It could be worse: Bryce Petty edition

As usual after a loss, we're going to look at one aspect of the team which has come under fire by comparing it to some others around the league (or perhaps from Jets history) to illustrate how other teams have to deal with the same issues.

Today, we're going to look at Bryce Petty's performance on Sunday, which received plenty of criticism following the Jets' 14-7 loss. There's no doubt that was a poor performance from Petty, but it could be worse.

Petty's accuracy was poor all day, although he completed over 50 percent of his passes for the first time in three appearances this season. However, he passed for just 119 yards.

The Jets basically abandoned the passing game for much of the second half, as Petty threw just one pass - a two yard completion - in the third quarter. Moreover, that was the only quarter in which the Jets scored any points.

Petty ended up 6-for-8 for 38 yards in the second half, with the only two incompletions coming at the end of a late drive where the Jets got into the red zone with a chance to tie the game. However, he did contribute another 33 yards - and three first downs - as a runner.

Knock off the yardage from the three times he was sacked, though, and you get back down to just 131 for the game.

It could be worse, though. We could pick out some of the performances from this week - like how, for example, the Texans only had 18 yards passing halfway through the third quarter. Or perhaps Brett Hundley, who completed just 17 of 40 passes at a rate of 3.3 yards per attempt. Or Nick Foles, who almost blew a game against the struggling Raiders by going 7-for-17 for 44 yards and an interception in the second half.

Instead, let's pick out some recent performances from Jets' quarterbacks who had games that were even worse than Petty's performance on Sunday:

Mark Sanchez. While some will point to his meltdown in Tennessee in 2012, Sanchez's five-interception performance against the Bills in 2009 remains the pièce de résistance in a career littered with disappointing performances.

The Jets ultimately lost 16-13 in overtime, despite rushing for 318 yards. They also missed a field goal, botched the snap on another field goal - leading to a sixth interception by holder Steve Weatherford - and committed a needless holding penalty within field goal range late in the game.

Sanchez actually had the same number of passing yards in this game as Petty did on Sunday. However, he completed just 10 of 29 passes

Geno Smith. Smith's performance against the Bills in 2014 was just atrocious. At least, that's how Smith himself described a performance which saw him benched before the end of the first quarter.

Smith threw eight passes with more of them (three) being caught by Bills players than were caught by his teammates (two, for just five yards).

The Jets trailed 14-0 when Smith departed and ultimately went on to lose 43-23. One of the Bills players apparently told Mark Cannizaro of the NY Post that "We were bummed when they took Geno out."

Mike Vick. Mike Vick replaced Smith in that game, his second relief appearance of the season. He wasn't very good - completing just 18 of 36 passes - but it was enough to convince the Jets to give him a few starts, one of which he won in an upset over the Steelers.

It was also definitely better than his first relief appearance of the season. When Vick replaced Geno Smith against the Chargers earlier in the season, he passed for just 47 yards and an interception on 19 attempts.

“Maybe I didn't prepare or I wasn't prepared, but I'll tell you what, it won't happen again,” Vick said, via the New York Post. Later in the season, in his final appearance as a Jet, Vick went 7-of-19 for 76 yards with an interception in another loss to the Bills - this time 38-3.

Ryan Fitzpatrick. As bad as Sanchez and Smith's worst performances were, neither of them can claim to have the worst-ever graded game in Pro Football Focus history as Fitzpatrick did in Kansas City last season.

The Jets had a long week of preparation, but Fitzpatrick completed just 40 percent of his passes with six interceptions, including a pick-six. The blowout loss was the catalyst for the Jets' season falling apart due to a fractured locker room.

Making the performance even more confounding was the fact that Fitzpatrick had just had one of his best games as a Jet in the previous week's game.

Christian Hackenberg. Finally, Hackenberg - who was an option as Petty struggled on Sunday - may not have played in a regular season game yet, but he proved he is capable of putting together a poor game of quarterbackmanship in preseason last year.

In the 2016 Bollinger Bowl against the Eagles, Hackenberg completed just 11 of 31 passes for 55 yards and an interception that was returned for a decisive score in the Jets 14-6 loss. That statline is bad enough before you even take into account the fact he was only playing against back-ups because it was the final preseason game.

Clearly Hackenberg should have made advancements since that game, which was 16 months ago. However, the question as to whether he's made adequate improvements to be a viable alternative to Petty in a real NFL game seems to have been answered by the fact he remains rooted to the bench.