Jets Lose To Falcons, Lose Sight of Playoffs

Three words: Same old Jets. Did anyone expect differently? Really?

In a game the Jets needed to win, Gang Green laid a giant green egg. In what was probably their most winnable game of their final three weeks, the Jets couldn’t find a way to beat the Falcons. The Falcons scored a touchdown with 1:38 left in the game to beat the Jets 10-7.

Seeing how the Jets performed as a whole against the Falcons, there was no way they would have beaten the undefeated Colts or AFC North leading Bengals the next two weeks. The Jets defense did their job like they have done just about every game this season. Their special teams missed opportunities to score points and their offense couldn’t find the end zone other than a long pass in the 1st qaurter. The Jets can’t expect their defense to hold teams to single digit points every week. Their offense can’t score in single digits and expect to win. It doesn’t work this way.

For all of you Jet fans who look at the standings and see the Jets at 7-7, tied with four other teams, save yourself the misery and realize it’s over. Realize it’s over not only because the Jets are low on the tie-breaker totem pole and would need a ton of other teams to lose games, but also because the Jets have to play the Colts and Bengals, both of whom are better than the team they lost to today.

As good as the Jets defense is, and they are tops in the NFL, the team can’t win when their offense and special teams don’t get the job done. For all of the people who are blaming Jay Feely for missing two field goals, they may want to take a look at their quarterback who was picked off three times in the game. Don’t only blame Feely. Also take a look at the holder Kellen Clemens who bobbled a snap that would have been a chip-shot for Feely.

The Jets have lost games this season in torcherous fashion. They’ve been a tough team to watch every week. The next two weeks don’t get any easier. I feel bad for the Mets/Jets fan. For the Yankees/Jets fan, just think… you got your title. Be happy.

Defense Leads Jets Over Buccaneers 26-3

The Jets remain in the thick of the AFC playoff picture with a 26-3 win over the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay. Their defense led the charge with an impressive day while Thomas Jones rushed for two touchdowns on the offensive side of the ball. Rex Ryan’s defense was the story, holding the now 1-12 Bucs to three points and 124 total yards. 

David Harris picked off rookie Josh Freeman on the first play of the game and the defensive tone was set for the rest of the game. The Jets defense limited the Buccaneers to only 15 total yards in the first half and didn’t allow a first half first down. Darrelle Revis and Kerry Rhodes also picked off the Buccaneers’ rookie signal caller in the fourth quarter. 

Jay Feely knocked in four field goals in the first half and Thomas Jones broke through for a 33-yard touchdown and the Jets led 19-0 at the half. A Thomas Jones touchdown run was their only offense in the second half and it was more than enough. The Jets would have most likely shut the Bucs out if linebacker Bart Scott wasn’t flagged for unnecessary roughness in the third quarter. The boneheaded play by Scott was after the Jets stopped the Bucs on a third down. The penalty gave the Bucs a first down and they converted a field goal a few plays later.

Kellen Clemens, starting in place of the injured Mark Sanchez, wasn’t great, but he didn’t turn the ball over and didn’t make any costly mistakes. 

At 7-6, the Jets will have to win their final three games and get some outside help to earn a playoff birth. New England (8-5) and Miami (7-6) both won and remain head of the Jets in the AFC East.

For Jets, Buccaneers Game Comes at Perfect Time

Although the Jets didn’t want to lose Mark Sanchez for any game this season, their week 14 game against the Buccaneers may be the best game to lose him for. The 1-11 Bucs have a rookie quarterback, Josh Freeman, who, similar to the Jets rookie signal caller, has been inconsistent this year. Freeman doesn’t have a number one rated defense to back him up like the Jets do for Sanchez. In fact, the Buccaneers’ defense ranks in the bottom five in most categories. 

Arguably the NFL’s worst team, the Bucs host a Jets team that has won two in a row and have given up just one touchdown in those two games combined. The Jets defense will be able to hold down the Bucs. It’s the Jets offense and more specificly, Kellen Clemens, that has some people worried.

Kellen Clemens is set to start his first game since 2007. The Jets should be able to run the ball all over the Bucs allowing Clemens to not have to drop back more than 20 times. The Buccaneers have one of the worst run defenses in the league. Clemens hasn’t worked with the first team since training camp and this is the first week of practice he’s been throwing to Braylon Edwards, who was acquired from Cleveland during the season. 

Jet fans will worry until the final whistle blows Sunday afternoon, but they should be confident the Jets can win this one. The offensive line will make holes for Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene to run through and Clemens will make plays when he has to. Jet fans can start worrying again on Monday if Rex Ryan says Sanchez can’t play in week 15 forcing Clemens to be the starter against the Falcons.

Kellen Clemens Will Start for Jets in Place of Sanchez

Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez will not start for the first time in his young NFL career. Jets head coach Rex Ryan announced that Kellen Clemens will start in place of Sanchez Sunday against Tampa Bay.

Sanchez sprained the PCL in his right knee diving for a first down in the third quarter of last Thursday night’s game against the Bills. He did not return to the game.

“Mark’s a little upset with this decision, but I think it’s in the best interest of him,” Rex Ryan told the Associated Press.

The Jets are 6-6, tied with the Dolphins, and one game behind the division leading Patriots.

Revis, Defense Dominate Bills in Jets 19-13 Win

Darrelle Revis is the best cornerback in the National Football League. The Jets played another game and Revis shutdown another star receiver. Revis is asked to cover the top receivers in the league every week mainly by himself and he never disappoints. Thursday night was no different as Revis held Bills receiver Terrell Owens to 31 yards on three catches. Revis cemented the Jets 19-13 win with an interception late in the fourth quarter.

The Jets missed some opportunities to put points on the board in the first quarter but luckily it didn’t come back to haunt them. Mark Sanchez missed a wide-open receiver in the end zone and a wide-open Braylon Edwards dropped a perfect pass from Sanchez that would have been an 84-yard touchdown. Instead of being up 14-3, the Jets and Bills were tied 3-3 after the first quarter. The way the Jets defense was playing all the offense needed to do was not turn the ball over and put Jay Feely in field goal range every time they got the ball. Feely converted four of four field goals and the Jets only touchdown came when Sanchez hit Braylon Edwards for a 13-yard touchdown with 0:44 seconds remaining in the first half.

Sanchez left the game in the third quarter with a right knee injury. Sanchez tweaked his knee while diving for a first down. He did not return to the game. Kellen Clemens replaced Sanchez and wasn’t asked to do much, although he made it interesting when he fumbled deep in the Jets’ territory but D’Brickashaw Ferguson jumped on the ball. The Jets kept the ball on the ground for the most part after Sanchez limped off. Thomas Jones ran for 109 yards on 23 carries and Shonn Greene ran for 59 yards on 11 carries. The Jets ran for 249 yards as a team. 

Defensively, on the opposite side of Revis, Lito Sheppard looked good shutting down whoever he was covering. Other than giving up a 38-yard catch to Lee Evans in the first quarter, Sheppard played just as good as Revis. The Bills threw for just 98 yards in the game and Ryan Fitzpatrick only completed 39.1% of his passes.

The Jets are 6-6 and need the Dolphins to beat the Patriots this weekend to be one game out of the division lead. The Jets have an extended week and travel to Tampa Bay to play the 1-10 Bucs next Sunday.

Sanchez Named Jets’ Starter

The Jets’ first round draft pick, Mark Sanchez, has been named the Jets’ starting quarterback by Rex Ryan, beating out the Jets’ 2006 second round draft pick, Kellen Clemens.  Rex Ryan appeared on 1050 ESPN radio today and said the competition between Sanchez and Clemens was tight but his gut told him to go with Sanchez.

It was Sanchez’s job to lose since the Jets traded up to the fifth pick in order to select Sanchez in this year’s draft.  Neither quarterback was able to take a commanding lead in the competition and their preseason statistics were very similar.  Clemens spoke to the media a while after being told of the decision and said that he had a fair chance to win the job and just didn’t get it done. 

Sanchez addressed the media and said, “Great news, obviously. At the same time, I was appreciative of Kellen and he was the first one to talk to me after the meeting. A real standup guy. It takes a real standup guy to address you like that and he said, ‘Hey man, I’m happy for you.’ He said, ‘I’m behind you 100 percent and this is something great. Take it and run with it and we’ll be in this thing together. I’ll be your eyes on the sideline.’ And that was really special to me. That meant a lot.”

Rex Names Jets’ Starting Quarterback

Rex Ryan has named Mark Sanchez the Jets’ starting quarterback. This comes to no surprise as Sanchez was expected to be named starter for the last week. Kellen Clemens did nothing to make Rex choose otherwise.

Jets Preseason and Jets’ Players Positive Tweets

It’s just the preseason.  It’s the time where players and teams get a chance to work the kinks out before the games matter.  The Jets are 0-2 in their first preseason games but nobody cares about preseason records.  The Lions were 4-0 in the preseason last year and went 0-16 in the regular season.  We look at individual efforts in the preseason.  How is the team meshing?  How well are the getting accustomed to the pace of a game rather than practice? 

There has been some Jet quarterback bashing by some members of the media that I do not agree with.  Some media members are already questioning the defense.  My answer to these people is to give it time.  Sanchez and Clemens don’t even have a full game of stats combined.  Rex will make the decision on a starting quarterback when he is comfortable and the Jets’ defense is going to be fine.  Rex isn’t going to give out all of his defensive plans in the preseason is he? No, he is going to hold off on some of the plays and schemes for when it counts. 

So let’s all take it easy and be positive like the Jets players.  Here are some recent tweets from Jets players reguarding the team and how things are going. 

damienwoody:  i really like our team! we’re going 2 be better than what people give us credit for

chansistuckey: Tough loss but love the way we competed. Gonna be an exciting season

kerryrhodes: once we have all our pieces in tact we r gonna b super tough! not just jenks and revis but also strickland at the nickel and we didnt really give flacco alot of different looks lol dont b 2 amazed! i like wat we did in that game at end of day!

Neither Sanchez nor Clemens Grasp Lead in QB Battle

Mark Sanchez’s first pass of the game was a touchdown…  For the Ravens.  Sanchez’s first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Haloti Ngata.  

Mark Sanchez’s last pass of the game was a touchdown… For the Jets.  Sanchez hit Leon Washington for a 19 yard touchdown.

Sanchez’s game started poorly but he adjusted and ended his game in a high note.  It shows a lot for a rookie quarterback to not fold against a great defense when running into trouble early on.  Sanchez had a respectable game minus his first two passes (his second pass was a dropped interception).  

Although it feels like Sanchez’s job to lose right now, neither Sanchez nor Kellen Clemens put themselves ahead of the other tonight.  They both played so-so and so-so isn’t going to lead the Jets to the playoffs (unless the defense is out of this world).  

Leon Washington may have been the only bright spot for the Jets in the game.  Washington’s performance and hard work is deserving of a new contract.

Sanchez Shines in His First and Only Drive

I feel sorry for you Kellen Clemens.  Mark Sanchez entered the first preseason game at the end of the first quarter to a loud ovation by Jets faithful and then led the Jets on a touchdown drive during his first series.  His first pass was a 48 yard heave to David Clowney and he hooked up with tight end Dustin Keller twice on the drive.  Sanchez and Keller seem to have some chemistry.  It took Sanchez and the Jets eight plays to go 93 yards and score on a one yard Thomas Jones run up the middle.  

Clemens has to be thinking this isn’t fair.  He completed all four passes he threw for 24 yards.  Sanchez had 88 yards on and completed three of four passes on his initial drive.  Sanchez has learned this offense quickly and I believe he will be the starter come week one.