OAKLAND, Calif. _ Sometimes it's the little things that make or break a football team. For the Jets, it was a muffed punt, a helmet-to-helmet hit and poor technique on a tackle attempt that did them in on Sunday.
The Jets dropped to 0-2 after a 45-20 loss to the Raiders at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The Jets' defense struggled again, and has allowed 818 yards this season, including 370 on the ground. The Raiders' Michael Crabtree caught three TD passes from Derek Carr, who completed 23 of 28 for 230 yards, and Oakland rushed for 180. Josh McCown connected with Jermaine Kearse for two TDs.
It's the first time the Jets have been 0-2 since 2007, and with the Dolphins coming to MetLife Stadium next Sunday, 0-3 looms for this young team.
The youthfulness was apparent for the Jets, who despite being a 13-point underdog cut the Raiders' 14-0 lead to 14-10. Oakland went three-and-out late in the second quarter, and on the punt, the Jets' Kalif Raymond, in his second NFL season and sixth game, muffed the punt, allowing the ball to trickle off his fingertips with 1:50 left. The ball was recovered by the Raiders' Johnny Holton, and very quickly the momentum the Jets had gained was gone. It was the third punt Raymond has mishandled this season; he dropped two punts in the Week 1 loss at Buffalo.
The turnover led to a score, of course. Marshawn Lynch ran it in from the 2 on third down, his first touchdown since returning from his one-year retirement, and Oakland led 21-10 with 21 seconds left in the half. So the Jets went into halftime trying to figure out what happened to a game they thought they were in.
The Jets remained within striking range until two poor third-quarter plays by cornerbacks Juston Burris and Buster Skrine. The Jets opened the second half with a strong drive, ending with a 40-yard field goal from Chandler Catanzaro that cut the Raiders' lead to 21-13 with 7:14 left.
On the ensuing possession, the Raiders were faced with a second-and-10 from the their 32 when Derek Carr completed a short pass to DeAndre Washington. Skrine was penalized for unnecessary roughness for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Washington. If Skrine had made a tackle at the waist, it would have been a 1-yard gain. Instead, the penalty moved the ball from the Raiders' 32 to the 48.
Three plays later, speedy receiver Cordarrelle Patterson took an inside pitch and went 43 yards for a touchdown for a 28-13 lead. Patterson was almost stopped, but Burris, a second-year corner, took a bad angle to make the tackle, which allowed a medium gain to go for a long score.
After that, the Jets played catchup unsuccessfully and had to watch the Raiders' fans celebrate their home opener, which included Lynch dancing on the sideline as they chanted his name.
