Jet to do so since Thomas Jones in 2009.

Nick Mangold's early-season injury in a key stretch of games against the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens exposed the Jets as a very average club with no ability to sack the quarterback.

With the exception of Bart Scott and Darrelle Revis, the Jet defense is slow, can't tackle and is in need of a major face lift during the offseason.

Now 32-22 in three seasons at the helm here in New York, the shine has worn off of the rhetoric of Rex Ryan.

He clearly doesn't have the personnel to make the playoffs, much less compete for an NFL championship.

The Jets have never made the playoffs three years running in club history, and this is just the first time in franchise history the New York has strung together four .500 seasons.

For with the exception of possibly Revis, the entire Jets roster will be under scrutiny for 2012, including Mark Sanchez.

Anointed the starter rather than winning the job outright, the former USC standout is at a critical fork in the road in terms of his career here with Gang Green.

Fans and the media are obsessed with winning today and have little patience for a three-year starter that looks no better than he did the day signed with New York.

Sanchez seemed almost oblivious to his turnovers or inability to move the football.

It's as if he knows the team can't bench him and that his tenure as the starter is never in doubt.

That line of thinking will certainly be challenged during what will be a long winter for the Green and White, for this is the first serious bump in the road for the Jets under Rex Ryan.

Has he lost the team's confidence?

Did he lose confidence in the team?

Other than Revis or possibly Scott, what Jet is truly immune from criticism?

Sometimes losing clarifies an organization's approach.

With the Jets now out of contention and certainly in a rebuilding mode, all options should be open for discussion, including the future of young Sanchez at the head of the line.

A bitter season has just ended in frustration, a frustration Jets fans thought was in their rear view mirror.

That just isn't the case any longer.

It's back to square one, and it will be interesting to see how the New York Jets respond to a season with so much promise ending in a horrible crash landing.