Time for the blame game.
Who do you pin most of it on for Falcons 27, Jets 20 on Sunday in London?
How much time do you have, Jets fans?
Blame Zach Wilson, who looked every bit the 22-year-old rookie quarterback he is, playing in his fifth NFL game. He finished 19 of 32 for 192 yards with an interception and no touchdowns, but had only 65 passing yards with 9 ¹/₂ minutes remaining in the game — BGT (Before Garbage Time).
Blame the defense for failing to get off the field on critical third downs, time after time yielding back-breaking plays, as Atlanta was 9 of 14 on third-down conversions.
Blame cornerback Bryce Hall, who seemed to be on the wrong end of too many successful pass plays on the part of the Falcons.
Blame the coaching staff, which picked a bad day to have a bad day on both sides of the ball.
Blame head coach Robert Saleh and his defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich for outcoaching themselves on several occasions.
Why, for example, was defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers covering tight end Kyle Pitts, the Falcons’ most dynamic offensive player, in the end zone on a Matt Ryan scoring pass that gave Atlanta a 10-0 lead before the Jets realized there was a five-hour time change in England from the U.S.?
Just because Franklin-Myers this past week was given a four-year, $56 million contract doesn’t mean he should be covering the No. 4-overall draft pick one-on-one in the end zone.
Why, on an Atlanta third-and-2 from the Jets 16-yard line with the Jets trailing 20-17 and fewer than three minutes remaining in the game, were the Jets defensive backs playing off the line of scrimmage, first begging and then escorting Atlanta running back Cordarrelle Patterson to make a 7-yard reception for a killer first down?
Blame offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who makes you wonder whether he’d been scripting his first 15 or so offensive plays in the dark before games.
The Jets fell to the Falcons in London. PA Images/Sipa USAThe Jets, who’ve been outscored 30-0 in the first quarter this season, have produced five first-quarter first downs in five games and have been outscored 73-15 in the first half.
Adam Gase, the former Jets head coach who was reviled by Jets fans for his failures on offense, used to look like an offensive savant with his scripted plays early in games before his offenses would shrivel up and go limp.
The Falcons entered the game with the worst pass defense in the league, allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 70.5 percent of their passes for 1,096 yards, 11 TDs and no INTs for a gaudy 120.1 passer rating. The Jets’ offense — beginning with LaFleur and Wilson — failed to exploit that deficiency.
Between the offense’s ineptitude and the defense’s inability to get off the field, this game couldn’t have started any worse for the Jets.
The Jets went three-and-out on their first two possessions and Wilson was intercepted on the third possession. By then, they were already trailing, 17-0.
Zach Wilson Getty ImagesRyan, without his top receiver Calvin Ridley (who didn’t make the trip because of personal issues), picked apart a Jets secondary that had been a pleasant surprise for the first month, throwing for 342 yards and two touchdowns.
He led the Falcons to a 3-0 lead with a field goal on the opening drive.
After a three-and-out by Jets on their first offensive possession, the Falcons went 92 yards on 10 plays to take the 10-0 lead on the 2-yard Ryan scoring pass to Pitts, who was inexplicably being marked by Franklin-Myers.
After another three-and-out by the Jets, the Falcons went up 17-0 on a 17-yard Ryan TD pass to tight end Hayden Hurst, who was being covered by another defensive lineman, Bryce Huff.
Bad teams find ways to lose close games. The Jets did that on Sunday, wasting a long trip to London in the process. This game was made close mostly thanks to Atlanta not being a very good team and failing to put the Jets away when it had chances by turning the ball over.
“You first have to learn how not to lose and when you start to learn how to win, you have to learn how to close,’’ Saleh said. “Those are examples of learning how to close and things that I think we’ll get better at.’’
A week earlier, the Jets won their first game of the Saleh-Wilson era looking like a team about to make this season interesting. Sunday in London against an eminently beatable Falcons team that practically begged the Jets to stay in the game was a significant step backward, because there was so much blame to go around.
“We know we’re better than 1-4,” receiver Corey Davis insisted.
“We don’t read anything anybody says,’’ Jets rookie running back Michael Carter said. “We think we’re good.’’
They had a funny way of showing that Sunday in London.




