12/08 — Candlestick is one of the NFL's odd ballparks, all angles and non-parallel lines, a fine location on San Francisco Bay that nevertheless attracts large numbers of seabirds as the day's crowd checks out while leaving its detritus behind.

And the 'Stick and its tenants, the 49ers, had an odd effect on the Jets on Sunday afternoon. After getting better and better while winning seven of eight, the visitors from the East regressed for a second straight game in their 24-14 loss.

And in the odd visitors' locker room, they had no answers but a number of symptoms for what is ailing them the past two weeks.

"Our offense couldn't stay on the field," said guard Brandon Moore. "One-for-10 on third downs .... you're not going to win a game with that."

"The main thing they did was hold the ball for 40 minutes," said head coach Eric Mangini. "When a team does that, it's not going to be very good offensive production."

"Penalties," offered Leon Washington, "were killing us all day."

"All credit to them," said cornerback Ty Law. "They played with a lot more energy than we had."

These tendencies — success on third downs on both sides of the ball, penalties, energy level — had been going the Jets' way in that run through the win at Tennessee. The last two weeks, those traits have not shown up.

What had to be as troubling was that nothing could seem to spark the Jets today. The Green & White were like green kindling all game long.

A strip fumble caused by Kris Jenkins, recovered by Calvin Pace at the Jets' 17 in the first quarter? The offense responded with a three-and-out and the Niners answered with their first TD drive.

David Bowens' third-quarter interception led to the Jets' second touchdown drive, but San Francisco then retook the lead with an 11-play drive to a field goal that gave them the lead they would never lose.

Washington's tour de force kickoff-return score turned into a tour-de-fizzle when the play was nullified by a holding call on James Ihedigbo, followed by another hold on Chris Baker and a 1-yard loss on a Brett Favre-to-Thomas Jones screen.

Two things the Jets said didn't cause this tumble were Pacific Time and their practice schedule.

"I think that's no reason to not perform in a football game," Mangini said about going to 0-3 on the West Coast. "It doesn't matter where we play. We just have to play well."

And Jones didn't lay it on the week of preparation. "We had great practices during the week," he said. "We have to execute better on Sundays."

The Jets also agreed their confidence in themselves remains strong, although they were a bit grimmer this game that the confidence isn't being rewarded.

"After last week, I felt we were still a confident team. We just let one slip away," said Moore. "We did that again this week. The guys have to come together and get our swagger back."

"People were talking us up," said Law. "We have to live up to the hype. We have to play up to our level of talent. I believe in these guys. This team is a good football team."

"You just saw the difference two weeks can make," safety Kerry Rhodes said. "There was all that talk that we were the best team in the AFC. But we can still get back to that point. We can still write a good finish to this season."

That is still very true. If the Jets win their last three, vs. Buffalo on Sunday, at Seattle, and back home vs. Miami, they win the division and get a home playoff game. But they've got to answer questions and quickly this week or that's not going to happen.

"We just have to get out of this funk," said Jones, the man who brings his teammates together in the end zone for words of encouragement, inspiration and fire before each game. "We understand what's at stake. We have three games left. We have to turn this thing around."

Here are the five lowest possession times in a game for the Jets since 1990: