The Jets’ season appears to be all but over after their ignominious loss to the Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. – You can give up all the talk about the Jets making the playoffs. It’s officially mock draft season for Gang Green.

The Cardinals embarrassed the Jets 31-6 on Sunday at State Farm Stadium, dropping the Jets to 3-7 and erasing any happy talk that surrounded the team after last week’s win over the Texans.

It was a debacle in the desert.

The Jets showed that the win over Houston was just a joke to get Jets fans back to the hope and belief that this team would end the playoff drought that now appears to be reaching 14 straight seasons.

Yes, the Jets aren’t mathematically eliminated and you can still move and pull schedule combinations to make them a playoff team, but who would do that after this performance?

Should we start with the offense that was allergic to the end zone?

Or would you rather talk about the over-the-top, overconfident defense that failed to tackle touchdowns of 70, 70, 70 and 83 yards and gave up?

The Cardinals are now 6-4 and this was their fourth straight win. They are a respectable team that sits in first place in the NFC West. But the Jets made them look like the 1972 Dolphins.

Kyler Murray rushed for two touchdowns while throwing for 266 yards and a touchdown. The Jets worried all week about stopping the rushing attack led by James Conner, but Arizona overwhelmed the Jets’ vaunted secondary. The Cardinals scored on their first five possessions and didn’t punt until the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals had 239 yards and 18 first downs in the first half. The Cardinals finished the game with 406 total yards and 28 first downs.

The Jets, on the other hand, could barely move the ball and when they did, they stalled in the red zone. They had 85 yards and no touchdowns in the first half.

Aaron Rodgers threw for just 40 yards in the half. Davante Adams had zero catches on two targets.

Rodgers finished the game with 151 yards on 22 of 35 passes with no touchdowns. Whatever the Jets’ offense thought it could find in the second half against Houston, it didn’t make it west.

It was clear from the start which direction things would go. The Cardinals moved the ball easily on the first series. It looked like the Cardinals had scored a 45-yard touchdown on a short pass from Murray to Conner, who then ran back down the sideline and evaded a tackle by Jets safety Jalen Mills.

Initially it was scored as a 45-yard touchdown, but replay showed Conner down just short of the goal line. The overturned play only delayed the touchdown by a few minutes. Conner got it two plays later, giving the Cardinals a 7-0 lead.

The Jets’ offense responded with an 11-play drive but could not reach the end zone. They were stopped at the Cardinals’ 7-yard line and new kicker Spencer Shrader kicked a 25-yard field goal, the first of his career.

The ugly first half for the Jets defense continued as Arizona marched 70 yards in nine plays on the second series. They reached the 1-yard line with the help of a DJ Reed pass interference penalty in the end zone. On third-and-goal from the 1, Murray faked the handoff and ran around the left end for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead.

Shrader made his second field goal of the day, a 45-yarder, early in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 14-6.

The Jets defense seemed to have no answers for the Cardinals. Murray connected with Marvin Harrison Jr. for a 9-yard touchdown to take a 21-3 lead with 5:44 left in the first half. This came after two completions in the third period against Trey McBride on the drive.

On the first pass, Sauce Gardner failed to tackle McBride, allowing him to gain 15 more yards and first down. Then Murray hit McBride for a 13-yard gain on third-and-10 that moved the ball to the Jets’ 9. This came after Jets linebacker Quincy Williams completely drilled Murray as an unblocked blitzer and Murray ripped off the helmet. Somehow the hit didn’t faze him.

The Cardinals added a field goal just before halftime to take a 24-6 lead at halftime. Chad Ryland made the 37-yarder.

Last week against the Texans, the Jets trailed at halftime, then found some magic at halftime and scored three touchdowns in the second half to win the game.

It looked like the Jets had found the same magic at halftime until it disappeared. The Jets opened the second half with the ball and got help from the Cardinals when Garrett Williams was flagged for pass interference on third down, negating an interception and giving the Jets a first down at midfield. The Jets brought the ball to the Arizona 3.

Rodgers threw two incompletions on passes intended for Adams and then fumbled on fourth-and-goal when he was sacked by Xavier Thomas. The fumble was recovered by Cardinals linebacker Kyzir White.

The Cardinals did what they had done all day after getting the ball back and embarrassed the Jets’ defense. Murray took the Cardinals 88 yards on 10 plays, including a ridiculous pass to a wide-open McBride for a first down. Murray capped it off by running through the Jets’ defense for a 12-yard touchdown, the exclamation point on a miserable Jets performance.

The Jets now return home to take on the Colts before their bye week. They could win this game, but this time they won’t fool anyone. Bring the mock drafts with you.