1:55AM EST November 23. 2012 - EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – "Hi, Woody," the questioner began.
"Yes," Woody Johnson, the New York Jets' owner said, turning around to see who was giving him a Thanksgiving greeting in the tunnel outside of his team's locker room following the New England Patriots' smashing his squad 49-19 Thursday night.
Johnson realized it was a reporter asking for his reaction. So he gave it.
Sort of.
"Grrrrr-mmmph-aarrggh!" he said and walked behind a screen, away from a gathering crowd of media.
That pretty much sums it up. All of it.
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It's the sound of the Jets' owner and also the fan base, folks who gave up a holiday at home to come to this "embarrassing" performance (the Jets' players words, and ours) at MetLife Stadium against a hated division rival that rattled off 35 straight points in the second quarter, including three touchdowns in 52 seconds, to turn a scoreless tie into a laugher.
"Grrrrr-mmmph-aarrggh!"
It's the sound of the linebackers and defensive backs not making the proper checks at the line of scrimmage and instead putting hobbled linebacker Bart Scott in coverage against running back Shane Vereen for one of the easiest 83-yard touchdowns of all time.
"Grrrrr-mmmph-aarrggh!"
It's the sound of quarterback Mark Sanchez running face-first into guard Brandon Moore's posterior after fullback Lex Hilliard was nowhere to be found to take the handoff. Instead, the ball popped loose as a sliding Sanchez unintentionally provided a fitting image for the Jets' 4-7 start to this season.
"Grrrrr-mmmph-aarrggh!"
It's the sound of Johnson's prized seat-seller Tim Tebow breathing through the pain of two fractured ribs suffered in Week 10 and apparently aggravated this past Sunday against the St. Louis Rams, forcing head coach Rex Ryan to remove Tebow from the game plan on this nationally-televised debacle.
"Grrrrr-mmmph-aarrggh!"
The sound of general Mike Tannenbaum's theory the Jets are a good team that's been only a few plays here and there from winning a few plays blowing up for the nation to see.
"Grrrrr-mmmph-aarrggh!"
The sound of tight end Dustin Keller tweeting about the fans who cheered when Sanchez was down and seemed injured for a few moments. They were surely the same fans saying "Te-bow" in unison.
"U R ridiculous + aren't real fans," Keller wrote.
The sound of noted super-fan Fireman Ed leaving the stadium at halftime, setting up an awkward moment in the second half when the post-touchdown siren that usually signals the start of his "J-E-T-S" chant went off with an imposter unsuccessfully trying to lead the cheer.
"Grrrrr-mmmph-aarrggh!"
The sound of Ryan on the sideline after any one of the Patriots' seven touchdowns – SEVEN, even without Rob Gronkowski, who is out with a broken arm.
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Replay
Actually, Ryan said something else, which the NBC cameras caught on a close-up. This one, unlike Johnson's muttering dismissal, is easy to spell. Just not on a family website.
"Un-(bleeping)-believable."
No, this is actually pretty believable. There were doubts about this team coming into the season, doubts about the number of playmakers on the roster, doubts about whether Tebow's presence would be detrimental to Sanchez, doubts about the offensive line, about whether the Jets' big-talking ways over the past few seasons would catch up with them, about the chemistry in the locker room and about the depth should key players like cornerback Darrelle Revis and wide receiver Santonio Holmes go down with injuries.
It's entirely believable the Jets look nothing like the high-scoring Patriots (8-3), who keep finding players to make plays and putting them in position to make them.
The Patriots have scored 190 points in their last four games. The Jets have been outscored by 72 points in their last three losses.
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"We have some games coming up where we really have to eliminate some of this self-inflicted stuff," said Sanchez, who was picked off in the first quarter at the Pats' 15-yard line by safety Steve Gregory, which technically wasn't Sanchez's fourth interception in the red zone this season because the play started at the 23 but was just as costly. "You eliminate some of those turnovers and we're right in the game."
That was Tannenbaum's public pitch and that's officially out the window. Reading between the lines there, Tannenbaum was surely trying to make the case he'd put together a competitive team, that the mistakes being made on the field were out of his control to a degree and that he deserves to keep his job.
But these mistakes aren't going away. And with the way Shonn Greene's fumble on a backhanded slap by Pats linebacker Brandon Spikes led right into Vereen's touchdown on the next play, and the way Sanchez's face plant into Moore's hind quarters was followed by a fumble by Joe McKnight on the ensuing kickoff that landed right in the hands of Julian Edelman for another easy touchdown, it's becoming clear the mental makeup of this team is subpar.
We'd love to let you know what Johnson thinks of this, whether he believes some drastic changes are needed and why he wasn't in his seat for the entire second half and instead disappeared into the shadows of his luxury box. But he's not talking. Not right now anyway.
"Grrrrr-mmmph-aarrggh!"
Then again, maybe that grunt said it all.
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2012/11/22/patriots-jets-thanksgiving-beatdown/1721917/