The New York Jets' young team had a chance to steal a win that could have built some confidence for the stretch run. Instead, they laid an egg.
Falling to 3-6, Sunday's performance in a loss to the Miami Dolphins was a frustrating amalgam of missed opportunities, turnovers and strikingly poor execution.
"It's the same, same, same stuff," safety Jamal Adams said, via ESPN's Rich Cimini. "It's frustrating. I'm not going to hold my tongue for anything anymore. I'm not a loser. I don't do this for fantasy points. I do this for the love of the game. I'm passionate about this team and I believe in this team.
"I'm sick of losing," he added. "Honestly, I'm sick of losing. I'm fed up with losing. ... It pisses me off every time. I'm not a loser. I want to get back on the winning track. We've lost three straight? Come on, man."
Sunday marked the Jets' second three-game losing streak of the season. In those losses, they've averaged a putrid 12.3 points per game, 260 total yards and a minus-9 turnover differential.
This week it was rookie quarterback Sam Darnold that imploded, tossing four interceptions on 39 pass attempts while taking a career-high four sacks. For his career, Darnold now has 14 interceptions, the most by a rookie through the first nine games of a season, since 2000 (Blake Bortles in 2104, and Geno Smith in 2013 each had 13 through nine games). On the plus side, Darnold's 1.56 INTs per game is still behind the pace of rookie QB record holder Peyton Manning, who tossed 1.75 INTs per game for 28 through 16 tilts.
The struggling Jets offense has everyone frustrated.
"I feel like we have a lot of talent on offense and we're not capitalizing and using each other in ways that we can use our talent and our skill set to our advantage, honestly," receiver Robby Anderson said.
He added: "We're having an issue getting down the field. I feel like we're stuck, that we're limited. Things aren't flowing. It's tough at this point in the season. We should be solving the issue and it's hurting us."
The young players' complaints will bring the ire of the storm careening toward Todd Bowles. With a youthful roster, the coach entered the season with some leeway. Losses are one thing if progress is shown. Ugly defeats like Sunday will get everyone fired.
The main priority for New York is the progress of Darnold. If offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates can't milk the most out of the talented but growing passer, Gang Green will need to bring in an entirely new group who can.
