To say the news that Joe Flacco was going to start Sunday’s game wasn’t warmly received was an understatement – but so, too, would be saying that Flacco didn’t give the Jets a chance to win what was a winnable game, but was one they eventually lost 24-17.
“Ninety percent of the games in this league are lost, not won, and this one was lost,” head coach Robert Saleh said of all the miscues.
Flacco, at age 36, isn’t the same quarterback that was once the Super Bowl MVP, but he was both efficient (24-of-39, 61.5 percent completion rate) and effective (291 yards, two touchdowns) running Gang Green’s offense against a blitz-heavy Dolphins defense.
"He did what we all expected him to do: he settled the offense," head coach Robert Saleh said after the game. "He faced a lot of pressure, he got hit a few times, got the ball where it needed to go. He did a good job out there."
The problem once again, though, was “unforced errors” by Gang Green.
"The offense, as a whole, did some good things," Flacco said. "But there were too many mistakes to win a football game."
“They say that more games are lost than won in the NFL, and you can look at every game and feel that,” added John-Franklin Myers. “More teams beat themselves, and this is one of those times.”
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The big mistake, unfortunately, was Flacco being hit from behind and fumbling in the second quarter, when the Jets were inside Miami’s 10-yard line in a tie game and poised to add more. It was his only turnover of the day, but that, plus the missed field goal on the final drive of the half, meant that the Jets saw two second-quarter trips into Miami territory end in zero points.
“He should have been accounted for. I won't say by who. Joe knows he should have been accounted for,” Saleh said of Dolphins DB Byron Jones, who forced the fumble.
"We broke the huddle fast and were trying to get a pick flat; he ended up being open there, but the guy jumped up on the line, so I double-clutched it, and it came free,” Flacco said. “There’s going to be a guy free there, it’s just a matter of which one.”
Flacco also had an intentional grounding call inside Miami’s red zone that turned another opportunity into a field goal, the only one of three opportunities kicker Matt Ammendola converted on the day.
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“Miscommunication on the routes, and I was really just trying to throw it over his head,” Flacco said. “I didn’t want to make a mistake on the play, so I threw it away.”
And, he lamented a holding call on a second-quarter drive that turned what would’ve been first-and-10 at Miami’s 27 into a 2nd-and-11 at midfield, which led to two incompletions and a punt.
“I felt like we were starting to get some momentum, but our momentum was always stopped,” Flacco said. “I feel like if we could’ve put one in the end zone, maybe we could’ve taken off, but we just couldn’t do it.”
“In the end, you have to score points in the red zone,” said offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. “In the fourth quarter we had like 10 plays; you need to be out there moving the offense.”
There were more that were killer in the second half, some undisciplined and some unexplainable. For the latter, the Jets had to burn two timeouts on the same third-quarter drive as the intentional grounding call drive, which likely changed their later decisions. Saleh blamed the coaching and said “we have to get that fixed,” but the QB had a slightly different thought.
"One they held us over the ball a bit, and you think they’d pump the clock, but they said we got the eligible lineman in late,” Flacco said, “and the other we just didn’t have the right personnel in the field to run it. We were calling some stuff and didn't have the right guys to do it on the field. All of a sudden the clock gets away from us."
On the former, the Jets took two defensive penalties in the fourth that may have also changed the game immensely. The first saw John-Franklin Myers flagged for roughing the passer on a 3rd-and-4 at the Jets’ 5, turning what would likely have been a field goal attempt into a Dolphins touchdown shortly thereafter that made it 21-14.
Saleh would only say “that was unacceptable,” and the offender concurred.
“Honestly, in the moment, I didn’t hit him late because it happened so fast,” Franklin-Myers said. “But I know I have to be better. We got that stop, and that can’t happen. That penalty arguably cost us the game, and at the end of the day, that can’t happen on my end regardless.”
Miami got their final points in a similar fashion on their next drive, as the Jets finally got to Tua Tagovailoa on a 3rd-and-3 at New York’s 31, which would have forced a long field goal attempt at best…but rookie corner Jason Pinnock was flagged for holding Mike Gesicki, and Miami got a free first down later converted into a field goal.”
“He was being aggressive with a big tight end, and I’ll never fault being aggressive,” Saleh said.
Maybe not, but after two games where the defense was crushed, this time, they crushed themselves, and perhaps handed Miami a win with those two fourth-quarter miscues.
"I tell you all the time, whether you lose by one or 50, it doesn't matter," Saleh said, and he’s right – there are no style points in the NFL, nor is point differential a tiebreaker that matters to the Jets right now.
What matters, though, is winning, and in Saleh’s mind, the Jets may not be doing that, but what they are learning is how not to lose – which is the first step in the process.
"They're getting there. They're learning. You've got to learn how not to lose first, then you've got to learn how to win, then you've got to learn how to close games,” Saleh said. “Today was clearly one of those learning moments of how not to lose."
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