New York Jets vs. Oakland Raiders: New York Grades, Notes & Quotes
No one on the New York Jets roster could offer an excuse for what had just happened at the Oakland Coliseum.
Traveling from the East Coast? Losing their starting quarterback? Hangover from last week’s game against New England?
No to all three. There was no rhyme, no reason why Raiders quarterback Derek Carr shredded the team’s defense for four touchdowns, or why Oakland’s defense dominated the Jets up front. It was over. It was done with.
But the 34-20 defeat still counts.
“We actually had a good week of practice,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “We just didn’t play well.”
From around the game’s opening minutes, the Raiders offense dominated the Jets' top-ranked defense in close to every facet of the game. Oakland gained 451 yards of total offense, picked up 21 first downs and scored touchdowns on its first three possessions.
It started when Carr hit receiver Andre Holmes for a five-yard touchdown on a goal-line fade. On the next possession, it was another Carr score, this time on a 36-yard strike to Michael Crabtree. On the third, it was back to Holmes for a 49-yard touchdown.
Overall, Carr finished 23-of-36 passes for 333 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
“When you give up four touchdowns, period, it’s disappointing,” Bowles said. “Whether that’s to a 10-year quarterback, a second-year quarterback or a first-year quarterback.
“It wasn’t just the secondary, we didn’t play well as a team.”
The Jets offense attempted to keep pace with the Raiders' suddenly red-hot offensive attack, but without quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who left the game on the first series with an injured thumb, the order was a tall one.
New York followed Oakland’s first two touchdowns with punts, and the third with a Geno Smith interception into double coverage. While the Jets did manage a field goal before the end of the half, Carr connected with Taiwan Jones for a 59-yard touchdown on Oakland’s first possession of the third quarter.
Jones’ catch-and-run up the right sideline put Oakland up 28-6 and threw the Jets into a hole from which they couldn’t escape. While two Geno Smith touchdown passes (one to receiver Eric Decker and another to tight end Kellen Davis), sandwiched between a couple of Sebastian Janikowski field goals, cut the Oakland lead to just two scores, mental mistakes in the fourth ended any hope of a Jets comeback.
Smith took two sacks, which led to two Jets punts. When New York failed to convert a 4th-and-3 with two minutes to play in the game at the Raiders 38, the final nail was put in the coffin.
“I have issues with our energy,” Bowles said. “The effort was there, I don’t think we played with a lot of energy. They played a lot faster than we did.”
The Jets loss drops the team’s record to 4-3, but New York still sits a game up on both the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills for second place in the AFC East. The 7-0 New England Patriots have command up top.
The victory for the Raiders improves the team’s record to 4-3 and puts them in sole possession of second place in the AFC West.
Position Grades for New York Jets
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| Position | Grade |
| QB | C- |
| RB | F |
| WR | B |
| TE | C |
| OL | D- |
| DL | F |
| LB | F |
| DB | F |
| ST | C |
| Coaching | D |
Quarterbacks
It’s tough to grade Geno Smith, as this was his first game (preseason or regular season) in 308 days. Still, the mental mistakes Smith committed, especially the two bone-headed sacks in the fourth quarter with the Jets down just two scores, drop this a bit. C-
Running Backs
This is, again, another tough one to grade. How much are the backs to blame for the horrid total on the ground, compared to the offensive line? So, we’ll be fair and give equal blame. Zac Stacy and Chris Ivory combined for 38 yards on 18 carries. That’s an average of 2.1 yards a carry. D-
Tight Ends
A Jets tight end caught a touchdown! Seriously! It happened! Near the goal line, Geno Smith rolled out and hit Kellen Devis in the back of the end zone. Jeff Cumberland also caught a pass for seven yards. C
Receivers
Brandon Marshall had a nice statistical day, bringing in nine passes and gaining 108 yards. Eric Decker also caught six passes for 60 yards and a score. Jeremy Kerley was involved a bit, too. He caught four passes for 63 yards. B
Offensive Line
Smith deserves as much blame for the three sacks allowed as the offensive line, but the fact that the running game was so putrid drops this grade, too. Nick Mangold didn’t play, which is a huge blow and the only reason this isn’t an F. D-
Defensive Line, Linebackers, Secondary
Normally, each of these three positional groups is broken down and given separate grades. After Sunday’s game, that’s not going to happen. They were all bad. Horrible, actually.
Carr sat back and had all the time in the world to scan the field and find open receivers. The linebackers, specifically Demario Davis, routinely missed tackles. Among the secondary, not one of them had a good outing.
It was, again, horrible. Actually, that may not be a strong enough adjective. An F for the line, an F for the backers and an F for the secondary.
Special Teams
It wasn't great, but it was solid enough. Nick Folk connected on his only field-goal attempt of the game, the punting wasn't horrid and the return game didn't do anything wrong. "Eh" performance, so "eh" grade. C
Coaching
The Jets just didn't have it today, and that falls on the shoulders of the coaches. The tackling was bad, the scheming was bad, everything was just, well, bad. First time all year the Jets coaches get a failing grade. F
Jets Quarterback Situation Suddenly in Shambles
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Ryan Fitzpatrick had been told, on countless occasions, he needed to start getting down.
With defenders focused primarily on stopping the “air attack” with the quarterback, Fitzpatrick had been taking advantage of the running lanes that were opening up. In the Jets' three October games, Fitzpatrick ran for 94 yards.
The issue? Too many of Fitzpatrick’s runs had ended with him getting pummeled by a defender. So, Bowles and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey continually reminded the veteran to slide.
But Fitzpatrick continually didn’t listen, and against the Raiders, it cost him.
On the Jets' first drive, Fitzpatrick escaped the pocket and picked up a first down. As he worked his way up the field, he attempted to put a juke move on Raiders safety Charles Woodson before diving to the ground. Woodson lowered his shoulder, hit Fitzpatrick and injured the QB's left thumb in the process.
After the game, Bowles said Fitzpatrick had “torn ligaments” in his thumb and will have an MRI tomorrow. There is not yet an estimated timetable for his return.
In Fitzpatrick’s absence, Geno Smith entered the game and played the majority of the four quarters. On New York’s final drive, Smith himself was injured when he took a hit and hurt his shoulder and abdomen. Fitzpatrick came back in, but a few plays later Smith returned.
Fitzpatrick finished 4-of-5 for 46 yards. Smith finished 27-of-42 for 265 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
“(My thumb) feels OK,” Fitzpatrick said after the game. “It wasn’t so much a pain thing. If it was any other finger, I would have been OK. Unfortunately, with it being my thumb, I wouldn’t have been able to take a snap or hand the ball off with that hand.”
With Fitzpatrick out, Smith flashed with a few impressive throws, highlighted by the two scores, but the game, similar to the majority of his career, was marred by inconsistency.
While the stats tell one story, the game itself is another. Smith’s threw a pick into double coverage, and he took two horrible sacks with the Jets down two scores. At times it seemed he was completely unaware of the actual situation in the game.
With Fitzpatrick’s timetable to return a giant “TBD,” the Jets may be forced to ride the Geno Roller Coaster for the remainder of the season. That, of course, is assuming the quarterback is healthy enough to play.
According to a report from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Jets had already started contacting teams, in the middle of Sunday’s game, to inquire about a potential trade or free-agent quarterback options. Matt Flynn, who spent time with the Jets during training camp, is a free agent.
Jets Defense Taking Big Steps Back
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The Jets defense has been every bit as good as advertised for the majority of the season. In New York’s victories, the unit was dominant. In the Jets' losses, the defense still did enough to keep New York in the game.
Against Oakland, that wasn’t the case. It was the exact opposite, actually. The defense was the reason the Jets lost.
Carr completed 23 of 36 passes for 333 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Raiders running back Latavius Murray ran for 113 yards on 20 carries. Raiders wideout Michael Crabtree caught seven passes for 102 yards and a score.
“(The Defense) didn’t play good,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said.
New York missed countless tackles, including four on a Taiwan Jones’ 59-yard touchdown, and two on Crabtree’s 36-yard score. New York didn’t bring Carr down once all day. The 34 points allowed were the most surrendered by the Jets defense this year.
While Bowles said after the game that he wasn’t yet considering lineup changes, the unit may need a bit of a reshuffle. In the Jets' last eight quarters, the team has allowed 64 points.
The next three games are against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. It’s not time to panic yet in regards to the defense, but if things don’t get fixed in the coming weeks, the early playoff buzz may not last much longer.
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Where Has the Jets Run Game Gone?
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With Jets center Nick Mangold out with a neck injury, and Wesley Johnson starting the first game of his career, it was assumed there would be a bit of a struggle up front.
But not this much of a struggle.
Against the Raiders, the Jets ran for just 74 yards on 21 carries, that’s an average of 3.5 yards per run. Statistically, that’s not good, but also not horrid, right?
But those numbers are a bit inflated. Of those 74 yards, 46 came from Smith and Fitzpatrick.
The Jets running backs? You know, the ones who normally run it? Well, Chris Ivory gained 17 yards on 15 carries. Zac Stacy managed 11 yards on three. It was the second consecutive game Stacy and Ivory had struggled. Against New England, the two accounted for just 60 yards.
From the first quarter through the fourth, the Raiders regularly made trips into the backfield. The interior of the Jets offensive line allowed regular penetration. Ivory, on many of his carries, was forced to bounce to the outside and run lateral to the line. For a bruiser like the fifth-year vet, he became an easy target for Oakland defenders.
Ivory is best when running straight at a defender and using his power to run over them. When he’s running lateral to the line, he’s as easy as any other to bring down.
Before the injuries at the quarterback position, New York relied heavily on the ground game. When the running attack was working, the Jets were having success. When it wasn’t, they weren’t. With Fitzpatrick likely out for some time with torn tendons in his thumb, and Smith’s status unknown with shoulder and abdomen issues, that rushing attack is even more important.
If that ground game doesn’t get going? It could get very, very ugly for the Jets in the coming weeks. No matter the opponent.
Ryan Fitzpatrick on Injured Thumb
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"I can't really hold the ball with my left hand. I pulled (my thumb) back in, but it just wouldn't stay. It wouldn't stay there." - Ryan Fitzpatrick on his injured thumb
On the Jets' first drive, Fitzpatrick came off the field with an injured thumb. When exactly he will start another game for New York is the question.
Following the Jets loss to Oakland, Fitzpatrick spoke regarding the injury. The most alarming part of his six-minute chat? When he made note of what happened when he tried to put his thumb back in place.
Darrelle Revis on Raiders Rookie Amari Cooper
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"Sky's the limit for him." - Darrelle Revis, via Newsday, on Raiders rookie Amari Cooper
Much was made in the days leading up to the Jets matchup with the Raiders of how Darrelle Revis would match up with receiver Amari Cooper. Now that the game's been played, Revis weighed in on his take on Cooper.
Overall, Cooper played well but wasn't exactly dominant. He finished with five catches for 46 yards. The catch total was Cooper's second lowest of the season. The yardage total was his lowest.
Antonio Cromartie on His Performance Versus the Raiders
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"I feel like I played like (crap), to be honest with you." - Antonio Cromartie on performance against Raiders
It wasn't pretty for Cromartie on Sunday. The Jets cornerback missed a handful of tackles, was beaten for two touchdowns and had Bowles fielding "Should Cromartie be benched?" questions at his postgame press conference.
So, after the game, Cromartie was asked for his own assessment of his play. He was, well, brutally honest.
Connor Hughes is the New York Jets beat writer for the Journal Inquirer and Scout.com. All quotes, practice observations and advanced stats referenced are gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Connor can be reached on Twitter (@Connor_J_Hughes) or via email (Connor_j_hughes@yahoo.com).
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