In a game otherwise short of highlights for the Green & White, TE Kellen Winslow surpassed 5,000 receiving yards for his career in the 38-13 loss to Tennessee.
Needing 57 yards to reach the milestone, Winslow was held without a reception in the Week 3 win over Buffalo. Sunday, however, he made up for lost time, reeling in a team-high six catches for 73 yards.
"It doesn't mean much," he said of the achievement. "I expect a lot from myself. I've got a long way to go. My goals for myself are way past that. It is an achievement, but I'm trying to do way more than that."
With a Hall of Fame tight end for a father (Kellen Winslow Sr. had 6,741 career receiving yards, by the way) and as the sixth overall pick of the 2004 draft, it's not too surprising that his expectations are high.
Still, even with high expectations, it's something to be proud of, as he becomes just the 32nd active player (joining teammate Santonio Holmes) and sixth active tight end to reach the benchmark.
Unfortunately, the individual triumph was overshadowed by the Jets' defeat.
"We couldn't get anything going in the first half and we just got too far behind and couldn't catch up," Winslow said, "so we just have to go back to work and get better from it."
One reason for the lack of production: Penalties. Again.
After setting a franchise record with 20 penalties last week, the Jets cut that number in half this week to 10, but it's still 10 penalties too many.
"I thought they were going to be very correctable," head coach Rex Ryan said of the errors. "Apparently I was wrong on penalties. But it's going to be fixed. Come hell or high water, it's going to be fixed."
"It's definitely mental [as opposed to physical]," Kellen said, "and as a team we have to do a better job. We just can't do that. It hurts us."
On the bright side, it's an out-of-division matchup. In addition, the 25-point margin of defeat is irrelevant in the standings and it's only one loss in a 16-game season.
"I have been around the league enough," the nine-year veteran tight end said. "You've just got to go to work. When the team struggles, you can't get caught up in 'We're losing, so I've got to play like this.' "
A week from tonight, the 2-2 Jets will have a chance to win their first road game of the year and climb back over .500 as they travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons.
"Definitely a big challenge for us," Winslow said of the primetime matchup. "We know what they have on offense, and the defense is good, too."
In addition to QB Matt Ryan and his dynamic duo of wide receivers in Julio Jones and Roddy White, the Falcons have a tight end who's not too shabby himself, 13-time Pro Bowler Tony Gonzalez. If you thought Winslow's been around for a while, just think about this: Gonzalez surpassed the 5,000-yard mark in 2003, before Kellen was even in the NFL. The 17-year veteran sits atop the receiving-yards leaderboard for tight ends all-time with 14,510 yards.
