Game in Review: Jets v. Dolphins

Jets- 31
Dolphins- 23

The Jets traveled into Miami on Sunday night and came out with a win against a good Dolphins team.  Going into the game I was expecting a low scoring battle between two pretty good defenses.  However, what we got was an offensive shootout with little defense on either side.  Mark Sanchez looked great for his second straight game and the Jets defense looked shaky in their first full game without star cornerback Darrelle Revis.  This was a key road win which puts the Jets on top of the division and gives them the leg up with wins over both division rivals.

Thumbs up:

• Mark Sanchez- Sanchez showed up to play for the second straight week and he has now gone three games without an interception.  Sanchez seems to be forming a pretty good connection with Dustin Keller and he connected with him for 98 yards in the first half alone.  Sanchez seems to be much cooler under pressure and has avoided big mistakes.

• LaDainian Tomlinson- Tomlinson continues to go out and look like the back that he was a few years ago.  He finished this game with 88 all purpose yards and a touchdown and showed some great burst getting around the edge on a few runs.  His enthusiasm is unmatched which is really incredible figuring how many years he has been in the league and the fact that he is already a hall of fame player.

• Brad Smith- Brad Smith was great on kick returns and continuously set the Jets up in great field position.  I have never been a huge Smith fan on kickoffs because he lacks the breakaway speed that sets apart good returners from great ones.  However, if he can continue setting the Jets up with good field position that breakaway speed becomes less important.

• Sione Pouha- Pouha seems to always make plays.  He is no Kris Jenkins but he has become an anchor in the middle of the defense and the Jets should feel comfortable with him for the rest of the season.

Thumbs Down:

• Kyle Wilson- I can't count how many times I yelled at the TV, "Turn around and find the ball," when it was throw in Wilson's direction.  He seemed so focused on watching his man at times that it made it easy for Dolphins receivers to make plays.  He needs to start turning to find the ball which will help him shut down opposing receivers and avoiding costly penalties.

• Shonn Greene- Greene has been very underwhelming this year after most people figured he would start and get the majority of the carries.  He has not run well so far and LT is clearly outplaying him.  Greene still delivers punishing hits but he doesn't seem to be showing the burst that he had in last year's playoffs.

• Penalties- I'm not sure who to put this one on specifically but this team will never win a Super Bowl with the amount of penalties that are being committed.  The Slauson holding call erased a Mark Sanchez TD run and there were plenty of other penalties which could have cost the Jets the game.  This has been a huge issue in the first few weeks and it's something that needs to be fixed.

Overview:

The Jets will look like a completely different team when they play the Dolphins next time.  They are the only team in the league which can boast that they have 3 potential pro bowl players returning in the next few weeks.  The infusion of Santonio Holmes, Calvin Pace, and Darrelle Revis into this lineup should make this team scary in a few weeks. If Sanchez keeps throwing the ball the way he is and LT continues to run with the passion, fire, and burst of a 25 year old we should be looking at good things in the near future.  We travel up to play the Bills next week in what should be a win.  

Jets v. Dolphins

The Jets go down to Miami to take on the Dolphins on Sunday Night Football.  The Jets need a win to avoid falling into a 2 game hole in the AFC East behind the Dolphins and Rex Ryan is looking for his first win against the Dolphins as the Jets coach.  A lot of the talk this week has revolved around Braylon Edwards and his drunk driving arrest earlier in the week which will put him on the bench for the first quarter of tonight's game.


What to watch for...

• It has been announced that the Jets will be without Edwards for the first quarter of the game.  This shouldn't play too much of a factor on the game as the Jets will probably just keep the ball on the ground and play solid defense in the first quarter.  Even without Edwards, Sanchez was good last week at finding Dustin Keller.

• Rex Ryan is looking for his first ever win against the Dolphins after falling to two crushing losses last year. Rex will have a defensive gameplan drawn up which should confuse Chad Henne and an average Dolphins passing attack.

• The key to this game on defense will be the Jets handling of Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.  If the Jets front line can stop the run game, as they have done all year, I don't see the Dolphins doing much on offense.

Who to watch for...

• Shonn Greene and LT will have to control the run game in order to give Sanchez time to throw.  Greene hasn't had his breakout game yet this year and hopefully today we can see the same guy we saw last year in the playoffs.  

• Antonio Cromartie has to play the same way he did in the second half of last game if the Jets hope to shut down Brandon Marshall.  Cromartie has to avoid stupid penalties if the Jets want to win this game.

Game Overview:

I look for the Jets to come out in the first quarter establishing the run to open up the game for Mark Sanchez later.  The defense has been rock solid so far and I don't see that changing tonight as long as the Jets can shut down the Dolphins running game.

Prediction:

Jets- 17

Dolphins-13

Game Overview: Jets v. Patriots

Jets- 28
Pats- 14

Mark Sanchez and the Jets offense came alive in the second half today as the Jets defeated the Pats 28-14.  Mark Sanchez and LT provided a huge spark in the second half as the Jets offense dominated the Patriots defense.  The defense suffered a major injury (minor injury but major name) in the first half when Darrelle Revis came up lame on a touchdown pass to Randy Moss and had to leave the game with hamstring troubles.  We will get more info on Revis in the coming days but my guess is that he will be held out of practice all week and will hopefully be able to start next week against Miami.  However, even without Revis the Jets defense showed a lot of life in the second half.  Cromartie took on Revis's role of covering Randy Moss and played a pretty good game.  He collected his second interception and assisted in Pool's interception.


Thumbs Up:

• Mark Sanchez:  Mark Sanchez played one of the best games of his career today in finishing 21/30 for 220 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Brian Schottenheimer opened up the playbook today and seemed to do everything he was afraid to do last week.  The Jets allowed Sanchez to throw in running situations and got Braylon Edwards heavily involved right from the start.  Sanchez seemed committed to throwing the ball downfield and it was a great thing to see.  

• LT:  Tomlinson played a great game today and showed outstanding burst.  Tomlinson runs hard on every play and is showing why he is considered one of the greatest running backs of all time.  There are few times when he goes down at the first contact and showed great speed to get around the edge.  

• Brian Schottenheimer:  The three thumbs up are all going to offensive people partly because of how bad the Jets offense was last week and how much they improved.  Schotty expanded the playbook today and didn't back away from giving Sanchez a chance to throw the ball down the field.  I am extremely excited to see what he can come up with when the Jets best WR Santonio Holmes gets on the field.

Thumbs Down:

• Offensive line: I'm not sure who individually to put this on so I will just point out that the offensive line had a pretty horrible game in pass protection.  Sanchez seemed to be moving around in the pocket a ton, especially in the first half.  The pass protection needs to greatly improve or the Jets could be looking at an injury to Sanchez in the near future.

Game Overview:

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the way that game turned out.  The Patriots looked great last week against the Bengals (a pretty good team) and we managed to beat them by 14 points.  The defense will not face many challenges greater than attempting to shut down that offense (especially without Revis) and responded by only giving up 14 points.  The main concern for the last week, the offense, was a completely different animal from what we saw last week.  Sanchez threw the ball great and Tomlinson looked like he did a few years ago showing some great burst and making people miss.  Schotty opened up the playbook and called more plays where Sanchez looked downfield and also got back to throwing the slant routes that Sanchez is so good at.  With the Dolphins game coming up next week this win was necessary and the Jets responded.

Game Preview: Jets v. Patriots

The Patriots come to the Meadowlands today to take on the winless Jets.  The matchup everyone will be focusing on this week is Randy Moss vs. Darrelle Revis.  Revis called Moss a "slouch" after their first matchup last year where Revis shut down Moss.  However, the most important matchup for the Jets defense is probably Welker against whoever the Jets put against him.  Whether this be Cromartie or Wilson, somebody will have the all important job of shutting down Welker.  The Jets need this win as the Dolphins are 2 minutes away from a win against the Vikings and the Patriots already won last week.  A loss in this game would put the Jets 2 games behind both the Patriots and the Dolphins which is not the way you want to start the season

What to watch for....

• The Jets crowd was pumped up last year for the first  meeting between the Jets and Patriots and this was a major factor in helping the Jets take down the Pats.  Ryan is looking for the stadium to be rocking today which could help to throw off Brady's passing attack which was spot on last week.  
• Revis v. Moss is always a fun battle to watch.  Revis will have the opportunity to show once again that he is the best cornerback in the NFL as he takes on one of the NFL's best receivers in Randy Moss.  There has been no shortage of words between these two as they prepare to do battle today. 

Who to watch for...

• Antonio Cromartie was picked on last week by Joe Flacco and the Ravens and I would not be surprised to see something similar this week.  Brady knows how to take advantage of defenses and will be ready to pick on Cromartie.  The Jets will be sending tons of blitzes at Brady and Cromartie cannot commit the number of penalties that he did last week.
• Mark Sanchez and Schotty both have to improve their games on offense this week.  Schotty needs to vary the playcalling and give Sanchez a chance to throw the ball downfield.  Sanchez needs to look past his check downs and take some chances down the field to open up the running game.
• Shonn Greene is the Jets starting RB and needs to start playing like it.  Greene can't put he ball on the ground and needs to have a good game if the Jets hope to move the ball down the field.

Game Overview:

The Jets have a chance to take down the Patriots this week and with the Dolphins and Patriots looking to move to 2-0 they need to capitalize.  Most of the attention will be paid to Mark Sanchez on offense but if the Jets can get the ball moving on the ground they should be able to win this game.  Greene needs to punish them early and Schotty needs to make some playcalls that allow Sanchez throw the ball down the field.

Prediction:

Patriots- 17

Jets- 10

Losing Jenkins

Sad, but expected, news came out of Jets camp last night as we learned that the Jets have lost DT Kris Jenkins to a torn ACL in his left knee.  This news is devastating to Jenkins future and my guess is that he will probably retire rather than undergo another round of surgery and intense recovery.  Jenkins is an unbelievable player when healthy and fought back hard to get back to the point where he was healthy enough to play.  It is sad that his career ends with this result but he should be regarded as one of the best defensive lineman of this generation.  Although he wasn't healthy with the Jets for very long, he was a great team player and leader.

To replace Jenkins the Jets have signed DT Howard Green.  Green played 12 games for the Jets last year and will step into the backup role behind Sione Pouha.  The Jets were thin at defensive line after losing Jenkins so this was a necessary signing before facing the Patriots.  There were a few other moves yesterday as the Jets released fan favorite Danny Woodhead and picked up WR David Clowney.  Clowney gives the Jets another receiver option (we were down to 3).  Actually throwing the ball downfield would seem to be the logical step before signing more WR but the Jets don't seem to realize that.  They probably felt that Woodhead was not going to see the field and he was simply not the same caliber receiver as Clowney.  My guess is that we will see Woodhead around here some more sometime in the future.  

An unsung hero of Monday night was OLB Bryan Thomas. Thomas recorded 9 tackles and 1.5 sacks and has really come into his own in this defense.  Thomas was a first round draft pick a number of years ago and has widely been viewed as a disappointment.  However, over the last few years Thomas has grown into a very good run stopping linebacker and is a pretty good pass rusher.  With the continuing saga of Vernon Gholston playing out around the Jets linebacker unit it is nice to see a former "bust" succeed.

Until tomorrow...  

A Day After

I've gone over this loss in my head a bunch of times and it surprises me each time how close we were to winning that game.  Off the top of my head I can name 5 moments that, had they gone differently, would have resulted in a Jets win.

1.) The Braylon Edwards illegal shift penalty on Dustin Keller's catch at the 3 yard line.  The Jets were up 3-0 and driving down the field when Mark Sanchez hit Keller on a route down the middle of the field that would have put the Jets at the 3 yard line with a first down.  Instead, Braylon gets called for an illegal shift and we get pushed back 5 yards and the play is called back.

2.)  The Braylon Edwards running into the kicker call.  This call was HUGE and allowed the Ravens to get their only touchdown of the game.  If Edwards doesn't run into the kicker (I can hardly blame him because of how athletic the play was) the Ravens don't go on to score that touchdown.

3.) The Kyle Wilson pass interference call in the end zone.  The Ravens were driving at the end of the half (after the Edwards penalty) and this call put them on the 1 yard line with under a minute to go.  I am fairly confident they would not have scored if Wilson doesn't commit this penalty.

4.)  Shonn Greene's fumble after Cromartie's interception was a huge turning point in this game.  The interception put the Jets on the Ravens 30 yard line with a 6-0 lead and could have led to a game-cementing drive.  However, on the first play from scrimmage Greene fumbles and this leads to the Ravens scoring drive.

5.) The Dustin Keller 4th down play at the end of the game didn't cost us the game but it was such a boneheaded play that it deserves a mention.  Keller has to make sure to get the first down in that situation and he clearly had a chance to turn up the field and at least get an extra yard.

Overall, the more I think about the game, the more infuriating it becomes.  I only mentioned this in passing yesterday but we are all awaiting news of Kris Jenkins injury and I am not expecting good news.  Jenkins had surgery on that knee last year and we should know more tomorrow after an MRI.  Jenkins is one of the my favorite players and really seemed to be pumped for this year so I am hoping it is just a sprain.

Like I said yesterday the playcalling on offense needs to change.  For some reason we did not see any of the slants which were Sanchez's saving grace in last year's postseason.  Nor did we see any screen passes to beat the Ravens blitz.  The offensive line needs to step up their game and Slauson needs to get over his first year starting troubles very quickly.  Until tomorrow...

Ravens 10 Jets 9: Game Overview

Ravens- 10

Jets- 9

Jets: 0-1

The Jets came into this game with an offense that was a work in progress.  New pieces were added in LaDainian Tomlinson and Santonio Holmes (out until Week 5) and Mark Sanchez was supposed to be a much improved quarterback than what we saw last season.  What we saw tonight mirrors much of what we saw last season.  Brian Schottenheimer called an EXTREMELY conservative offense  while Mark Sanchez didn't even look capable of thinking about throwing the ball down the field.  It is had to pick out which party is more at fault in this game.  What can be said is that the Jets offense looked as bad tonight as I have ever seen it.  The defense showed up to play tonight and played great with the exceptions of Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson.  Wilson was victimized in his first NFL game and even suffered a fumble (recovered by the Jets) on a punt return.  Cromartie was targeted all game and committed several very costly penalties.  His only positive in this game was a pretty good interception and return.  Overall,  I was very happy with the play of the offense and absolutely disgusted with the play of the defense.

Thumbs Up:

• Jim Leonhard provided a spark on special teams with a pretty good punt return in the first half and another semi good one in the second half.  With a horrible Jets offense any kind of spark was needed and Leonhard at least tried to provide that.
• Bryan Thomas finished the game with 1.5 sacks and really played great on defense.  Along with the other linebackers the Jets held the Ravens to a minuscule amount of yards per carry and did a great job at shutting down the Ravens.  The only touchdown they gave up was the result of a running into the kicker penalty by Braylon Edwards.  
• Steve Weatherford punted great tonight and twice pinned the Ravens inside the 2 yard line.  It is weird to praise a punter in my thumbs up section but he is the only non-defensive player that deserved this.

Thumbs Down:

• Brian Schottenheimer called an absolutely horrible offense tonight.  He was incapable of taking any chances against a suspect Ravens secondary on first downs and the offense he did call seemed overly complicated.  Mark Sanchez seems to think he is Peyton Manning with all the line calls.  I don't know what has to happen but this seems to be the story with Schottenheimer every single year.
• Mark Sanchez played a terrible game.  He never seemed to look downfield and every play was either a check down, a sack, or a Sanchez run.  Unless this offense opens up and the ball gets thrown downfield there is no chance for anything to be successful.  
• Dustin Keller needs to get the extra yard on that 4th down play.  He had plenty of time to quickly turn up field and at least reach the ball over the first down line.  I don't have much more to say about his play but he needs to get that done.
• Penalties, Penalties, Penalties.  Was there any third and long tonight where the Jets didn't commit a penalty.  Even with the horrid offense the Jets could have won this game if they had cut out two penalties.  First is the Braylon Edwards running into the kicker and shortly after was the Kyle Wilson pass interference.  This team needs a dose of discipline.  

Notes: Kris Jenkins went out in the first quarter with an injury to the same knee that knocked him out all of last year and I don't expect the news to be good.

Game Thoughts:

If the Jets offense doesn't come alive in the coming weeks we are going to suffer through a lot of these games this year.  The defense is superb and will finish top 3 in the league if everyone manages to stay healthy.  However, for the Jets to win this tough division they need to get some offense going.  I realize that the Ravens have a very, very good defense so I am willing to give the offense a break for this week.  However, in the coming weeks I need to see something more before I proclaim this team to be as good as they talk 

Game Preview: Jets v. Ravens

After a busy offseason and months of waiting opening day is upon us.  The Jets will host the Ravens at 7 PM tonight on Monday Night Football as they open one of the most anticipated seasons in recent memory.  The Jets didn't get lulled into a false sense of security after a good playoff run last year and instead went out and made some moves which should greatly improve the team.  The additions of LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Cromartie, and Jason Taylor should all play a huge factor in tonight's game against a very good team.

What to watch for...

• The Jets prolific running attack will be facing one of the best defensive front sevens in the league tonight.  The Jets led the league in rushing last year and figure to be near the top this year.  The Ravens front 7 is anchored by DT Haloti Ngata and MLB Ray Lewis and should be a formidable defense against the Jets running game.  The Jets will be cautious in this one early and I could see a very disappointing offensive first half running the football.

• The Jets offensive line play will greatly depend on the play and maturity of newcomer Matt Slauson.  The Jets will be in trouble if Slauson's suspect pass protection forces Sanchez to hurry too many of his throws.  Another worry is the play of RT Damian Woody.  Reports have said that Woody looks a step slower this season and may not be playing up to the same form he did last season. 
• The Jets defense finished #1 in the league last year and made several key additions this offseason.  CB's Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson will join Darrelle Revis in a secondary which hopes to be even better this season.  Jason Taylor will start at OLB for Bart Scott and will be given the opportunity to show that he can regain some of his old form.  

Who to watch for....

• Darrelle Revis: Normally Revis is somebody that will rarely get mentioned in this part of the preview as somebody to watch for because he is so good and consistent.  However, with only a week of practice under his belt and coming off a prolonged holdout Revis may be tested early by Joe Flacco and Anquan Boldin.  Revis will have to prove early that he can duplicated last year's form and force the Ravens to throw away from Boldin and towards Cromartie's side.
• Mark Sanchez: The Jets worked all offseason to load up the weapons around Sanchez to give him a better chance to succeed in the passing game.  Sanchez cannot make decisions that cost the Jets the game.
• Shonn Greene: If Greene can get going early it will make life much easier on Mark Sanchez and the rest of the Jets offense.  The offense needs to control the clock and wear down the Ravens front 7 in the first half to set up scoring opportunities against a tired Ravens defense in the second half.

Game Overview:

The Jets come into this season with a target on their backs and with extremely high expectations.  Rex Ryan has created a new culture for the Jets and that should be evident tonight.  The Jets and Ravens are two of the toughest teams in the league and both should be looking to run it down each other's throats.  I see this as an extremely even, low scoring game which the Jets should win simply because they are home.

Prediction:

Jets: 13
Ravens: 10