An Unbelievable Loss

I'm still in a state of shock that we actually lost that game last night.  For 54 minutes the defense played an amazing game.  I think the Broncos started drives on our side of the field 4 or 5 times and came away with 3 points.  The playoff hopes aren't dead, but it isn't looking good.

Some Observations:

1.) For the first time, I am losing hope in Mark Sanchez.  He looks extremely tentative throwing the ball and his accuracy is suffering because of that.  If he had waited an extra half second in the pocket Santonio Holmes would have had an easy touchdown.  Instead, he threw the ball too early, while under no pressure, and Von Miller made a good play and tipped it away.  The interception for a touchdown was unacceptable in that situation.  The Broncos offense couldn't move the ball 10 yards the entire half and Sanchez decides to hand them a touchdown.  The offensive line isn't playing well (I will get to that in a second) but Sanchez has to adapt.  I believe that Sanchez has the intelligence and arm to play quarterback in the NFL.  I think there's something seriously messed with his internal clock.  There are times when he holds the ball for way too long and gets sacked and there are others when he seems terrified of a sack and releases an off balance throw that has no chance of being caught.  I don't know if there is a way to "fix" Sanchez but my initial thought is that it is not going to happen this year.

2.) The offensive line play can be summed up in one play.  Sanchez took a one step drop and throws a ball parallel to the line of scrimmage to Santonio Holmes and gets absolutely destroyed.  Now, how exactly do you let your quarterback get hit on a one step drop?  I'm pretty sure nobody has an answer for that question.  Wayne Hunter is terrible at right tackle and it is becoming more and more apparent each game.  He is letting Sanchez get hit way too often and I'm not sure how Rex still defends him.

3.) Brian Schottenheimer (or Shittenheimer if you prefer) is going to be the person to take the fall for this team's offensive performance.  It is really hard for a fan to fairly evaluate an offensive coordinator's job performance but like the offensive line, one play last night summed it up.  The Jets had a 3rd and 5 inside Broncos territory when Schottenheimer calls a direct snap to Joe McKnight.  Now, if you make this call with Shonn Greene or LT it is understandable.  Maybe you catch the linebackers on their heals expecting pass and you rip off a nice gain up the middle.  However, calling this play with a 3rd string running back is absolutely uncalled for.  This was a huge conversion that the Jets needed and Schottenheimer expects the third string running back to get his hands on a direct snap! Absolutely unbelievable.  If I were Rex I would fire the guy today.  Hand the job off to Callahan or see if Tom Moore wants to fill in for the end of the season.  Anything beats crap like that play call.

4.) The final play was another play call which absolutely baffles me.  You have a quarterback who you know if not going to throw the ball.  Rex has even said that he told his defensive players that there was no way Tebow was going to throw in that situation.  So, what does the logical person do in that situation on 3rd and 5 where the main object is preventing a touchdown?  Spy Tebow with David Harris (which we did all game anyways) and set the edge on the outside.  I am no football expert but that is just logical.  You want to make him throw the ball or you want him to run inside where somebody puts a body on him.  What do the Jets do?   Send an all-out blitz and give the responsibility of setting an edge to Eric Smith.  Like he did all game (and all of last game) Smith takes a horrible angle and gets beat.  Tebow runs 25 yards untouched into the end zone   Great call.

5.) Hey Joe McKnight, HOLD ON TO THE FUCKING BALL! That is all.

6.) One side note to this game was the refereeing.  This DID NOT make us lose this game in any way but I thought I would point it out.  There were about 3-4 hits on Sanchez which seemed like spearing or happened extremely late.  Von Miller is a great pass rusher but I couldn't believe some of hits he was getting away with.  If the Broncos do make the playoffs somebody had better inform him that he can't do that against quarterbacks who the referee respects.

That is all.

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.