NASHVILLE — The Jets face a losing team for the third straight week, hoping for their third straight win.
Gang Green has kept its slim playoff hopes alive by beating the Cardinals and Jaguars the last two weeks. Tonight, they face the Titans in what amounts to an elimination game for the Jets (6-7). If they lose, they are out of the playoffs.
The Titans (4-9) have lost three straight games and are in a tailspin. The Jets, though, are not looking at their record.
“I don’t think at this point we can overlook anybody, regardless of their record,” safety Yeremiah Bell said.
No they can not. The Jets have taken care of business the last two weeks against some dismal offenses. They held the Cardinals and Jaguars to a combined 2-for-31 on third downs.
Tennessee enters the game with the 23rd ranked offense in the NFL. The Titans have only one starter on the offensive line who began the season as a starter, as injuries have hit that group hard.
The Jets won’t feel any pity. They know that to make the playoffs they have to keep winning. The Bengals’ victory Thursday gave the Jets no wiggle room. They need a win or they are mathematically eliminated from the postseason.
The Jets have been playing with that mentality anyway since their loss to the Patriots on Thanksgiving night.
The Jets were ultra-conservative on offense last week as they tried to keep quarterback Mark Sanchez from turning the ball over. Expect more of the same tonight against a Titans defense that was ranked 27th in the league before yesterday.
Jets front seven vs. Titans RB Chris Johnson. The Jets have struggled against the run this season, giving up 136.5 yards per game on the ground, 29th in the NFL. Now, here comes Johnson, who is capable of scoring from anywhere. He has 1,037 yards this year despite a slow start.
The problem for Johnson, who hasn’t topped 100 yards in a game the last three weeks, is he is playing with a depleted offensive line.
He’s baaaack. All indications are wide receiver Braylon Edwards will play tonight despite his injured hamstring. How much and how well seem to be the bigger questions.
Edwards has done very little in practice this week, so it’s hard to imagine him having a big role. Then again, with the Jets, you never know.
The Jets have feasted on several young quarterbacks this year. Now, they get Jake Locker, the second-year quarterback from Washington.
Locker has had seven interceptions and three touchdowns during Tennessee’s three-game losing streak. But Locker is capable of running (9.9 yards per scramble) and he throws a nice deep ball. The Jets have to be careful not to be overly aggressive against him.
The latest chapter of the Tim Tebow saga has involved Ryan’s back-and-forth act on whether Tebow can go back to his old role of running some Wildcat and zone-read option plays. First, Ryan said he couldn’t. Then, he said he could.
Tebow’s ribs seem healed. He is practicing fully. It may just be a question of whether the Jets coaches want to use Tebow in that role anymore and they just don’t want to admit that publicly.
Tonight will be telling. If Tebow watches the entire game from the sideline again, it will appear Tebow’s time with the Jets is over before it ever really began.
Rookie wide receiver Kendall Wright is having a good year for the Titans. His 59 receptions are tops in the NFL among rookie receivers. The 20th overall pick in the draft out of Baylor, Wright is someone the Jets know they have to be aware of.