SI

The Jets’ Loss to the Broncos Was an Embarrassment in Multiple Ways

In Friday’s Hot Clicks: a very bad night for the very bad Jets, the latest from the MLB playoffs and more.

Dan Gartland

His days are numbered

New York football is a disaster this season. The Jets and Giants have played seven games total and never really threatened to win any of them. While the Giants have suffered from a combination of injuries and old fashioned ineptitude, the Jets have an air of Mets-style disfunction around them. When they lose, they at least have the decency to find interesting and increasingly embarrassing ways to do it. 

Take Thursday night’s loss to the Broncos for example. Not only did the Jets drop a game at home to a previously winless team playing a third-string quarterback, they did it in a way that pissed off the opposing coach and the mother of their own star rookie. 

The talent and potential of rookie left tackle Mekhi Becton, a 6' 7", 364-pound fleet-footed block of granite, has been just about the only bright spot for the Jets this year. The No. 11 pick in this year’s draft entered the game hampered by a shoulder injury. He hadn’t practiced fully in the lead-up to the game but the Jets decided to dress him “in case of emergency” and start Chuma Edoga in his place. Edoga was injured early in the first quarter and Becton entered the game. He tried to play, but the shoulder was clearly bothering him. 

Becton’s mother, Semone, retweeted a pair of former NFL linemen criticizing the Jets for inserting Becton into the game, including this harsh assessment from ex-Giants lineman Geoff Schwartz. 

Becton was eventually pulled from the game, hopefully without damaging the shoulder any further, and his mom deleted the Schwartz retweet. 

Not content with risking the health of their own players, the Jets coaching staff also went after the Broncos later in the game. 

The Jets actually had a chance to win this game, taking possession trailing by two with 3:08 left in the game and all three timeouts in their pocket, but then turned the ball over on downs and allowed a 43-yard touchdown to Melvin Gordon on the very next play. After another turnover-on-downs gave the Broncos possession with 1:03 on the clock and a nine-point lead, everyone could see that the game was all but over. Not Adam Gase, though. 

Gase used his last two timeouts after Broncos quarterback Brett Rypien kneeled to run down the clock. Denver attempted to convert on a fourth-and-long with a pass to run off the final few seconds and Steve McLendon was called for roughing the passer. 

It was the kind of dirty play you’d expect to see from a Gregg Williams defense, and Broncos coach Vic Fangio wasn’t happy about it. After the clock hit triple zeroes, Fangio told his team to skip the usual postgame pleasantries and head right to the locker room. 

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It wasn’t a social distancing thing, either. Fangio was afraid of things popping off after what happened at the end there. 

At this point, Gase has to know he’s a dead man walking. His actions on Thursday night made it obvious that he knows his days in New York are limited. Risking the long-term health of the franchise’s second most valuable asset and calling timeouts after the game was out of reach just reeks of desperation. His job is reportedly safe for now, but his days are certainly numbered. 

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Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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