Jets left feeling ‘right there’ from closing gap with top teams after another frustrating loss

DETROIT — Aaron Glenn, with the angst from the latest Jets loss etched onto his face, stood at the postgame podium and held up his right hand with his index finger and thumb about an inch apart.

“We’re right here,” the Jets head coach said, using his fingers to illustrate how close his team is to winning games like that one it lost to the Lions, 31-24, Sunday at Ford Field. “Our guys know there’s a gap we have to close, and we’re fighting our asses off to close it — from a coaching perspective and a player perspective.’’

A year removed from 3-14 in Glenn’s first year as head coach, the Jets are 1-2.

They should be 2-1 and could be 3-0.

Should and could, of course, don’t count in the NFL standings.

The Jets are a week removed from leaking away a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in a desultory home loss to the Packers in overtime.

Sunday in Detroit, where Glenn used to coach defense for his close friend, mentor and current Lions head coach Dan Campbell, the margin was again agonizingly close.

And just like last week, a lot of Jets players did a lot of good things.

Quarterback Geno Smith was resilient and tough, passing 31-for-37 for 321 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Receiver Garrett Wilson made some fabulous catches, including a 23-yarder that tied the game at 24-24 with 4:06 remaining in the game, finishing with a game-high 10 receptions for 107 yards.

Rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq delivered a breakout performance, catching seven passes for 105 yards, including his first career TD reception, a 24-yard diving catch to give the Jets a 7-3 lead in the first quarter.

Tight end Jeremy Ruckert, thought of as more of a blocking tight end, made five clutch catches, including a 4-yard TD that cut the Lions lead to 24-16 with 11:17 remaining in the game.

The Jets defense, which was ranked No. 1 in the league in fewest yards allowed entering the game, did some good things, too, stopping the Lions on a crucial fourth-and-2 from around midfield to give the offense the ball back to tie the game.

But, like last week against Green Bay, in the most pressure-packed moments, the Jets failed to make the plays required while their opponent did.

After the Jets tied the game at 24-24, the defense allowed a 49-yard Jared Goff pass to Isaac TeSlaa on Detroit’s first play from scrimmage.

Three plays later, the Jets defense inexplicably left Lions star running back Jahmyr Gibbs (three TDs in the game) wide open in the right flat for an 11-yard TD, which ended up being the difference in the game, with 2:25 remaining.

Then the Jets offense, which had done so many good things in the game, moved the ball to the Detroit 28-yard line and then allowed a jailbreak blitz and sack of Smith that forced a lost fumble to seal the game with 42 seconds left.

It was Lions safety Chuck Clark — a former Jet, of course — who sacked Smith and forced the fumble, the first Jets turnover of the season.

On the play, it appeared that running back Braelon Allen was supposed to block Clark, who one play earlier had knocked Garrett Wilson out of the game with a crunching hit on a pass breakup.

“We feel like we’re good enough to take these games over,’’ Ruckert said. “We’re in the winning business, so fighting and competing like we did today is cool, but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough. We feel we could easily be 3-0 by now.’’

The takeaway on the Jets through three games?

They’re interesting. They’re fun to watch. And they’re a hell of a lot better than they were last season.

On this day, though, they weren’t quite good enough, and it left a lot of their players sick to their stomachs afterward.

“I feel like we should have won that game,’’ cornerback Brandon Stephens said.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” center Josh Myers said. “Those are moments where we got to execute. We’ve got to go win the game. We were right there.’’

Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said, “We all understand there are no moral victories, so we have to look internally, as players, as everyone. Everyone on this team has the character to look at themselves and ask, ‘How can I help close my own gap?’ We’re going to go close that gap.’’

When Glenn was asked how his team can close that gap, he said, “Keep working.’’

“We’re right here, and it’s this gap we have to close,’’ he said, holding that right hand up with his index finger and thumb. “Our guys know that. Our guys believe that if we keep competing and keep coaching and playing to close that gap, we’ll be fine.’’