HOUSTON, Dec. 24--The Jets have rarely been as glum after a loss as they were today, but the defeat in the season's finale against the Oilers was almost overshadowed by the news the players received in the locker room.
"Everything that could have happened to this team has happened," said Boomer Esiason. "And then to find out about Dick, all the players looked at each other as if to say, 'What happened?' "
Steinberg, the Jets' general manager, found out a few days ago that he apparently has what the club described as a form of treatable stomach cancer. Coach Pete Carroll made the announcement to the club after it was defeated, 24-10, by lowly Houston.
This morning, Carroll spoke to Steinberg for the first time since finding out about the illness.
"I tried to make light of it, saying something like 'we both had troubles,' " recalled Carroll.
Steinberg, who always speaks in terms of "we" even in talking about himself, told Carroll: "Don't give the players any Gipper kind of speech."
Carroll promised he wouldn't mention it to them until the game was over. So Steinberg's illness had no impact on the Jets' performance.
Jeff Lageman, the defensive end, spoke for most of the players when he agreed that the slide began against Miami, when the Jets were 22 seconds away from winning -- and gaining a share of first in the American Football Conference East. They lost on a touchdown pass by Dan Marino, then dropped their final four games.
"It must have lingered with us," said Lageman. "We haven't played well since, that's for sure."
And center Jim Sweeney, a Jet since 1984 -- no one has been here longer -- said of the season's final weeks: "This is the worst situation I was ever in. Even worse than the 4-12 team. To think we were 22 seconds from first, and now we're in last."
Carroll, though, said he didn't want to think right now of what went wrong and what remedies he might have. "This is the wrong time," he explained. "My thoughts aren't clear. They're affected by what's happened these last five games. We'll have to settle a lot of this in the off season."
There will have to be some way the club can analyze, beyond the X's and O's, how it all happened.
"Going from 6-5 to 6-10," said Esiason, "is just unbelievable. I'd tell the fans that their pain is minor compared to ours."
Dick Haley, the club's director of player personnel and Steinberg's top aide, will handle Steinberg's duties when he won't be available.
"None of this seems so important now," said Haley.
EXTRA POINTS
By finishing last in their division, the Jets get the ninth pick over all in the draft, and wind up with the following games: home against the new Jacksonville team, the Raiders, Saints and Rams; away against the new Carolina team, Seattle, Houston and Atlanta.
