With blame to go around, will anything fix the Jets' broken offense?

LAS VEGAS — The tension was there the moment you walked through the visiting locker room doors in the bowels of Allegiant Stadium. A feeling of despondent exasperation, debilitating frustration that these same questions were being asked again, because the same issues still plague this team.

The Jets unleashed their dominant defense against the Raiders on Sunday night, but their offense again failed to score. A lucky bounce never went New York’s way, as has been the case in the team’s four wins, and so they added a fifth loss, 16-12.

So why is this still happening? Why haven’t the Jets fixed this offense yet?

“I’m tired of this,” said an emotionally distraught Garrett Wilson, while seemingly fighting back tears.

Indeed.

But there’s little reason to believe this will change anytime soon.

The Jets shouldn’t have lost this game. You can write off the one a week ago because of Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack and Keenan Allen and Justin Herbert. But this one? No. This is as bad as they come. The Raiders are led by an interim head coach with zero head coaching experience, and they’re being quarterbacked by Aidan O'Connell, a rookie selected in the fourth round.

They have playmakers like Maxx Crosby, Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams, sure, but this should have been the most straightforward business trip on the Jets schedule. Show up, get the win, go home a game over .500.

It didn’t happen.

“We’re not playing complementary football,” cornerback Sauce Gardner said.

Robert Saleh likes to say the Jets have a “championship” defense. It’s hard to disagree. The Raiders mustered just six points in the first half. They had just nine through three quarters. The defense had one gaffe when Jacobs broke free on a long 40-yard run in the fourth, which set up rookie tight end Michael Mayer’s impressive grab in the corner of the end zone.

That was it, though. Truly. It was. The group stood on its head. Even late in the fourth quarter when the exhausted defense was starting to fracture, Ashtyn Davis recovered a Jacobs fumble to give the ball back to the offense. When Zach Wilson and Co. failed on that drive, the defense again gave them the ball back for one last shot.

That effort should have been enough. It wasn’t because the Jets offense did not score a touchdown — a drought now lasting 11 quarters. Their quarterback hasn’t scored a touchdown in 21.

“We have to figure it the f--k out,” tight end Tyler Conklin said. “We’re letting the defense down. We’re letting the team down.”

It would be easy to pinpoint one reason the Jets routinely fail on offense. There isn’t one. Sometimes it’s the offensive line. Other times it’s receivers dropping passes or running wrong routes. Often it’s Wilson, but you can’t even put all the blame on him because those around him let him down just as much.

Against the Raiders, it was none of that. The Jets lost a game where they moved the ball quite well. Wilson played fine — completing 23 of 39 passes for 263 yards, adding another 54 on the ground — before throwing an interception deep inside Raiders territory to end the Jets’ best chance of scoring. That likely coincided with the line’s ability to hold up in protection; the Raiders had just two sacks and none from Crosby, their all-world edge rusher.

The Jets picked up 14 first downs, 365 yards and went 7-of-16 (44 percent) on third downs.

No, this time it was the penalties and Wilson’s ill-advised interception that finally cost the Jets. Referees flagged New York eight times for 83 yards. Over their last five games, referees have flagged the Jets 50 times for 383 yards.

"Self-inflicted wounds,” Saleh said. “We've got to figure out how to stop shooting ourselves in the foot when we get those opportunities."

Bad teams find ways to lose. The Jets are teetering on that now offensively. Saleh insists major changes are not coming (quarterback change, new play-caller), which makes you wonder why anyone should believe anything will be different.

It’s Week 10. The Jets have played nine games. If it hasn’t happened now — there’s no reason to believe it will without a major shift. Garrett Wilson suggested a players-only meeting could be coming.

"All of it is on the table,” he said. “We're trying to figure it out. I can see something like that going down soon, because it has to.

“I'm going to take it upon myself. We've got some guys in this locker room that know how to lead and we'll see what it's like traveling back to New York, what we talk about. We have to do something."

Saleh made headlines when, after the Jets stunningly beat the Eagles, he acknowledged how his defense had “embarrassed” the elite passers on their schedule. It was aggressive, but true. That’s how good this Jets defense is — they make the extraordinary look ordinary on a daily basis.

But they are not the 1985 Bears. They are not the 2000 Ravens. This defense is good enough to be the focal point of a team, they’re good enough to bring another Lombardi Trophy to Florham Park, but they can’t make up for the deficiencies displayed weekly by their own offense.

The Jets kicked Mike LaFleur to the curb last year because they believed him to be the problem. Under Nathaniel Hackett, they’re averaging less yards per game (283 to 318) and points (17.4 to 14.2).

Saleh brushed aside any concerns with the offense early in the season. It’s not early anymore. It’s getting late quick.

And you wonder who will pay the price for that this time around.