Jets’ playoff hopes look all but over after disgraceful loss to Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. — You can scrap all the Jets playoff talk. It’s officially mock draft season for Gang Green.

The Cardinals embarrassed the Jets, 31-6, on Sunday at State Farm Stadium, dropping the Jets to 3-7 and erasing all of the happy talk of making a playoff push that surrounded the team after last week’s win over the Texans.

It was a Debacle in the Desert.

“We’re playing like trash,” wide receiver Garrett Wilson said.

The Jets showed that win over Houston was just a tease to suck Jets fans back into hoping and believing that this team would end the playoff drought that now seems destined to reach 14 consecutive seasons.

Yes, the Jets won’t be mathematically eliminated and you can still push and pull schedule permutations to make them a playoff team, but who would believe in this team after this performance?

For the second time this season, the Jets followed up an encouraging performance on a Thursday night with a complete dud the following Sunday.

In September it was a 10-9 loss to the Broncos after a win over the Patriots. Now, they fell flat on their faces in Arizona after the win over Houston.

“It’s been a lot of emotions this year, for sure,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who had another dismal performance, said. “I thought after a big win Thursday night, nice, long week, we were going to come out with a lot of energy and win the game. We just didn’t come out with great energy on either side of the ball. Offensively, you’re not going to beat anybody scoring six points.”

There was plenty of blame to spread around in this one. Should we start with the offense that was allergic to the end zone and averaged 3.8 yards per play?

Or would you rather talk about the overhyped, overconfident defense that missed a whopping 20 tackles and gave up touchdowns drives of 70, 70, 70 and 83 yards?

The Cardinals are now 6-4 and this was their fourth straight win. They are a respectable team that is in first place in the NFC West. But the Jets made them look like the 1972 Dolphins.

“It’s frustrating, obviously,” wide receiver Davante Adams said. “It’s not our standard of football. It’s not my standard of football. It’s frustrating. I don’t really know what to say. It was just a weird, weird day. We came out and did some good stuff but we just didn’t do enough to be able to compete with those boys today.”

Kyler Murray threw for one touchdown rushed for two more. He completed 22 of 24 passes for 266 yards and completed his final 17 passes. Murray has had more difficult games of “Call of Duty.”

The Jets worried about stopping the rushing attack led by James Conner all week, but Arizona threw all over the vaunted Jets secondary.

The Cardinals scored on their first five possessions, not punting until the fourth quarter.

The Jets gave the Cardinals life with missed tackle after missed tackle.

“We’ve got to work it,” interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said. “We’ve got to get better at it. I thought we made a huge emphasis of it this week. Obviously, not enough. We’ve got to continue to take the extra step. We’ve got to wrap. We’ve got to get population to the ball — the core foundation of this game from a defensive perspective.”

The Cardinals had 239 yards and 18 first downs in the first half. The Cardinals finished with 406 total yards in the game and 28 first downs.

The Jets, on the other hand, could barely move the ball and when they did, they faltered in the red zone. They had 85 yards and no touchdowns in the opening half.

Rodgers threw for just 40 yards in the half. Adams had zero catches on two targets in the first half. He finished with six catches on 13 targets.

Rodgers finished with 151 passing yards on 22 of 35 passing with no touchdowns. He averaged 4.3 yards per attempt, looking afraid to hold the ball long enough to throw it downfield.

Whatever the Jets offense thought they found in the second half against Houston did not make the trip west.

“31-6 is unacceptable especially when we go about things the right way,” Wilson said. “We have a team that can play with anybody but we just continue to not do it when it matters.”

It was clear the way this one was going to go from the start. The Cardinals mounted three straight 70-yard touchdown drives to start the game.

Conner and Murray had rushing touchdowns and then Murray hit rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. for a third score that put Arizona up 21-6, a lead that found insurmountable with how the Jets we playing.

The Jets reached the red zone on their first drive but settled for a Spencer Shrader field goal. Shrader kicked his second career field goal on the next series.

That would be the only scoring the Jets would have as they finished 0-for-3 on red zone trips.

Their final gasp came on the first series of the second half when they made it to the Arizona 3-yard line. Rodgers threw two incompletions toward Adams and then fumbled on fourth down after he was sacked.

The Cardinals drove 88 yards on 10 plays on the next series with Murray scoring a 12-yard touchdown to make it 31-6 and end any hope of a Jets comeback.

The Jets face the Colts at home next week before their bye week. At 3-7, a top-10 pick is more likely than a playoff push.

“We’re going to keep fighting,” Ulbrich said. “In all honesty, the playoffs should be the last thing on our mind right now. We’ve just got to play better football. We’ve got to get back to basics.”