LAS VEGAS — Zach Wilson was on the verge of quieting his critics. Then, he fueled them.
The Jets’ quarterback had the team in position to pull out a comeback win over the Raiders on Sunday night but an interception by Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane at the Las Vegas 15-yard line with 1:22 left sealed a 16-12 Jets loss.
The Jets failed to score a touchdown for the second straight game and their touchdown drought is now 11 quarters. Greg Zuerlein kicked four field goals.
The loss drops the Jets to 4-5.
You can’t pin this loss all on Wilson, though. The Jets committed eight penalties, seven on offense and every one felt like it negated a big play by the Jets.
It actually appeared that the Jets scored two touchdowns. Once, Wilson was ruled out of bounds just before scoring and then a Breece Hall touchdown a play later was nullified by a holding penalty on C.J. Uzomah.
“It literally feels like every good play we have is getting called back,” Wilson said. “It is so frustrating. You understand how important every single drive is. We need to be better as a team. We need to find a way.”
The Jets had five trips into Raiders territory and came away with only 12 points on Zuerlein’s field goals. The end zone may as well have a wall in front of it.
“We’re not finishing our drives the way we need to,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said.
It looked like Wilson would pull this one out after the Jets’ defense forced a fumble with just about four minutes left to play. Ashtyn Davis recovered the Josh Jacobs fumble at the Jets’ 24.
The Jets moved the ball down the field quickly. Wilson hit Allen Lazard for a 17-yard gain on the first play. Completions to Garrett Wilson, Hall and Uzomah moved it to the Raiders’ 40.
On third-and-4, Wilson found tight end Tyler Conklin for a 4-yard gain and a first down with a little more than three minutes left in the game. Conklin had another 8-yard gain on a pass that put the ball at the 28, setting up a third-and-2. Wilson threw a quick pass to Garrett Wilson, who had been dealing with injuries in the second half, for 6 yards and a first down.
On second-and-8 from the 20, Wilson looked for Lazard, but Spillane jumped in front of the ball and ended the Jets’ hopes. It was Wilson’s first interception in four games.
“I’ve got to be better,” Wilson said. “I tried to beat him with the ball. He made an unbelievable play. I’ve got to see that obviously. It hurts because we made some harder plays to get there. To throw an interception to lose the game sucks.”
Saleh made it clear that this loss was not on Wilson, who threw for 263 yards and ran for 54 more.
“To give a full assessment on Zach, I think it would be fair to ask for everyone around him to play a little bit better, especially with the penalties,” Saleh said.
The 5-5 Raiders completed the New York sweep after beating the Giants last week with new coach Antonio Pierce and new quarterback Aidan O’Connell.
The frustration was palpable in the Jets’ locker room.
“We have to figure it the [expletive] out,” Conklin said.
Garrett Wilson, who has endured two years of frustration, was emotional.
“I don’t know what y’all want me to say, man,” Garrett Wilson said. “I’m tired of this, man. I want to play better. The whole offense wants to play better. We’ve been saying what we’ve been trying to do. We come out every week trying to make it happen. It’s frustrating.”
The Jets moved the ball better in this game than they had, gaining 365 yards and converting seven third downs.
The Jets scored field goals on their first three drives and led 9-6 at halftime. The Jets’ defense did its usual, keeping the Las Vegas offense down for most of the night.
The Jets had five straight punts after those first three drives. The Raiders tied the game in the third quarter with a Daniel Carlson 40-yard field goal and then took the lead on a 7-yard touchdown pass from O’Connell to fellow rookie Michael Mayer, who leapt over Jordan Whitehead to give the Raiders a 16-9 lead.
A Zuerlein field goal early in the fourth quarter cut the lead to 16-12, but the Jets could not get closer.
The Jets now face the Bills and Dolphins with their playoff hopes flickering. Saleh said the Jets have to stop committing these killer penalties in order to get their offense going.
“We’ve got to keep trying to figure it out. You address it,” Saleh said. “They know. They know what the rules are. They’re just coming at the worst times, obviously.”
The Jets have now gone 36 consecutive offensive series without a touchdown, the longest streak in the NFL.
“It felt like we were stopping ourselves,” Zach Wilson said.
Uzomah, who committed two holding penalties, including one that wiped out a touchdown, said the Jets have to figure this out.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on. It’s wild,” Uzomah said. “We’ve got to look in the mirror. We’ve got to figure out what we’re doing. We’ve got to figure out how we can improve.”
