New York Jets vs. Oakland Raiders: Raiders Bullied the Jets Entire Afternoon

Hey, Rex, Woody Johnson called, he said you left your team at home.

After last week's 32-3 Jets shellacking of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Jets laid a monster egg against the Oakland Raiders yesterday evening.   

So far, it's a terrible start to a tough three week road trip.  Before they go back home, they are going into Baltimore next week bruised and battered: Cromartie left the game with a rib injury, Cumberland has an ankle injury, Mark Sanchez finished the game with a bruised eye and what could be a broken nose, and Rex and his Jets left Oakland with a bruised ego.  Oh, and after Baltimore, they have New England the following week.

A few notes from yesterday's game:

• The Jets played a sloppy game, committing seven penalties for 61 yards.
• Darren McFadden gashed the New York Jets defense for 171 yards on 19 carries and 2 td's.  The Jets who boast they have the best defense in the NFL looked far from that, yesterday evening.  "They couldn't stop a nosebleed."
• Jets linebackers putting up a clinic on how not to tackle.  A few of the LB's missed some open-field tackles that led to some big plays for the Raiders.
• Jets O-Line still doesn't look that impressive --compared to the last couple of seasons-- The Jets allowed a few sacks and made the Raiders look like a dominant, smothering defense.  Roles were reversed and Raiders D were knocking the Jets around.
• The Jets "ground and pound" is still M.I.A.  Greene and Tomlinson had a combined 21 carries for 97 yards.
• New York Jets wide-receivers could not get open for most of the game.  Burress and Holmes combined for only four catches.  Passing production came mostly from Tomlinson who had a big game (5 receptions for 116 yards and 1 TD) and Keller (5 receptions for 87 yards).
• Although Mark did look a bit nervous in the pocket for a good amount of the game, he did put up some decent numbers, save for that horrible throw  in the red-zone for an interception, He completed 27 of 43 for a career-high 369 yards and two touchdowns.  QB rating of 96.0.
• Colin Baxter held his own and had a decent game filling in for the injured C Nick Mangold.  Even still, Mangold is needed.  Let's hope he has a speedy recovery and returns for the game against the Ravens next week.

Jets' goat of the week:

This special award definitely has to go to Antonio Cromartie.  After having a great game last week against the Jaguars and winning defensive player of the week, he came back and had a bad game against the Raiders.  Cromartie committed four penalties, a couple of them were pass-interferences that gave the Raiders 36 yards.  Oh and the back-breaker:  Cromartie's muff on kickoff.  He dropped the ball, pursues it then kicks it another few yards away from him, and instead of falling on the ball he tries to pick it up.  Raiders recover in red-zone area and end up scoring a touchdown.

Here we go again:

Big play-maker Santonio Holmes has already begun criticizing the offensive play-calling.  "We've got to do a better job of adjusting on the fly as an offense," said Holmes.  Last season, Holmes did the same thing and showed his frustration with offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer, saying he needed to open up the playbook and give some different looks.

What the deuce...?:

Rex deciding to go for it on fourth-and-2, on the Raiders 37 in the third quarter with less than four minutes left and the game tied at 17.  The Jets O failed to convert.  It was an unnecessary call and they could have at least attempted a long FG.  The Jets started to unravel after that call.

Not bad, "old man":

Tomlinson said that as soon as he stepped onto the field, he heard it from loco Raiders fans, the one insult that stood out: "You're old."  Tomlinson looked far from that though as was the most productive back for the Jets, with five receptions for 116 yards.  One play in particular --in which LT looked like the LT of old-- came in the first half, where he broke tackles and ran down the field almost scoring a TD on a 74-yard screen-pass. 

It's still early in the season to panic, but the Raiders exposed the Jets' flaws.  The Jets need to adjust accordingly, before their season starts unraveling, and their Super Bowl predictions go down the drain.  It has to start with next week's game in Baltimore.