I'm not mad about what happened today. I'm really not. It's impossible to win a game against a team as good against the San Francisco 49ers when your top two receivers are injured (Santonio Holmes went down with a foot injury midway through the game), your top tight end is injured, and you are missing your top defensive player. I mean, our top three receivers right now are Jeremy Kerley, Chaz Schilens, and Patrick Turner. C'mon. You expect Mark Sanchez to win a game with a lineup like that? It's a joke. The players still get their paychecks at the end of the week, so it's the fans that are getting hosed here.
So where does the blame lie? Well, 10% of me says that every team gets blasted with injuries for a while, and this is just our year. But 90% of me wants to blame it squarely on Mike Tannenbaum. This team's depth is truly horrendous. We don't have any playmakers left, no game-changers. Mark Sanchez CANNOT win with this team, and the fact is, neither can Tim Tebow. What did we get this offseason except for a safety and a QB that isn't seeing the ball? You can't win if you can't run the ball and you have nobody to throw it to. I don't care if you have Peyton Manning out there, even he cannot make Patrick Turner into a Pro Bowler. When you have Dedrick Epps trying to catch Tebow's jump pass, what do you think is going to happen?
And the worst part of it are the Jets fans. I wasn't at the game, but when the game began half the stadium was filled by 49ers fans. By the end of the game, the entire stadium was red. That is PATHETIC. I don't care if my team is getting blown out. I don't care if we're being led by Rich Kotite. It is pathetic to give your home field advantage up like that to another team. Disgusting. That's what I'm most angry about from this game.
There really weren't many positives from this game. Robert Malone (except the punt block, which was more on the line anyway) was one good thing. Joe McKnight had some good blitzes on defense, and Antonio Cromartie played relatively well. In fact, the defense as a whole played pretty well all things considered (no Darrelle Revis) until the very end when they were gassed from being on the field the whole game.
But the "ugly" comes from the offense, who in no way, shape, or form showed up to play today. Even before Holmes was injured, we saw Nick Mangold and Matt Slauson get blown up on the line, uncreative play-calling by Tony Sparano, and truly terrible hands by our receivers. Sanchez played atrociously as well, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to defend him.
Personally, I think it's disgusting that Quinton Coples, after two tackles-for-loss, is still barely seeing the field. And why is Demario Davis not playing when the defense is getting slaughtered every time they run the ball to the outside? He's our one speedy linebacker, so naturally, let's keep him on the outside when it's their speed that's killing us.
Rex Ryan is clearly lost right now and doesn't know how to fix this team. I love Rex and all, but man. I don't know what else to say about this.
I am NOT saying to crash the season and hope for Geno Smith or someone, but the team may have already started doing that for us. Let's hope they can get their act together against the Houston Texans next week, or this already disappointing season is going to become truly Kotite-ian. And the truly funny thing is, we're still in the lead for the AFC East with two division wins.
Edit: Let me clarify what I meant about the fans at the game. We cannot control what the team does, as fans. The one thing we can control is the home field advantage. It's one thing to sit at a game and boo the team for being terrible. It's another thing to give the advantage up to the other team and let them cheer on their team as if they're still in Candlestick Park. I watch all of these games until the whistle blows, and I watch them again after, even when we get blown out. Excuse me for not showing sympathy to people who, unlike myself, have the privilege of seeing our favorite team play in person. Even if we go 2-14, I would do anything for that privilege. Anything.