Jets, Broncos Take Heat for Weak 0-3 Starts

A game eagerly anticipated when the NFL schedule was announced has been reduced to ridicule. The New York Jets and Denver Broncos have nobody but themselves to blame.

Oh, sure, both sides can rant and rave about retirements, defections and injuries. The fact remains, however, that the AFC championship game rematch involves two 0-3 teams fighting over a sliver of remaining hope for the season.

“It’s not too late,” Jets coach Bill Parcells said. “If you put a few wins together, get even by the halfway point, you can do something. I’ve seen both sides of this. What appears one way now can be very different in three weeks.”

What won’t be different in three weeks is the central NFL truth that underscores the Jets’ and Broncos’ situations: It’s tough to win without a talented quarterback.

The Jets entered the season with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, then lost Vinny Testaverde to a season-ending Achilles’ tendon injury in the opener. They already were without star receiver Wayne Chrebet, gone for another four weeks with a broken foot.

The Broncos, seeking an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title, have discovered how difficult life is without John Elway.

“It’s not easy to lose a guy like John and then come into a season and not have any problems,” Terrell Davis said.

Today’s game at Mile High Stadium does have implications. The loser almost assuredly can abandon any realistic playoff hopes. Five teams in NFL history have made the playoffs after beginning the season 0-3, but only one has qualified for the postseason after starting 0-4 (San Diego, 1992).

Both teams have had many unexpected breakdowns, with plenty of blame to spread around.

The Jets self-destructed in the final eight minutes last Sunday, allowing two touchdowns, committing a turnover, incurring four penalties and surrendering two sacks to blow a 17-13 lead.

The Broncos, who averaged 381 yards per game last season, managed only 173 against Tampa Bay and were 1-for-12 on third-down conversions. Davis, who rushed for 2,000 yards in 1998, has just 193. The defense allowed lumbering fullback Mike Alstott to run wild for 131 yards.

The spotlight, though, has been focused glaringly on quarterbacks Rick Mirer and Brian Griese.

Mirer, Testaverde’s replacement who has been mired in mediocrity since being selected second in the 1993 draft, ranks next-to-last in the 16-team AFC in passer rating. He’s completed just 49 percent of his passes with one touchdown and three interceptions.

But Mirer had a respectable performance last week, completing 17 of 31 passes for 227 yards with one interception and his first touchdown pass since Dec. 15, 1996, when he played for Seattle. Still, the Jets lost to Washington 27-20.

Griese, the 24-year-old heir apparent to Elway after Bubby Brister was demoted in the preseason, looked solid in his first outing, but has been tentative and erratic since. Unlike Elway, Griese hasn’t provided any fourth-quarter drama. His four fourth-quarter drives last Sunday, when all Denver needed was a field goal to tie Tampa Bay, netted a combined 19 yards in the 13-10 loss.

Even worse, opponents have mocked him.

“This isn’t meant to slam the guy,” Bucs defensive end Chidi Ahanotu said, “but we knew Griese couldn’t do it. He looked pretty bad most of the day, so there wasn’t any way he was suddenly going to light it up in the last two minutes.

“The fact is, there is only one John Elway, and he’s sitting at home doing commercials.”

Griese finished Sunday’s game with un-Elwaylike numbers: 14-of-28, 132 yards, one TD, one interception, two sacks.

“I think the team has had to adjust to losing John,” Griese said. “I think any team would, losing any quarterback.”

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has praised Griese’s poise and insisted he will remain the starter, even with Brister and veteran Chris Miller in the wings.

“Any time you lose, the quarterback is going to get a lot of the blame,” Shanahan said. “That’s the nature of the NFL. I know Brian puts a lot of blame on himself. He wants to play the perfect game.”

Parcells agreed Griese is talented but questioned how soon it would surface.

“He’s pretty solid in what I’ve seen and looks like he’s going to be a pretty good quarterback,” he said. “Now, is it all going to fall in line for him immediately? I don’t think you can expect that.”

In fact, Parcells sees a void at the position throughout most of the NFL, saying this is a down era for quarterbacks.

“We haven’t really had a class like that one that came out with John and Dan Marino” in 1983, he said.

“Right now, you see the kind of caretaker quarterbacks that came in last year, the Vinny Testaverdes and Randall Cunninghams, the older guys with experience that had some success,” he continued. “And then in the middle group of quarterbacks, I think it’s very limited as to high quality.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty on the part of a lot of teams about that position now.”

And no more uncertainty than in New York and Denver.