Bryce Petty jogged onto the field to a standing ovation from excited Jets fans eager to see him make his first NFL start.
When it was all over, they left MetLife Stadium disappointed. New York suffered a 9-6 loss to the Rams Sunday, with its offense going nowhere under the late replacement for injured quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
‘‘I'm not going to let this define my career,’’ Petty said. ‘‘I'm not going to let this define me.’’
Petty started in place of Fitzpatrick, a move many fans and media had been clamoring for for weeks with the Jets in a funk. But after a solid first few drives, Petty couldn’t get much going against the Rams defense.
‘‘I really can’t wait to go back and watch film,’’ Petty said, ‘‘learn from this and get better from it.’’
The Jets dropped to 3-7 and their playoff hopes are just about over. Their quarterback situation remains uncertain, with coach Todd Bowles unwilling to commit to either Petty or Fitzpatrick as the starter for New York’s next game, against the Patriots in two weeks following a bye.
‘‘We'll evaluate that next week,’’ Bowles said. ‘‘We've got the bye week to evaluate that and we'll see how Fitz feels. We'll watch the film on Bryce and we'll make the determination next week.’’
Fitzpatrick was active despite having a sprained left knee. He split first-team snaps with Petty during practice last week.
‘‘I wanted to start,’’ Fitzpatrick said, ‘‘but there’s a lot of things that go into the decision.’’
Petty drove the Jets 99 yards on their second possession, finishing with his first career TD pass on a toss to Brandon Marshall, who lateraled to Bilal Powell for a 4-yard score.
‘‘He made some good throws,’’ Bowles said of Petty, who finished 19 of 32 for 163 yards and a 70.2 rating. ‘‘He’s got some growing pains . . . He’s just got to clean up a few things.’’
That’s if Bowles gives him the chance.
Just not the same
The Panthers talked throughout the offseason about avoiding a Super Bowl hangover. It might be time to get the aspirin.
Carolina suffered a colossal meltdown on Sunday, blowing a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter ath home and losing, 20-17, to the Chiefs to fall to 3-6, last in the NFC South. The last time a Super Bowl-losing team returned to the championship game was the 1993 Bills.
‘‘There is no room for error,’’ said coach Ron Rivera.
Blair miss project
Blair Walsh missed again.
The Vikings kicker, who has managed to keep his job despite all sorts of accuracy issues, shanked an extra point against the Redskins and is only 15 of 19 on PATS this season.
The Vikings brought in six free-agent kickers last week for a tryout to replace Walsh, but the team wound up sticking with him. Perhaps that changes this week.
Surprise start
The Titans certainly had themselves a day, scoring at least 35 points for the third consecutive week with a 47-25 win over the Packers. And that’s after Tennessee tried to catch Green Bay sleeping by attempting — but failing — on an onside kick to open the game. But the Titans forced the Packers to go three-and-out, and went on to score a touchdown on their first four possessions . . . One negative for Tennessee was the ejection of left tackle Taylor Lewan in the first quarter for making contact with an official. Officials threw a handful of flags with Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion going unabated to quarterback Marcus Mariota. Lewan was arguing with Guion when back judge Steve Freeman was trying to break up the scrum. Lewan appeared on replays to push away Freeman’s hand, and was tossed from the game.
