Well, it was our Home Opener vs our most hated division Rivals - The Patriots. It's been almost a decade since we beat the Patriots at home losing 8 straight, the longest home losing streak to a single team in Jets history. This had been a heated rivalry from the days when Parcells quit in New England to come to the Jets, stealing Curtis Martin and then Belicheck quitting as HC of the NYJ after a few hours. Then, the Mangini vs. Belichick wars which lead to Spygate. It doesn't help that this team had won 3 Super Bowls (should have been 4 during that almost perfect season). So, this has been a huge rivalry and both teams were coming in to the game undefeated at 1-0 with the winner taking sole possession of first place.
The Jets attitude has changed. Rex Ryan didn't want to "kiss Belicheck's rings." Kerry Rhodes had said he wanted to embarrass the Patriots. And Rex Ryan sent out a call to every season ticket holder to tell them to be loud.
If you look at Jets history, this is a game we lose. We have a rookie Head Coach, a rookie quarterback, a home opener vs our rivals, and high expectations. This mostly results in a heartbreaking loss. However, this is a new regime and it's amazing how times have quickly changed.
The crowd was loud to start the game with the J-E-T-S chant rocking the stadium and the yelling and screaming of DEFENSE when the Patriots offense was on the field.
The game started out ugly as our offense couldn't get in sync. It started out where Sanchez got sacked early. We had some terrible penalities. Leon Washington fumbled. It was ugly. It wasn't until sometime in the middle of the 2nd quarter when we got our first 1st down. It was so ugly that we had a total of 57 yards of offense in the entire first half while the Patriots were well over 150 yards of offense.
Since the offense was stalling only managing to get a field goal, our defense kept us in the game holding the Patriots to just 9 points (or 3 field goals) in the first half. We put a lot of pressure on the quarterback up the middle causing many of Brady's throws to be off target.
In the 2nd half, the Jets came out with a new offense game plan after a nice 45 yard kickoff return from Leon Washington and walked right down the field with a 45 yard reception for Cotchery and then ending with a Sanchez pass to Dustin Keller in the endzone. All of a sudden, the Jets were winning. It's amazing how the offense changed when they allowed Sanchez to throw the ball a bit more often. Man, this guy has an arm. Sanchez finished 14 for 22 for 163 yards, 1 TD and NO interceptions. I'll take it ! However, I do wish we'd run the ball better plus have better play calling on 1st down. Seemed like we were always 2nd and long.
The defense really buckled down in the 2nd half. Darelle Revis made an incredible interception beating Randy Moss to a bomb. This is the 2nd week in a row that Revis shut down a Pro-Bowl receiver. Moss ended up with 4 catches for 24 yards. But, I think the play of the game was when Brady throw a pass in the endzone to a wide open Joey Galloway and out of no where came Lito Sheppard diving in front to deflect the ball away. Amazing.
However, the defense had help. Yes, it was the fans who rocked the stadium to loudness I haven't ever heard inside the stadium before. Three of the four delay of games were caused by the fans cheering. There were also plays that were rushed with 1 second left on the play clock. Some players said after the game that they have never heard it that loud inside the stadium as well. This loudness, combined with the defense that hit Brady seven times, was one of the huge keys to victory. Rex Ryan even game a game ball to the fans which is unheard of if you are a Jets ticket holder. And that lead the defense to pitching a 2nd half shut-out. It was the 2nd straight week where the defense has NOT even allowed a touchdown. Wow...we have a REAL defense.
The Jets scored two more field goals to build a 7 point lead and the Defense took over. The Patriots had the ball back with about 1:48 minutes to go and the defense held its own stopping the Patriots for 4 straight plays to seal the victory.
Some negatives. Jim Leonhard got hurt so hopefully he's okay. Shawn Ellis looked a bit rusty but I'm sure he'll get it going. We still have two more games left to play before Calvin Pace comes back and that should make our defense even stronger. There were way too many penalties for the 2nd week in a row.
There was coaches decision I didn't like. The Patriots punted and we had the ball on the 34 yardline after a facemask penalty. Instead of keeping the ball on the 34, the Jets elected to have the Pats re-kick and then we started with the ball on the 15 yard line. I think you shouldn't take chances on a punt as too many bad things can happen. Keep the ball next time especially if you are on the 34 yard line !
SOME GOOD NOTES:
1. Mark Sanchez, is now 2-0 as an NFL quarterback.
2. The Jets defense held Brady (23-for-47, 216 yards) under 50% for only the second time in his last 22 games.
3. The Jets held the Patriots to three field goals, the first time since 1993 the Jets have gone back-to-back games without allowing a defensive touchdown - the 1st time they've ever done this over the first two games of the season.
4. The Jets broke Brady's 20 game regular-season winning streak.
5. The Jets caused the Patriots to go 0 for 3 in the red zone for the first time since 2003.
6. Rex Ryan named his three captains for the game: Larry Izzo, Damien Woody, and Kevin O'Donnell. All three were Ex-Patriots. Love it !
7. Brady finished without passing for a TD for just the 3rd time in his last 21 games.
