BALTIMORE – Scattered amongst the equipment bags, scraps of athletic tape and other accoutrements that litter the visitors’ locker room after an NFL game was a distinct air of conflict coming from the Jets following their roller coaster 20-13 loss to the Ravens yesterday at M&T Bank Stadium.
There were the usual hushed tones that come from players after a loss, particularly one like yesterday’s, when the Jets had a litany of chances late in the game to send it into overtime and take their chances from there but failed to seize the moment.
Nevertheless, there, too, were words of optimism emanating from the room.
The Jets lost a game for sure, a loss that leaves them in a precarious early hole at 0-2.
But they may well have truly found their quarterback of the future in Kellen Clemens. Clemens started in place of the injured Chad Pennington and, after a dismal first half that included more hits to his body than a 12-round Tyson fight, engineered a spirited late rally that fell tantalizingly short.
“I thought he showed great poise,” Eric Mangini said of Clemens (19-of-37, 260 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs). “This is a guy making his first start against an outstanding defense that gives multiple looks and pressure. He took their best shot and kept coming, and I was pleased with that.”
There, too, were way too many negatives. Beginning with two dropped potential game-tying TD passes in the final moments by usually reliable wide receiver Justin McCareins, the second of which ended the Jets chances when a deflected ball off of McCareins’ hands landed in Ray Lewis lap with 1:04 remaining.
Moments earlier, a wide-open McCareins dropped a sure 31-yard Clemens TD pass at the five-yard line with no one in front of him with about 1:40 remaining.
“I’ve got to make that play,” McCareins said. “I made an adjustment on that route and I got open and I just couldn’t get both hands on it. That ball was on me.”
McCareins said he should have caught the zipped Clemens pass that deflected off his hands and into Lewis’ paws.
“No doubt, no doubt,” McCareins said. “Those are plays I know I can make and I have made. I just didn’t get it done when it counted.”
Laveranues Coles also had a chance during that frenetic rally, failing to haul in a low Clemens pass in the end zone on the play after McCareins’ first drop.
“I’ve got to come up with that,” Coles said. “Some how some way Laveranues has to come up with that play. That’s what they have me here for. I’m disappointed with myself.”
As disappointed as the players and coaches were, the Clemens silver lining kept coming up.
“Everyone knows he’s got talent,” Cotchery, who caught seven passes for a career-high 165 yards, said. “Today I think what a lot of people saw was his toughness. The Ravens were bringing a lot of heat and he stood in there and made some tough throws.”
Jets’ TE Chris Baker, who caught a TD pass during the late rally to cut what was a 20-3 fourth-quarter deficit to 20-13 with 3:12 remaining, said, “Quarterbacks get hit, but he was getting blasted. For him to hang in there and not start to shy away and keep throwing the ball the way he did . . . that was phenomenal.”
But it didn’t matter in the end. The Ravens owned a 48-1 record when they had a 14-point lead into the second half.
Too many mistakes prevented the Jets from making that record 48-2.