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Back-to-earth Jets head west to face 49ers

Dec 2, 2008 - 6:16 PM NY JETS (8-4) AT SAN FRANCISCO (4-8), 4:05 pm EST

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The New York Jets learned a lesson - in the NFL, it is never wise to look too far ahead.

Slapped back to reality following their 34-17 loss to the Denver Broncos, the Jets head west to face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

The Jets were flying high with a five-game winning streak - including back-to-back victories over New England and then-unbeaten Tennessee - and listening to talk from media and fans alike about how they were going to run the table.

The Broncos showed, however, that there are no guarantees in the NFL, riddling New York for nearly 500 yards.

"Here we are back at this point again," New York wide receiver Laveranues Coles said. "It's not like our season is over because of one game, but I think it gets us to realize that we can be smacked on the butt ourselves.

"At this point we need to wake up, get back to the drawing board, figure out what we did wrong and try to correct this week coming up."

The defeat was not as damaging as it could have been since New England also lost at home to Pittsburgh, enabling New York to maintain its one-game lead in the AFC East.

However, the loss hurt New York's chances of gaining a first-round bye in the playoffs as they dropped a game behind AFC North leader Pittsburgh (9-3).

Now, the Jets make their third trip of the season to the West Coast hoping not to leave their heart in San Francisco.

Their two previous trips to California turned into disasters - a 48-29 loss at San Diego in Week Three and an embarrassing 16-13 overtime defeat at Oakland in Week Seven.

The Jets responded to the Raiders loss by reeling off five straight victories. They will be looking for a similar response this time.

"The same things that hurt us in the Oakland game hurt us (against the Broncos) - tackling, penalties, turnovers, those little intangible things that lose a game," New York linebacker David Bowens said.

The 49ers (4-8) are playing the second of three games against AFC East opponents. They are coming off a 10-3 win at Buffalo and will visit Miami next week.

While San Francisco is likely out of playoff contention - even in the weak NFC West - it has won two of its last three under interim coach Mike Singletary.

The 49ers, however, did get some help last week from the Bills, who had a 350-195 edge in total yards but missed two field goals and turned the ball on downs in San Francisco territory.

San Francisco's defense figures to get more of the rest from the Jets, who still ranked second in the NFL in scoring (28.3 ppg) even after last week's slip.

New York running back Thomas Jones went over the 1,000-yard for the fourth straight season with a 138-yard effort against the Broncos.