The Jets need to re-examine their expectations for the 2007 season. This year isn’t about building on the surprise playoff appearance of 2006. It’s about building for the future while, hopefully, avoiding the 4–12 finish of 2005.

That’s the only logical inference to draw from the Jets’ 16–9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday, a game that showed yet again that the Jets have major flaws on offense and defense, and raised the question yet again about whether the Jets need a change at quarterback.

No one should pin all of the Jets’ problems on quarterback Chad Pennington, though. Not after a day on which Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb completed 22 of 35 passes for 278 yards. This was McNabb’s second straight game at the Meadowlands, but the Jets’ defense gave him a much more pleasant time than the Giants’ defense gave him two weeks ago. Whereas the Giants sacked McNabb an NFL record 12 times and held him to just 138 passing yards, the Jets sacked him on the first play but then just twice more, and they frequently allowed the Eagles’ receivers to get open in the secondary.

Of course, the Giants had the advantage of playing the Eagles on a day that Brian Westbrook was sidelined with an injury. Westbrook, who carried 20 times for 120 yards and caught six passes for 36 yards yesterday, is one of the NFL’s most versatile running backs, and the Jets had no answer for him.

The Jets’ biggest problem is that they’re simply not good at tackling. On Philadelphia’s first possession, wide receiver Kevin Curtis caught a short pass in the slot and took it 75 yards for a touchdown. The play was reminiscent of the 53-yard touchdown that Plaxico Burress scored last week for the Giants against the Jets, with poor tackling allowing a short pass to become a long gain. Against Curtis yesterday it was Jets defensive back Eric Smith who missed the tackle, against Burress last week it was Andre Dyson, but the entire secondary needs work on the most fundamental skill of defensive football.

But for all its faults, the Jets’ secondary put them in an excellent position to get back in the game in the fourth quarter yesterday. Trailing 16–6 with 11:34 remaining, cornerback Hank Poteat intercepted McNabb and returned the pick to the 17-yard line, shifting the momentum in the Jets’ direction. But the Jets’ offense then went three-and-out and had to settle for a field goal. They got the ball back again and threatened to score again, but their last chance ended when a Pennington pass to Laveranues Coles was knocked away by Eagles defensive back Sheldon Brown.

Those missed opportunities by the offense fall mostly on the shoulders of Pennington, who completed 11 of 21 passes for 128 yards, with one interception. The Jets’ passing game now consists almost entirely of short passes from Pennington, and on the few plays when he’s called on to throw long, he usually underthrows his receiver. That’s what he did on his interception, which was intended for Brad Smith, and when Pennington returned for the next drive, a smattering of boos greeted him. The boos grew louder when that drive ended with Pennington failing to recognize a blitz and getting sacked on third down.

The fans were right to boo. The Eagles’ two best defensive backs, safety Brian Dawkins and cornerback Lito Sheppard, missed the game with injuries, and the Jets weren’t able to put the Eagles’ ailing secondary to the test. The Jets’ inability to pass the ball against a weakened Eagles secondary means either Pennington lacks the arm strength necessary to function as an NFL quarterback, or Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer lacks the ability to recognize weaknesses in the opposing defense and call plays accordingly.

Either way, the passing game’s poor performance wasted the best game running back Thomas Jones has had for the Jets. Last week Thomas Jones ran for 36 yards against the Giants. Two weeks ago he ran for 35 against the Bills. Yesterday he gained 36 on his first carry, and he finished with 24 carries for 130 yards. Most of Jones’s yards came in the first quarter, and he struggled to run as the game went on, mostly because the Eagles’ linebackers and defensive backs began crowding the line of scrimmage, just daring Pennington to beat them deep. He couldn’t.

The Jets wore the navy blue and gold throwback uniforms from their days as the New York Titans of the American Football League yesterday, but the result of the game looked awfully familiar: It was the third straight game that they had an opportunity to win in the fourth quarter but fell short.

With their record now at 1–5, it’s clear that the Jets will fall short of their goals for the season as a whole. This isn’t a playoff team; it’s a rebuilding team. And although Pennington is far from the Jets’ only problem, when teams enter rebuilding mode, the first player benched is usually the quarterback.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.