Jets make Cowboys look like world-beaters and drop to 0-5

The Jets looked unprepared and overmatched Sunday as they continued to play befuddling football.

They were embarrassed by the Dallas Cowboys, 37-22, at MetLife Stadium. Adding to the insult of this game, loud chants of “Let’s Go Cowboys!” filled the stadium in the fourth quarter.

The Jets — the only winless team in the NFL — dropped to 0-5, making Aaron Glenn the first coach in franchise history to lose his first five games.

“It’s hard to process,” cornerback Sauce Gardner said. “It’s hard for me to sleep trying to see why are we not winning.”

The whys have been pretty consistent for the Jets. They continue to have issues with ball security — they fumbled once — and they’re the only team in the NFL with no takeaways. And then there are the penalties. They had 10 accepted for 61 yards on Sunday.

The Jets already had lost some ugly games, but this one was the most perplexing.

The Cowboys were last in total defense coming into this game and had allowed the fifth-most points (28.5) per game. The Jets didn’t score a touchdown until 7:56 remained in the game. They trailed 30-6 at the time.

Dallas had only four sacks all season, but Justin Fields was sacked five times.

Glenn said he was “highly disappointed” by the Jets’ performance and added that he takes it upon himself to get his players to handle adverse situations better.

“In this game, the mentally tough are the ones that survive,” he said. “So I got to do a better job getting our guys mentally tough when situations happen like that.”

Glenn was speaking specifically about a fumble by Breece Hall at the Dallas 13 late in the first half when the Jets trailed by only 10-3. Said Glenn, “Things went downhill after that.”

They did. The Cowboys scored two touchdowns in 42 seconds and led 23-3 at the half, sending the Jets into the locker room with a familiar feeling of despair.

In Monday night’s loss, Braelon Allen fumbled at the Dolphins’ 1, and Miami converted it into a touchdown. Dallas turned Hall’s fumble into a 91-yard touchdown drive.

“The only reason it was as deflating as it was is because the exact same thing happened last week,” Fields said. “So it was just, like, a ‘damn!’ moment.”

Javonte Williams capped the drive for Dallas with a 5-yard run with 57 seconds to go. After the Jets went three-and-out, Williams peeled off a 66-yard run on first down. The Cowboys scored one play later on a 1-yard pass from Dak Prescott to tight end Jake Ferguson.

“Definitely sucked some of the life out of us,” Garrett Wilson said.

Hall was having a good game when that happened and played well overall aside from the fumble. He rushed for 113 yards on 14 carries and caught four passes for 42 yards, but he was kicking himself for the fumble.

“As one of the best players on offense, you can’t put us in that situation,” he said. “Unacceptable.”

Fields completed 32 of 46 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns. Rookie Mason Taylor had nine receptions for 67 yards. Wilson had six grabs for 71 yards and a touchdown.

The defense continues to be a major letdown. The Jets gave up four plays of at least 40 yards and sacked Prescott only once even though he was playing behind a line that featured three backups.

Prescott was 18-for-29 for 237 yards and four touchdowns. Williams ran 16 times for 135 yards and had rushing and receiving touchdowns. Ferguson caught two touchdown passes and unheralded receiver Ryan Flournoy had six catches for 114 yards.

“I’m going to embrace this challenge just like any other challenge,” Glenn said. “We’re going to figure out how to get out of this hole. Me being the head coach, listen, we’re 0-and-5. OK, I got it. But we’re going to figure this thing out and get out of this hole.”

The Jets moved the football on Dallas but had little to show for it.

They drove deep into Dallas territory on the game’s opening possession and had a second-and-goal at the 3 after a Cowboys penalty, but Hall was blown up for a 4-yard loss by former Jet Solomon Thomas. On third down, Fields’ pass bounced off a lineman. The Jets had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Nick Folk.

Down by 20 in the third quarter, the Jets went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Cowboys’ 47. It looked as if Fields was running a bootleg, but Dallas had it covered, and Fields threw a jump pass meant for Andrew Beck that went incomplete.

Dallas took over on downs and on the second play, Prescott hit George Pickens with a 43-yard touchdown pass with Gardner in coverage.

The Jets failed to convert another fourth-and-1 from the Dallas 44 as Fields was stuffed for no gain. The game already had been decided, but the Jets’ shortcomings have been ongoing.

“When we get down to the red zone, we need seven,” Wilson said.

“When we’re on the field, we need points. That’s just the world we’re in right now, and we’re not doing it. So we’re putting ourselves in a deep hole and not digging ourselves out.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.