With the Jets down six points late in the fourth quarter yesterday, Jerricho Cotchery couldn’t quite haul in a second-down pass from Mark Sanchez near the sideline. A completion would have given the Jets a first down — one they desperately needed.
“I was thinking about the sideline, but at the end of the day, I’m a professional football player,” Cotchery said. “So that catch needs to be made.
“And it wasn’t.”
The Jets had at least a half-dozen dropped passes in their pitiful 9-0 loss to the Packers. Cotchery was one of the worst offenders, with two drops. Santonio Holmes also dropped two, and Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson each dropped a pass.
“I don’t know what the stats say,” coach Rex Ryan said. “But [Sanchez] put some balls in there on the money, and we’ve got to catch them.”
One of Holmes’ drops was particularly killer. Three plays into the third quarter, the Jets faced a third-and-7 from the Green Bay 45. Sanchez fired one to Holmes at the Packers 35 — if Holmes makes the grab, with the daylight in front of him, it had a good chance to be a touchdown to give the Jets a 7-3 lead.
Nope. Holmes dropped it.
“I think [it was going to be a touchdown],” Sanchez said. “I just have to get the ball up — a foot, foot and a half — and it’s an easy catch for him and he’s gone. It’s a bad job by me.”
Holmes was not available to the media afterwards due to a personal emergency.
On the Jets’ last real drive of the game, down 6-0 with 3:21 to go, Cotchery could not hang on to a deep pass from Sanchez over the middle, dropping it at the Green Bay 45 when drilled by defensive back Charlie Peprah.
“I don’t ever want to play on Halloween again, I can tell you that much,” Cotchery said.
Cotchery also lost the ball in a battle with corner Tramon Williams, who took it away from him for a second-quarter interception.
“Both of us were fighting for the ball obviously, and I had control of the ball,” Cotchery said. “And once we hit the ground, I still had control of it, and after I hit the ground, I just relaxed a little bit and he got the ball. He ended up getting the ball. I’m thinking I’m down, but in that moment, you can’t relax and leave it in the refs’ hands.”