Leon Washington

As a Jets fan we can't seem to have a week without disappointment.  Even in the 38-0 win yesterday afternoon the Jets lost Leon Washington for the season with a compound fracture in his leg.  This injury came on Leon Washington's first carry and about 20 minutes after I took the tag off the brand new jersey which I wore for the first time yesterday.  Leon Washington is one of the most electric players I have ever seen and I will miss watching him greatly for the rest of this season.  Washington is easily my favorite Jets player and I hope he will return next season with a new contract.  This will become a huge issue in the offseason as Leon denied a long term contract of 4.5 million dollars in the off-season because he was looking for around 6.  I am predicting that Leon will sign a 1-2 year deal this offseason which is heavily backloaded to protect the Jets investment. 

As a huge Leon fan, I am hoping that this isn't the last time we see him in a Jets uniform.

Jets v. Raiders Postgame

Jets- 38
Raiders-0

Record- 4-3

The Jets responded with a great game against a terrible Oakland Raiders team.  The running game was great as both Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene rushed for over 100 yards and the offensive line opened up holes for them all day.  As I said before the game, I predicted that the Jets would scale down Sanchez's responsibilities and not put the game on his arm.  The Jets were great at forcing turnovers in this game and knocked out JaMarcus Russell before the first half ended.  However, with all the positives there are a few negatives coming out of this game.  It looks like Leon Washington will miss extended time and could be done for the season.  The injury looked terrible and he was taken off on a cart and taken to an area hospital.  Early predicitons are that he may have torn his ACL.  I will have more on this when we get a report on the actual injury and the time he will miss.

Game Ball:

• This could go to a number of different people but the player of this game was Calvin Pace.  Pace ended up with 7 tackles, 3 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles.  He started off the game with a forced fumble which set up the first touchdown run by Thomas Jones and stopped a Raiders drive in Jets territory with another strip sack.  Pace got a ton of pressure on the quarterback and seems to be back at full speed after a few subpar games after coming back from the suspension.

Thumbs Up:

• Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene turned in great games.  Jones ended up with 121 yards and 1 touchdown and Greene rushed for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Jones has a second straight huge game rushing after going for over 200 yards last week.  Greene really showed what he could do after the Jets lost Leon Washington to injury after just one carry.  Greene impressed me with the way he hits the hole and that he doesn't seem to go down after the first hit.  Both of these backs had incredible games and with the loss of Washington they will both have to keep up this effort in upcoming games.

• Bill Calahan and the offensive line had great games.  Calahan, the offensive line coach, has really done a great job with the line over the last few weeks.  He has designed schemes which have opened numerous holes for any running back that has the ball.  The offensive line played great today and allowed Greene and Jones to get to the second level without being touched on numerous occasions.  They are going to have to keep up this effort next week as Miami has a better front seven than both the Bills and the Raiders.

• Mark Sanchez managed this game very well.  After last weeks performance everybody was worried about how he would handle this game.  He ended up 9/15 for 143 yards and a touchdown.  The touchdown throw was a great pass down the sideline to Clowney (who also had a great game).  Sanchez is benefiting from a great running game right now and as long as he manages the game well and does not turn the ball over I am confident that he can do well and lead this team to wins.

•  Mike Westhoff and Steve Weatherford.  Rarely does a punter make any "thumbs up" list in an NFL game (unless you are the Raiders) but the fake punt by Weatherford was great and the scheme by Westhoff was even better.  The Raiders looked like they were blocking for Weatherford rather than trying to tackle him as he went down the middle of the field.
  

Thumbs Down:

• Injuries were huge in this game.  Leon Washington went down with a terrible injury and we will see in the coming days how bad that injury actually is.  My prediction is that we do not see Washington in a Jets uniform again this year.  The loss of Jenkins last week and Leon this week are huge hits to this team.  Bart Scott and Howard Green also went down and we will learn more about these injuries in the press conference.

Game Thoughts:

There wasn't much negative to take out of this game other than the injury to Leon Washington.  The Jets handed the Raiders their worst home shutout loss in team history and both the offense and defense had great games.  Calvin Pace was excellent on defense and Shonn Greene played great in his first extended action at running back.  Next weeks game against Miami is going to be huge and could make or break the season.  More about that in the coming days.

Jets v. Raiders Pregame

The Jets travel down to Oakland today to take on the Raiders in a showdown of struggling teams.  The Jets have lost three straight and are reeling after losing Kris Jenkins for the year.  The game with Oakland poses a lot of questions for the Jets.  Will they be able to stop the run without Jenkins?  Will Sanchez be able to rebound from an absolutely terrible performance last week?  How will the loss of Jenkins effect the rest of the defense?  All of these questions should be answered (in part) at 4 PM in Oakland.  The Jets have traditionally struggled in Oakland and this will be a very tough game.

What to watch for...

•  The Jets defense will have to survive without the key man in the middle, Kris Jenkins.  Jenkins is the best nose tackle in the NFL and him being out will dramatically effect the performance of the rest of the defense.  Oakland will attempt to run the ball right at the Jets all day.  Darren McFadden is out for this game which is definitely good news for the Jets.  Jenkins was amazing this year and he will be sorely missed.

• How will the scheme change?  Without Jenkins in the middle the defensive scheme will have to change. I expect to see more 4-3 fronts as the Jets will attempt to stop the run on the early downs and force the Raiders into 3rd and long situations.  If they can force 3rd and long the Jets will go back to their 3-4 defense and put a lot of pressure on JaMarcus Russell.  The key to this game will be stopping the run early, forcing 3rd and longs and making Russell actually throw the ball.

• Sanchez was talked to by coaches, Tony Richardson, and Alan Faneca about the body language he showed during his terrible 5 interception performance last weekend.  He has said that he has to stop getting too low with the negative and too high with the positive.  He will need a cool head in this game as the Jets have always struggled in Oakland.  Oakland is coming off a big win last week against the Eagles and they will have confidence that they can repeat.

Players to Watch...

• Mark Sanchez will have to rebound after blowing the game last week with a 5 interception performance.  Oakland has not been a good football team this season but they will have confidence after shutting down Donovan McNabb and the Eagles last week.  Sanchez needs to settle back into the rhythm that he was in the first few weeks.  Ibelieve that Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer have scaled down his responsibilities this week which should allow him to focus more on making good reads and throws.

•  Thomas Jones and Leon Washington are going to get a lot of carries in this game as the Jets will try to win this game on the ground.  As I said before, Sanchez will have his responsibilities scaled down and this will put extra pressure on Jones and Washington to have repeat performances as last week where they combined for over 300 yards on the ground. 

• Sione Pouha  will have to play a great game to replace Jenkins in the middle.  If the Jets hope to create any pressure out of a 3-4 front Pouha will have to do at least half the job that Jenkins has been doing the first 6 weeks.  Pouha is not even half the player that Jenkins is but his play will be key if the Jets hope to create any pressure as well as stop the run.

Game Thoughts:

I think the Jets will win this game for the simple fact that the Raiders offense is not very good.  If the Jets can put up some points early they shouldn't have a problem holding the Raiders defensively and winning this game.  The key will be stopping the run which has been difficult for the Jets to do so far this year.  If JaMarcus Russell has to win the game by throwing the ball I have no doubt in my mind that the Jets can take it. 

Game Prediction:

Jets: 13
Raiders: 7

Jenkins Out

News comes today that Kris Jenkins, the Jets most important defensive player, has a torn acl and is done for the season.  Jenkins is the most important player on the Jets defense.  At 350 pounds he dominates the middle of the line and requires at least two people to block him every single down.  This opens up lanes for the Jets other pass rushers to get to the quarterback and stop the run.  Jenkins has had an amazing season so far and was consistently getting 2-3 yards into the backfield before the running back even had the ball.  Jenkins will be sorely missed and I think this will provide a new challenge to Rex Ryan's defense.  Rex is going to have to change up his defensive scheme to hide the fact that he no longer has a big nose tackle in the middle to disrupt plays.  The combination of Sione Pouja and Mike Devito are going to have to fill the gap that is left by Jenkins.  Look for more 4-4 schemes out of Ryan as he will play two DT's to fill the gap left by Jenkins.

Jets v. Bills Postgame

Bills- 16
Jets- 13

Jets: 3-3

I was disappointed after last weeks game against Miami but I felt that they came up with a game plan that was better than ours and were able to execute that game plan to perfection.  This week, the Jets came out flat, finished the 4th quarter flat, and played in overtime like they didn't want to win the game.  The penalties were outrageous, especially in overtime.  It starts with Ben Hartstock and the hold on the Thomas Jones run to the 10 yard line.  There is no conceivable reason in that situation to do anything close to hold the defender.  The ball was inside the 25 and Jones had at least 5 yards before the guy that Hartstock held would have been able to potentially make a play.  This killed the Jets first chance to win (along with a terrible botched hold) in overtime.  Ihedigbo is an idiot and deserves to be taken off the active roster for next weeks game against Oakland.  You do not commit personal foul penalties in overtime.  That is inexcusable and if Ryan doesn't sit him down for a week I will be extremely disappointed after he sat Clowney for simply wanting to contribute to the team.  Sanchez was awful.  There are no words that can describe how terrible he looked on the field today.  I can't think of one pass that he threw that I felt confident about and most of the time he was being bailed out by Braylon Edwards.  He has to do some serious conditioning in cold weather if he wants to be a quarterback in New York.  The penalties continued with defensive holding calls on Pace and false start penalties on D'brick and Keller.  The fact that the Jets were less disciplined than a terrible Bills team is inexcusable and is something I have been criticizing all year.  I am shocked, upset, and can honestly not believe what I just saw out of a team that I perceived to be a lot better than the way they are playing.

Game Ball:

• This is probably the easiest thing in the world to give on the Jets side as there were so few good games turned in.  However, Thomas Jones turned in a spectacular rushing performance with 22 carries for 210 yards and a touchdown.  The two big runs early in the game were huge for the Jets and really gave the feel that they would control the rest of the game.  He exploded through the holes and truly reminded Jets fans who are clambering for Shonn Greene to get many more carries why he shouldn't be overlooked the rest of the season.

Thumbs Up:

• Darelle Revis seems to get mentioned in this section every week as he turned in another amazing performance against Terrell Owens.  Revis was less than spectacular in the beginning with the two penalties but he rebounded later in the game to really shut down Owens.  The thing I notice every week about Revis is his tackling from the cornerback position.  He must be one of the top 5 best tackling cornerbacks in the league.

• Leon Washington had another great game running and catching the ball.  He ended up with 99 yards rushing on just 13 carries and 46 yards receiving on 3 receptions.  He was hitting the holes hard and made a great play in overtime to get the ball close to field goal range for Feely.  

• The offensive line really rebounded after having a tough couple of weeks.  The Jets gained 318 yards on the ground which is an absolutely incredible number.  The holes that led to Thomas Jones' two big runs were so big that Kris Jenkins probably could have ended up with at least a 20 yard gain.  The pass protection was average but the mistakes that were made cannot be blamed on offensive line play.

Thumbs Down:

• I cannot even put into words how bad Mark Sanchez was today.  His only job in this game was to control the clock and the ball and not allow Buffalo to have good field position.  He seemed to make it his job to throw the ball to people wearing the other color jersey as many times as possible.  I don't want to hear excuses like, "he's never played in cold weather" or anything like that because he has been training all week in cold weather and he has to learn how to play in inclement weather if he's going to be a quarterback in New York.  For god sakes, we are in October and he is already playing poorly in this weather.  What happens when its 10 degrees and snowing in December.  The five interceptions were absolutely inexcusable and they were pretty much all on him.  The one in overtime was incredibly stupid as the Jets could have punted and pinned the Bills way back in their own territory.  At that point in the game you have to use your head a lot more than he did.  There's really little else to say about this game for Sanchez other than he seems to be regressing.

• Rex Ryan is the head coach of this football team and should be imposing discipline in the players.  The Jets finished with 14 penalties for 96 yards which is an absolute joke.  I discussed the penalties above so I won't go into those but he needs to do something to stop all these penalties from happening.  I don't have the exact stats but I am sure that the Jets are near the top in the league in penalties and penalty yardage.  I can't fault Ryan's gameplan defensively because the defense was put in a lot of tough situations because of how badly Mark Sanchez was throwing the ball.

• Ben Hartstock blew the game with that holding call and I cannot fail to mention it here.  The Jets would have had the ball inside the 25 with a field goal attempt to win the game.  Instead, they had the ball at the 33 and ended up getting a botched snap/hold and forcing Weatherford to just throw the ball up which resulted in an interception and good field position for the Bills.  

Game Thoughts:

I've never been so pained trying to watch a football game. (That's probably not true but you know what I mean).  It seemed to me that neither team really wanted to win this game but the Bills played disciplined and safe while the Jets tried to give it away.  At 3-0 and coming off three big wins we all thought this team was very good.  However, these last two games have really exposed that there are serious problems with this team that have to be overcome if they are ever going to make a run at the playoffs this year.

Notes: Jenkins left with an injury and there are reports that it may be severe which would be terrible for the Jets defense.

Jets v. Bills Pregame

The Jets will return home after two weeks to take on their division rival the Buffalo Bills.  The Jets are coming off an extremely disappointing Monday night performance against the Miami Dolphins and the Bills are coming off an even worse loss against the Cleveland Browns in a game where neither team seemed to want to win.  The word out of the Jets this week is that they are moving on and forgetting about last week.  The Bills come into the Meadowlands playing some of the worst football in the NFL.  They lost a game last week where they only allowed 2 completed passes by the opposing quarterback.  The Jets should have their way with them at 1 P.M. Sunday but anything can happen in division matchups.

What to watch for:

• Can the Jets grab the momentum early?  An early lead should go a long way in the Jets securing this win.  No game in the NFL is easy and if you allow a team like the Bills to make a few plays early it can result in them gaining momentum and potentially pulling off the upset.  The Jets defense will come out attacking and they are going to force Trent Edwards to beat the blitz by passing the ball.  The Bills have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL so don't expect a repeat performance of Monday night when Miami offensive lineman were blowing people off the line of scrimmage.  

• How will the Jets defensive leaders respond after last weeks terrible showing?  Bart Scott, Kerry Rhodes, and Kris Jenkins (among others) are the key leaders of this Jets defense and  I think they will be out for revenge after their poor showing in front of a national television audience.  I think  they will come out playing with a passion and physicality that will not allow the Bills to get any momentum.  I am expecting to see a defense that looks like the one who shut down the Texans.  

• I was wrong about this last week but it looks like Jerricho Cotchery is really not playing in this game.  He seemed to be out there as a decoy on Monday night and Sanchez was really not targeting him that much in the passing game.  It appears that he aggravated the injury during the game and he has been held out of practice all week.  On another injury note, Lito Sheppard will return at full strength and Donald Strickland appears to be sitting another one out as he is only back to practice in a limited capacity.

Players to watch...

• Braylon Edwards came up huge in the Monday night game making several spectacular catches.  I expect even better things this week as Edwards now has had a whole week and a half to study the Jets playbook.  He will have to make some plays with Cotchery out and I expect the Bills to roll all their coverages to his side.  This should open up some running lanes for Leon Washington and Thomas Jones.

• Darelle Revis is the Jets MVP so far and should be on a short list for MVP in the league.  He has played at an incredibly high level and I expect him to bottle up Terrell Owens this week.  When you can only point out one bad play a cornerback has made in four weeks, you know that he is playing extraordinary.  Revis is the top cornerback in the league (sorry Asomugha) and he shouldn't have a problem with Owens this Sunday.

• I can guarantee that Rex Ryan did not get a lot of sleep this week after his defensive game plan blew up in his face and allowed the Dolphins to come back 3 separate times in the 4th quarter.  Ryan will have an improved scheme for this week and I expect great results.  

Game Thoughts:

The Bills are not a good football team and I find it hard to believe that they will come into New York and find a way to win this game.  However, this is the NFL and crazy things do seem to happen every week so I will not look past this game and I don't think the Jets players are either.  I am expecting huge games out of both the offense and the defense and I expect that the Bills weak offensive line will be their downfall.

Prediction:
Jets- 24
Bills- 3

Chad Henne

Here's a video to make everybody feel a little better about last week....

Jets vs. Dolphins Postgame

Dolphins- 31
Jets- 27

Record: 3-2

This one was painful. The Jets came out on Monday Night Football in front of a national television audience and absolutely blew this game from the very beginning. The defensive effort and game plan was horrendous and without a few excellent plays by Mark Sanchez, Braylon Edwards and the rest of the Jets offense this would have been an absolute massacre. Going into this game I expected the Jets defense to dominate Chad Henne, Ronnie Brown and the wildcat. Ryan drew up schemes last year that could do it, why not this year? I was absolutely wrong on every level. The wildcat gained something like 8 yards a carry and they kept the Jets defense off balance all day using a variation of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. The defense was incapable of getting off the field all day and the Dolphins seemed to just impose their will on the Jets defensive front.

Game Ball:

The game ball for the Jets is going to Braylon Edwards. Edwards was traded to the Jets just four days before this game and came out and played like he has been in this offense since training camp. He made a great catch on a Mark Sanchez pass down the sideline which ended up resulting in a one yard Thomas Jones run. He also forced a pass interference call on a long pass into endzone which resulted in a second Jones TD. Edwards was a playmaker on the field on offense and seemed to dispel a lot of the notions about dropped pass and inconsistency which made Jets fans nervous. Great game by Edwards and I expect a lot more in the weeks to come.


Thumbs Up:

• Thomas Jones showed me more last night than I have seen from him all year. I am giving the thumbs up to Jones over Washington (despite the fact that Washington had the better game) because I have not seen that kind of effort from Jones since last year. He was hitting the holes hard and regularly ripping off gains of 5 or so yards. My major criticism of Jones this year is that he seems to hit the hole slow and has been making his offensive lineman hold their blocks too long which has resulted in numerous runs for less than two yards. I don't know what Jones did differently tonight but he seemed to be finding the running lanes and not going down on first contact. He was fighting for yards like I haven't seen in a while out of him

• The punt game tonight is something that is going to be lost in the losing effort. Weathorford single-handedly kept the first Jets drive alive by running for 20 or so yards on a fake. Later in the game Brad Smith took a direct snap off a punt 10 yards up the middle for a first down after breaking a couple of tackles. These two plays were huge momentum boosters for the Jets and directly resulted in the team getting points when it looked like they were giving the ball away.

• Despite the fact that the defense was terrible last night, I have to give credit to Kris Jenkins. Jenkins has cemented himself as the top 3-4 NT in the league and he was the only Jet player last night to get any pressure on Chad Henne. Jenkins shot the gap a few times in this game and stopped running plays in the backfield. The one thing that continuously impresses me about Jenkins is his ability to make a tackle while an offensive lineman is holding a block. On one play Jenkins was able to penetrate a few yards into the backfield and made a one armed tackle on Ronnie Brown while being blocked by a Dolphins OL (Jake Grove?). Jenkins was great and could have played an even larger role in ending the Dolphins scoring drive to Ginn had the ref seen the blatant hold in the middle of the field. Nevertheless, great game by Jenkins.

• David Clowney had his first impact in a regular season game. He made a great 50 yard catch over the middle of the field which led to a Jets scoring drive. I hope to see more of Clowney in the lineup (pending the injury) in the coming weeks.
  

Thumbs Down:

• Rex Ryan failed to draw up a scheme which could even remotely slow down the wildcat offense. The Dolphins beat the Jets down with it all game and were able to pick up 7-8 yards a carry without even really trying. He has to do a better job drawing up a scheme if the Jets are going to have a chance when the Dolphins come to New York.

• The defensive line was absolutely embarrassed by the Dolphins offensive line. They were blown off the ball on every wildcat snap which allowed Ronnie Brown to pick running lanes and get to the second level. I haven't seen a Jets defensive line dominated like that in a very long time. Their job in the 3-4 defense is to hold their gaps and allow the linebackers to come up and make plays on the running back. When they are getting blown 3-4 yards off the line of scrimmage there is going to be no opportunity for those linebackers making plays.

• The linebackers were incapable of making tackles or filling the gaps and containing the wildcat offense. It is unacceptable to give up that much yardage to a gimmick offense and I believe that the linebackers are completely at fault. I have repeatedly said that Bart Scott and David Harris are one of the top 3 best middle linebacker tandems in the league and they did not act like that at all last night. Against the wildcat offense you need to be able to gain penetration and make tackles when you have the opportunities. Calvin Pace was fairly absent during this game but I will not get too upset over this because it was his first game back and he needs to get up to speed.

Game Recap:

This game was sickening to me and many Jets fans. The team came out completely flat on defense and was incapable of stopping anything. They had plenty of opportunities to get off the field on the final drive and they were unable to stop Chad Henne and the other 18 people that seemed to take snaps at quarterback for the Dolphins. Next week the Jets have the Bills and I expect a much better outcome. I will post my reaction to Rex's press conferences throughout the week when I get over this loss and am able to listen to post game reaction without breaking something.

Jets vs. Dolphins Pregame

The Jets go down to Miami on Monday night to take on Chad Henne and the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins come into the game with a 1-3 record while the Jets come in at 3-1. It has seemed like an eternity since the Jets-Saints game and a lot has happened. Calvin Pace has returned from his 4 game suspension (to be discussed more later) and the Jets have acquired the big receiver they have been looking for with the trade for Braylon Edwards. These moved bring back two guys who should play a huge part in tomorrow nights game.

A few thoughts about the game....

• What impact will the wildcat have in this game? The Dolphins have run the wildcat offense with varying levels of success this year. I think the attacking defense of the Jets will not allow the wildcat to gain any momentum in this game. The Jets are going to make stopping the run their number one priority in this game like they did against the Titans. The difference is that Miami does not have a veteran quarterback who they can rely on to beat the blitz. The wildcat offense is not going to win this game for Miami.

• The Jets have been one of the best teams in the NFL at getting pressure on the quarterback this year. However, this has resulted in only 4 sacks. I believe, with the return of Calvin Pace, we will start to see a lot more sacks out of this defense. It seems like most quarterbacks so far have been able to get off passes a split second before the pass rush can reach them. Pace is the best pass rusher on the team and should be able to get to the quarterback and create some sacks.

• It does not seem like Jerricho Cotchery will be able to play this week based on Rex Ryan press conferences. He has been held out of practice for multiple days. This is disappointing to Jets fans (like myself) who were looking forward to seeing the Cotchery/Edwards combination on the field at the same time. These guys should open up opportunities for each other all season as defenses will not be able to roll coverages towards both of them. I think we will miss Cotchery on Monday night (if he can't play) because Miami will be able to roll coverages onto Edwards and force lesser receivers such as Brad Smith and David Clowney to step up and make plays.

Players to Watch:

• The newcomers, Braylon Edwards and Calvin Pace, will get to add their talents to an already talented Jets team. Edwards should make his impact apparent right away as defenses will have to stop stacking 8 men in the box against the run. I expect the presence of Edwards on the outside to open up running lanes for Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, and Shonn Greene. Calvin Pace returning to the lineup is the most exciting move of the week for me. He has been away from the team since Week 1 and his return adds another play-maker to an already stellar Jets defense. Pace gives the Jets the ability to finish plays and get more sacks on the quarterback. This should result in more turnovers and big play for the Jets defense.
  

• Mark Sanchez will have to rebound after a terrible performance against the Saints last Sunday. The Jets running game hasn't been performing very well so far and Rex Ryan has no hesitation in putting the ball in Sanchez's hands and letting him try to win the game.

• The offensive line will have to put in a lot better performance than they did last week. Sanchez is going to need time in the pocket to throw and the Jets can't allow Joey Porter and Jason Taylor to get pressure on Sanchez all night. Also, the offensive line needs to start opening up running lanes. Jones and Washington haven't quite been the same this year as they were last and if they can open up some lanes in this game I anticipate Leon Washington having a huge game.

My Game Thoughts:

I think the Jets defense will be too much for Chad Henne and the Miami offense. Calvin Pace will be playing with a chip on his shoulder after watching the first four games from home and I expect him to wreak havoc in the backfield. Ryan will have schemes drawn up for the wildcat and I have no doubt that he knows how to defend that. The Jets offense will not have to do a whole lot to win this game. If Sanchez can protect the ball and make a few plays the Jets defense should take care of the rest.

My Game Prediction:

Jets- 17
Dolphins- 3

Welcome Braylon Edwards

Braylon Edwards is now a New York Jets. In a surprise announcement today the Jets have traded WR Chansi Stuckey, LB/ST Jason Trusnik, and two undisclosed draft picks (rumored to be a 3rd and 5th round pick) for former #3 overall pick WR Braylon Edwards. Edwards will bring an element to the Jets offense that has been missing for a very long time. Edwards is a big, physical receiver who will be able to stretch the field and provide a great complement to Jerricho Cotchery.

A few reasons this is a great trade:

• Defenses will have to roll coverages towards Edwards because he is such a threat at wide receiver. This will open up opportunities for Jerricho Cotchery and Dustin Keller. These two should see great results from having Edwards on the opposite side.

• Thomas Jones and Leon Washington should see less 8 man fronts on defense because there are now two legitimate threats at receiver. Before this trade defenses were able to roll coverages towards Jerricho and still keep 8 men in the box to stop the run because there was no other legitimate threat. Edwards should force teams to keep their safeties out of the box and should stop the constant run blitzes that have killed the running game this year.

• Edwards is a very, very good receiver when motivated. I believe that we are looking at a situation very similar to Randy Moss a few years ago. Moss was unmotivated with the Raiders and put up a number of very bad seasons before moving on and becoming one of the top receivers in the NFL in New England. Edwards has been playing on a losing Cleveland Browns team with instability at quarterback and a lot of losing seasons. He will be stepping in to a good situation where there are veterans like Bart Scott, Kris Jenkins, Alan Faneca and others who will force him to be motivated and play hard. He could be the missing piece of the puzzle this season.

The Braylon Edwards press conference just finished and I'll put a few notes on that:

• He did not talk about his recent off the field incident because it is currently a legal matter so I don't know anything more about that.

• Edwards seems to be a very well spoken guy who seems like he was dying to get out of Cleveland. He was very respectful to the Browns organization but you could tell that he was very, very excited to be out of there and in a winning situation in New York.

• He knows a few people on the team and is friends with Kerry Rhodes and David Harris. This should help him become a real part of this team chemistry that we have going on right now.

• He talked about how he is not worried about working with a rookie QB because he has done it before in Cleveland.

Chansi Stuckey:

I feel really terrible for Stuckey going to Cleveland and a losing situation. He worked hard all offseason to become the Jets #2 target and I think he has become a much better wide receiver. Thanks for all your efforts Stuckey and I wish you luck in Cleveland.

Random Thoughts

I haven't had a chance to watch the Rex Ryan press conference yet so I don't really have many comments on that at the moment. However, the one Jets note I do have is that Calvin Pace was able to report to the facility for the first time Monday morning since beginning his suspension in Week 1. This news should make Jets fans very happy and should scare opponents. This Rex Ryan defense has been missing one component in the first four games and that is a pass rusher who can pile up sacks. Pace will be turned loose on Chad Henne next week and I can't wait to see how he performs.

I'm going to deviate a little bit from the Jets here for the first time and go over the Yankees series with the Twins that starts tomorrow.

The Yankees got a break today as the Twins didn't finish their play-in game against the Tigers until close to 10 P.M. Eastern Time. This will mean the Twins will not arrive in New York and will arrive with a tired bullpen and lineup. The Yankees will start Sabathia tomorrow and he should put in a good effort against a tired Twins lineup. I see this being a fairly quick series because the Yankees are better in all facets of the game. Their pitching is far superior to the Twins as they have 3-4 starters who could be called "reliable". The lineup is also considerably better, especially with the Twins missing star slugger Justin Morneau. I predict that this will finally be the year that the Yankees will break the trend of getting ousted in the first round.

Prediction: Yankees- 3 Twins- 1

Series MVP: Mark Teixeira

Pitcher of the Series: CC Sabathia

Game Recap: Jets v. Saints

Saints: 24
Jets: 10

Record: 3-1

The Jets went into the Superdome and played their worst game of the year against the NFL's best team. Sanchez had his rookie moments and the running game never got going. Darren Sharper and the rest of the Saints defense played a great game and they deserve most of the credit for yesterday's win. The positive coming out of the game for the Jets is that the defense can stop anybody. The Saints high powered offense only managed 10 points and the defense gave the Jets a chance to win the game.

Game Ball:

There is always somebody who deserves the game ball, even after a loss. Darelle Revis played another incredible game today. As Ryan said in his post game press conference, the loss was a team effort but it sure didn't seem like Revis lost this game. He is everywhere on the field and can cover any wide receiver in any position. There should be nobody doubting his abilities at this point this year. Revis played a great game against Colston.

Thumbs Up:

• David Harris played another great game in the middle with 10 solo tackles and a key forced fumble against Reggie Bush that got the Jets back into the game. Without that forced fumble the Jets had no chance of making any sort of comeback in this game. Harris continues to prove that he is one of the best middle linebackers in the league with that game.

• Kerry Rhodes, with 8 tackles, was much more active in this game than he has been in previous ones. He was flying to the ball and making a lot of tackles.
  

• The rest of the defense played very well also. The Jets held the Saints to just 10 offensive points which is by far their lowest point total of the season. The defense went into a hostile environment against the best offense in the league and showed that they are Super Bowl caliber.
  

Thumbs Down:

• Mark Sanchez played a terrible game on Sunday. The two key moments in this game were miscues by him. The interception that Sharper returned for the touchdown occurred as the Jets were driving in Saints territory. This interception sucked any momentum that the Jets had gained on that drive. The other miscue was the fumble in the end zone that resulted in a touchdown for the Saints and a 17-0 lead. Sanchez needs to do a better job of getting rid of the ball after a certain period of time. If he does not do a better job of this he will be getting hit from the blind side and fumbling a lot more this season. Sanchez is allowed his rookie mistakes and we have to hope that he recovers and is ready for Miami next Monday night.

• The offensive line played terrible today and opened up no lanes for the running backs. The only good running plays of the game were a 15 yard touchdown for Thomas Jones and a few good runs by Shonn Greene. The line needs to start opening up more lanes for the running backs or Sanchez will never be able to open up the offense and play to the best of his abilities.
  

• Thomas Jones needs to get going this season or he will start to lose carries to Shonn Greene (assuming Greene is healthy). Greene looked much more explosive and did not go down after the first hit. Jones has been going down after the first hit the majority of the time and has not run well this season at all.

Overall Thoughts:

The Saints are the best team in the NFL and the Jets would have been right in it without the rookie mistakes from Mark Sanchez. This is the type of game where you realize that the Jets were never going to go 16-0. There was going to be a slip up for Sanchez and the rest of the team and it's better that it happened against a non-conference opponent on the road. Next week the Jets go into Miami on Monday night to play the Dolphins. I won't go into this game now but more will be coming later in the week.

Game Preview: Jets v. Saints

The Jets travel down to New Orleans on Sunday to take on the offensive juggernaut of the Saints. The Jets defense will have their hands full at 4:00 Sunday as the Saints come into the game with the best offense in the league. The spread of Jets +7 seems to be spot on and right around where I think the game is going to be. The Saints should beat the Jets on their home field and I would be very surprised if the Jets came out and were able to win this one.

Here are a few thoughts on the game...

• Rex Ryan v. Sean Payton.. This is a great coaching matchup and will ultimately decide the game for both teams. Payton is an offensive mastermind who has the Saints offense playing as well as anybody in the league. However, he is going up against one of the great defensive minds of our day. Ryan will have a ton of blitz schemes ready to get pressure on Drew Brees. This is a fascinating matchup and it will be interesting to see whether the offense of Payton or the defense of Ryan wins out.

• Will the pressure rattle Drew Brees? This is one question that I have been trying to figure out all week. Drew Brees is traditionally very good when being blitzed because he takes a quick drop and has a quick release. This allows him to find open receivers before the blitz reaches him. This Jets defense will attack Brees and attempt to rattle him. They will overload to one side and will send multiple people at one blocker in an attempt to get pressure. The consistency of this pressure will decide the game.

• Lito Sheppard and Donald Strickland are both out for this Sunday's game. This is a disappointing announcement coming from the Jets today as Ryan seemed fairly optimistic about Sheppard all week. This is going to place an added pressure on the rest of the Jets DB's and will force them to take on larger, more prominent roles than they are used to. This could spell disaster for the Jets if Brees gets hot and they can't generate enough pressure.
  

Players to Watch:

• Mark Sanchez is going to have to win this game with his arm. I expect the Jets to come out semi-conservative in the first half in an attempt to eat clock and keep the Saints offense off the field. However, the Saints will end up scoring and Sanchez will have to start throwing the ball more than he has in the past 3 games. Based on how he has played in his first 3 NFL games (3 straight rookie of the week awards) I am not all that worried about opening up the offense a little more for him.

• Drew Coleman will have to step in for Strickland and Sheppard and play a good game. He played pretty well last week and he needs to maintain that, or play above that, in this game. The Saints have a potent offense and Brees likes to hit a lot of different receivers.
  

• Thomas Jones and Leon Washington will both have to have solid games on Sunday if the Jets hope to win. The key to beating New Orleans is keeping their offense off the field by eating up clock. Jones is going to need to put in a much better effort than previous weeks or the Jets are in trouble.

My Game Thoughts:

I am predicting a Jets loss this weekend. The combination of a great Saints offense, an overachieving defense, and the home crowd will be a little too much for the jets to handle. I predict that they will keep the game fairly close through the beginning and lose it around the 3rd quarter. If the Jets hope to win this game the defense will need to knock Brees around and frustrate him.

My Prediction:

Saints: 28
Jets: 17