I can't get upset about the Jets anymore.
The Jets' 21-17 loss Thursday night against Cleveland, which hadn't won in its previous 19 games spanning 635 days, was nothing I hadn't seen before from this joke of a franchise.
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I can recall the 1980 version dropping a game to the 0-14 Saints, or "'Aints," as they were then known. At home, no less.
Jets fans have endured painful defeats of far greater significance, many in incomprehensible fashion. Cleveland happens to be the site of perhaps the Jets' most notorious crash-and-burn, the 1986 divisional playoff in which defensive end Mark Gastineau was flagged for roughing the passer to help the Browns come back from a 20-10 deficit in the last four minutes. The Jets fell in double overtime.
Over the years, I've become numb to these debacles. I can't even label this one as surprising -- the Browns were actually favored.
That in of itself should tell you enough about the jobs general manger Mike Maccagnan and head coach Todd Bowles have done here in their fourth season together. Good thing the Jets gave both extensions at the end of last season.
LISTEN: Boomer & Gio React To Jets' Loss To Browns
The NFL Network ran a graphic during Thursday's broadcast noting that none of Cleveland's first-round picks from 2008-16 are on its current roster. Yet it was the Jets who appeared to have inferior talent.
Tomes will be written about Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, the No. 1 overall pick in April's draft who made his regular-season debut late in the second quarter in place of battered starter Tyrod Taylor. Mayfield led his club back from a 14-0 hole, amassing 201 yards on 17-of-23 passing. A legend was born -- by virtue of one win over the lousy Jets.
Contrast that with Sam Darnold, the signal-caller the Jets selected two draft slots after Mayfield. Darnold was off, hitting on 15 of 31 throws with two interceptions, both late in the fourth quarter after the Browns took the lead. Darnold was getting roasted on social media for looking like, well, a 21-year-old with two prior games of NFL experience.
However, it should be noted that while Mayfield's coaches allowed him to play his electric game and he had the supporting cast (i.e. Jarvis Landry, one of the league's most effective receivers) to execute it, Darnold was constricted by the Jets coaches' predictable tact of playing not to lose. It seemed all he was allowed to do was throw quick passes behind the line of scrimmage unless it was third-and-long.
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When the Jets had a red-zone opportunity on the possession after the Browns tied the game at 14-14, offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates called back-to-back generic runs that aggregated minus-2 yards followed by a pass short of the first down. The Jets settled for the field goal.
Not that Darnold has the weapons to go for home runs. ArDarius Stewart's release on Wednesday makes Maccagnan 0-for-3 on receivers he has drafted in the second, third and fourth rounds (Charone Peake, a 2016 seventh-rounder who was injured in Thursday's game, has been mostly limited to special teams). Robby Anderson, supposedly the Jets' big-play receiver, produced 22 yards on two catches, one of which he fumbled away for a second consecutive week.
No, Thursday's game was anything but a referendum on Mayfield versus Darnold, which won't be decided for years anyway. It was just another one of many the Jets have given away in my lifetime.
I knew the Jets were in trouble when running back Isaiah Crowell was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for using the football as a form of toilet paper, rubbing his behind after his second touchdown of the night. Stupidity is contagious.
That piece of undisciplined behavior would have been moot if not for a more egregious sin committed by high-priced cornerback Trumaine Johnson on Cleveland's ensuing third-and-10. Instead of the Jets' defense getting off the field following a Taylor incompletion, Johnson's yapping drew another unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. It allowed the Browns to control the ball for another four minutes.
The Jets, who were playing their third game in 11 days on a humid Cleveland night, began to wilt when Mayfield entered on Cleveland's next drive.
Bowles keeps promising that the Jets will fix their penchant for untimely penalties, yet nothing happens. No one is ever accountable.
I will give Bowles credit for having the defense significantly better prepared to deal with Taylor's mobility than when they allowed Miami's Ryan Tannehill to run wild in Sunday's loss. I predicted Taylor would gash Gang Green, but he was pulverized (three sacks, nine QB hits) throughout the first half. However, Bowles never adjusted to Mayfield, who fired darts through the Jets' pitiful zone coverages.
The bottom line is that Bowles' Jets could easily be 3-0 instead of 1-2 with a hard road game in Jacksonville next on Sept. 30. The season's not over yet, but it's getting hard to believe this team will be playing meaningful games after Halloween.
I know, no one expected the Jets to do anything special this season anyway. That's part of the problem.
The Jets have reached the intersection of low expectations and incompetence. It's why it's easy to become immune from disappointment following losses like Thursday's.
For a FAN's perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve on Twitter @SteveLichtenst1.
