The Jets’ fantasy football roster is absolutely dead

PITTSBURGH – Momentum is such a precious thing in sports.

It must be handled with extreme caution because it is so elusive.

The Jets had the edge late in the first half against the Steelers on Sunday night. They were in control of the game. The Steelers were on the ropes.

The Jets were able to improve on their season, which had been unbalanced in the first six games and faltered at 2-4 to start the evening.

They were able to beat the Steelers on the road and then go to New England the next Sunday and take care of the weak Patriots and their record would be 4-4, back to .500. And then they would be on the “run” they talked about.

The Jets had the momentum and then they got careless with it.

Their most important and high-profile player, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, was the culprit in the abandonment.

And the end result was a disgusting, tasteless and potentially destructive 37-15 defeat at Acrisure Stadium.

That left the Jets and their fantasy football squad at 2-5 and in a four-game losing spiral.

Team owner Woody Johnson also seemed to no longer have the opportunity to call a friend.

Johnson has been known to tout the Jets’ current roster as the best collection of players he has had on his team in his 24 years as team owner.

He spent the last two weeks firing head coach Robert Saleh to “fire up” the team, then last week traded for high-profile receiver Davante Adams, who made a quiet Jets debut Sunday night.

What now?

That was the Jets’ motto last season. Thanks to the gift Rodgers gave the Steelers in this game, it now takes on a completely different tone.

Leading 15-6, Rodgers threw a pass intended for receiver Garrett Wilson into traffic in the middle of the field that was intercepted by Pittsburgh cornerback Beanie Bishop Jr.

Bishop stepped in front of Wilson and plucked the ball out of the air with his left hand with 1:15 left in the half.

The killer turnover – Rodgers’ sixth INT in seven games this season – led directly to a freebie touchdown for Pittsburgh.

Four plays after the turnover, the Steelers cut the Jets’ lead to 15-13 on an 11-yard pass from Russell Wilson to George Pickens that the Jets simply couldn’t cover all night, regardless of which player was on him .

The Jets built a 15-6 lead thanks to the dynamic work of their top running back Breece Hall, who gave them a 7-3 lead with a 13-yard scoring run on their second possession.

And then, after the Steelers kicked a second field goal of the half to cut the lead to 7-6, Hall took a short pass from Rodgers over the middle and turned it into a 57-yard gain to the three- Pittsburgh yard line.

Three plays later, Rodgers connected with tight end Tyler Conklin for a 3-yard touchdown and two-point conversion to make it 15-6.

The rest of the night was unforgettable.

The Steelers took their first lead at 16-15 when Chris Boswell hit a 21-yard field goal on Pittsburgh’s first offensive possession in the third quarter.

Then things got very ugly.

On the Jets’ second play from scrimmage of the following series, Rodgers threw a dart to Garrett Wilson deep down the left sideline, and the ball bounced off Wilson’s chest and into Bishop’s arms.

This time, Bishop returned the pick 41 yards to the Jets’ 1-yard line with 7:22 left in the third quarter.

On the INT return, Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen leveled Jets right guard Xavier Newman with a block, whereupon Newman hit his head hard on the turf and suffered a neck injury.

The game was halted for several minutes while Newman, who came into the game in the first half to replace injured starter Alijah Vera-Tucker, was attended to by doctors and most of the team surrounded him on one knee.

Newman was strapped to a stretcher and taken away.

When play resumed, Russell Wilson scored on the Steelers’ first play of the game to give them a 23-15 lead.

The Jets’ next offensive possession stalled at the Pittsburgh 17-yard line, and then struggling kicker Greg Zuerlein knocked down a 35-yard field goal from Steelers defenseman Dean Lowry with 2:37 left in the third quarter.

Zuerlein missed field goals of 43 and 32 yards in last week’s three-point loss to Buffalo, and he missed a 50-yarder in the final seconds of the 10-9 loss to Denver. He’s a mess right now, just like the Jets season.

The Steelers made the Jets pay by taking over possession and turning it into a 30-15 lead with a four-yard pass from Russell Wilson to Van Jefferson with 12:09 to play.

The Jets now have no momentum and little hope for this season that started so promisingly.