EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- In quite possibly the most embarrassing performance of the Todd Bowles era, the Jets were pounded, 41-10 by the now tied-for-first-place Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football.
Here's what we learned...
- We'll get to the Colts in a second. They were fantastic, mechanical and ruthless against the Jets on Monday. That being said, the effort on behalf of the home team was historically bad. Bowles tried multiple times to light a fire under his high-priced defense, only to watch them get torched again and again en route to being officially eliminated from postseason contention. Colt tight end Dwayne Allen scored three touchdowns, the last of which came when he wasn't the most open receiver on the field. It seemed like Andrew Luck was just trying to prove a point. Colts players were giggling in the huddle, which could be seen clear as day on nationally televised cameras with Luck trying to wrangle the troops for another half-speed scoring drive. Some Jets fans will say Welcome to 2016, but Monday's display was something out of an FCS school vs. Alabama blooper reel. How can Bowles convince anyone he can motivate these players? Is this bad enough to reevaluate what many expected to be a boring, news-less offseason?
- The Colts (6-6) are now in a three-way tie for first place in the AFC South, setting up an excellent Sunday matchup against the Houston Texans. If Monday is any indicator, the team can still negate their offensive line woes with some Luck-to-T.Y. Hilton magic. The pair rediscovered their groove, connecting on nine passes for 146 yards. Navigating the Jets' secondary has not necessarily been a challenge for anyone this year, but for the first time in weeks, they managed to rekindle their exhilarating flag football style chemistry to wreak havoc.
- The Allen touchdown troika was a thrilling subplot to Monday's game. While no act in this league should be considered easy, the relative simplicity of his first two scores was startling. The second of his three scores came from 23 yards out. Allen simply ran a corner route right at the front pylon of the end zone and entered the second level of the defense without a single defender trailing him. With all due respect to the Colts, they did not stun the opposition with the triple option. This was a fairly straightforward set of plays ran at a listless group of defenders waiting for the season to end.
- Analyst Jon Gruden said on ESPN's Monday Night Football broadcast that he isn't sure the Jets' quarterback of the future is on the roster. While that is a fair assessment, he should have also challenged the team's coaching staff for not finding that out sooner. Second-round pick Christian Hackenberg wasn't even active for the game and Bryce Pettyonly came in after the Jets were pile-driven in the first half. The one nice thing we can find to say about the Jets was that offensive coordinator Chan Gailey allowed Petty to throw the ball deep and challenge the back end of Indianapolis' defense. Petty launched a 40-yard touchdown pass to speedy wide receiver Robby Anderson to give the Jets their first touchdown of the night. At Baylor, it was what he could do better than most other quarterbacks in the country. If the Jets expected the mental part of the game to fall in with time, they could at least give him the opportunity to flex some muscle when applicable. Petty took three deep shots at best during his only start of the year back on Nov. 13 against the Rams (a 9-6 loss).
- Some more on Luck: His passer rating of 147.6 was a career best. He finished 22 of 28 with four touchdowns and no interceptions. His completion percentage (78.57) and yards per attempt (9.92) were also top-five career performances -- and he didn't play most of the fourth quarter.
