Titans 14 Jets 10: Playoff Hopes Crash

The Titans eliminated the Jets from Playoff contention tonight by a score of 14-10 in Nashville. The Jets fell to 6-8. In addition to extending the long championship drought the Jets have had, it also guarantees a second consecutive non-winning year for Gang Green. It feels like if you've read one recap with this team, you've read them all this year, but join me below to relive the horror.

The Bad:

Mark Sanchez: I feel like a broken record. The same things keep happening. This was a game where the stats truly do tell the story. Sanchez hit 46% of his passes. He averaged 4.6 yards per pass. That's less than the Jets gained running the ball. He had 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions. All 4 picks were on him. He threw late on the first, third, and fourth. The third was thrown into double coverage. The fourth was thrown off his back foot into triple coverage. The second he overthrew an open receiver. His other throws were mostly off target. He made bad adjustments at the line. And here's the clincher. After the Titans tried to give the Jets the game away by shanking a punt in the last minute, Sanchez booted the snap on the first play. Rex Ryan never should have gone back to Sanchez in a million years after the Arizona game. There was no reason to do it. Don't tell me he gives the team the best chance to win. Like many other games this year, Sanchez gave the Jets zero chance to win this game. Do Tim Tebow and Greg McElroy really give the Jets less than a zero chance to win?

Tony Sparano: As has been the case most of the year, nothing he did made sense. Last week's game was won by completely taking the ball out of the quarterback's hands. The Titans do not have a good run defense. The quarterback couldn't throw it in the ocean. The run game is picking up 5 yards a run. The Jets had their quarterbacks drop back to throw 33 times and ran it 30 times. Why go away from the formula that worked. Why not run it coming out of the two minute warning in the fourth quarter? How many substitution problems does this team have? Why put Tim Tebow in to break Sanchez's rhythm when he's actually hitting a few passes? I have no idea why Sparano was ever hired. This organization deserves scorn if he returns for a second season.

Bart Scott: Once again, Bart Scott is at the center of a monumental disaster. He was in the wrong gap for Chris Johnson's touchdown run. The last time Bart did something so catastrophic, Rex Ryan resolved to play Bart more. Scott has shot his mouth off constantly this year. He's picked on the media. He actually had the nerve to pick on fans. He said fans who jeered the team were among the last picked at dodgeball. If the league had a draft today and every player was available, Bart would be one of the last picked at football. This team has put its fans through enough this year. Scott is gone anyway after this season. His play is in rapid decline. His antics jumped the shark two years ago. His replacement is already on the roster. Give fans an early Christmas gift, and cut him already. I CAN'T WAIT until he's off this team.

David Harris: Harris also got caught up in the wrong gap on the Johnson touchdown. Since he doesn't go after the fans and actually at least was trying to make a play instead of standing around watching unlike his inside linebacker counterpart, I'll leave it at that.

Nick Mangold: As great as Mangold is, he really had a bad game tonight. He missed a block on a screen early. He blew another assignment that led to Sanchez getting drilled. He didn't snap a ball when Sanchez called for it that forced the Jets to blow a timeout, and even though the last snap should have been handled, it was low. Mangold has blood on his hands.

Offensive Line: It was a sloppy, penalty-filled performance by the men up front. And as bad as Sanchez was, they let him get hit an awful lot.

Kyle Wilson: The Titans kept beating him on the game-winning touchdown drive.

Jeff Cumberland: Sure, he had the touchdown, but he also couldn't come up with the touchdown on the first drive that cost the Jets 4 points in a 4 point loss. He also cut a route short of the sticks on a third down that ended a drive and got away with a hold in a key spot.

Konrad Reuland: He was in penalty trouble.

Rex Ryan: Why would you dress six wide receivers and not Greg McElroy? Why? It's going to be interesting to see whether Rex has lost the team by standing by the wrong quarterback as this thing went down in flames.

The Good:

Muhammad Wilkerson: The autumn/winter of Mo continues. Wilkerson continued to be impossible to block. He finished with 5 tackles and was disruptive on pretty much every play. He also blocked an early field goal.

Quinton Coples: Coples had a sack and added a hit on Jake Locker.

Shonn Greene: I have no idea where this guy who runs through arm tackles and has adequate burst was before the last three weeks. He only needed 13 carries to get 68 yards.

Bilal Powell: How Powell only got 8 touches in a game where the Jets were having a lot of problems with the forward pass is puzzling. He looked very elusive when he was in there, netting 28 yards on 6 carries and 15 yards on 2 receptions, including an incredible 9 yard grab where he had no blockers and made multiple Titans miss.

Mike Devito: Devito was dominating up front. He was disruptive, and he filled up the stat sheet with 8 tackles.

Garrett McIntyre: McIntyre held the point of attack when in there and recorded a sack and another tackle of the quarterback for no gain.

Antonio Cromartie: Once again, the other team gets little through the air against Cromartie.

Robert Malone: Malone stuck three punts inside the 20, including a great one that pinned the Titans back.

Other Thought:

• Since Vladimir Ducasse blew the block that led to the roughing the passer penalty in the fourth quarter, I guess he could be in The Good, right?

So the Jets are left to play out the string. There might be a quarterback change, but it will be too little, too late. Sadly, this would have been a Playoff team with average play at the position. Tonight's game would have been a rout. The Jets didn't get that from Mark Sanchez. They haven't gotten it all year, and that is the biggest reason they will be watching the postseason on television.