In what was arguably the angriest press conference in his tenure with the Jets, head coach Rex Ryan pointed towards a team effort that wasn’t sharp enough in the Jets’ 34-0 loss to San Francisco on Sunday.
It was the Jets’ worst loss since Week 11 of the 2010 season, a 45-3 drubbing on Monday Night Football at New England.
At least in that game they managed a field goal.
“I apologize for my language because I was going to say we got our butt kicked, but we got our ass kicked. There’s no two ways, ins or outs about it,” Ryan said. “It should [have been] 7-3 at halftime. [We] turn[ed] the ball over four times. Here’s the recipe for getting your ass kicked: 2-for-13 on third downs — that’s 15 percent. Four turnovers [and] a blocked punt when they rushed one guy, and giving up 245 yards rushing? How’s that for a recipe? It’s unacceptable.”
It was the third straight underwhelming game for the offense, made worse when Santonio Holmes went down with a leg injury in the fourth quarter and did not return. With Holmes down for what could be an extended period of time, the Jets are without their only true playmaker.
Several times in his press conference, it seemed as if Ryan was gritting his teeth and at least once, he had to pause to collect his thoughts.
“Pretty angry, I’m disappointed,” Ryan said. “I thought our fans deserved a heck of a lot more than this. We had a packed stadium and played like — we played terrible.”
Perhaps “terrible” wasn’t Ryan’s first choice to describe the Jets performance, but it certainly sums up the effort. In his 52 regular season games with the Jets, only that New England game was as bad of a loss as Sunday’s performance against the 49ers.
“I can’t remember getting beat the way we got beat,” Ryan said. “I don’t think that’s ever happened.”
Jets notes
» There was no update on Holmes from Ryan, who said he doesn’t know the status of his star wide receiver. The Jets called it a foot injury during the game.
» Fullback John Conner left the game with a hamstring injury. He told Metro that it was likely the result of over-compensation for his right knee injury. He missed last week’s overtime win in Miami with the knee injury.
» Tight end Dedrick Epps will have a MRI tomorrow after suffering a lower-body injury while making a catch in the second quarter on a Tim Tebow pass. Epps went down after the catch and fumbled the ball. He said he didn’t think the injury was too bad.
With his first pass of the season to Epps being a completion, Tebow now has a quarterback rating of 104.2.
» A lone bright spot for the Jets was Joe McKnight, who did a good job in his first game transitioning from running back to cornerback. In addition, McKnight averaged 36.5 yards on his two kickoff returns.
Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.
