Season Saved !

It’s amazing how things can change in six short days in the NFL.

After the Jets stunk up the new house on Monday night, they entered a “must-win” divisional game against the Patriots. Thoughts of another Jets disappointing season were swirling around the stadium and us Jets fans are familiar with heartbreak and the thought of a 0-2 start was felt like a pit in all of our stomachs.

But, it looked like the Jets were up for the challenge beating the Patriots 28 to 14 on a Sunday afternoon in September that felt as warm as an August Day in finally getting their first win in the new stadium.

In the first quarter, things were looking bleak with a long Patriots drive that eventually ended in a missed field goal. When the Jets got the ball, they were three and out before putting the ball back in the Patriots hand for another long drive that ended three minutes into the 2nd quarter that ended with a touchdown. Basically, the Jets had the ball about a minute over the first 17 or so minutes of the game. Then, things started to change as Schottenheimer finally unleashed Sanchez and let him throw the ball in route to his best regular season game as a pro

Sanchez drove the team down the field that was culminated by a Braylon Edwards touchdown in the corner of the endzone to tie the score. Unfortunately, the defense suffered a quick letdown ending with a hurt Revis letting Randy Moss get by him for an amazing one handed touchdown reception. That was the last we saw of Revis that day as his lack of training camp re-injured that hamstring that he already tweaked in practice earlier in the week. This really irritates me. I know he says he was working out but missing an entire training camp isn’t the same as working out. It’s a totally different animal being out there on the field as opposed to being in the gym or running sprints on your own time. So, all of that guaranteed money got us a Revis that will take weeks to get back to 100% which will include some missed games to heal.

The Jets were now down 14-7 and things looked bleak as the Patriots drive was so quick and fast that they looked unstoppable. Luckily, instead of doing nothing with the ball, we actually put together a nice drive before the half ending in a Nick Folk 49 yard field goal to cut the lead to 14-10. You have got to like the way Folk is playing this young season so far booting a few long field goals for us.

At halftime, the defense made some nice adjustments, blitzing less, and dropping more guys back into coverage. The Patriots gained only 80 yards the entire second half and that was without Revis, with out Jenkins (and also Calvin Pace). This was also with out Jason Taylor for the 2nd part of the fourth quarter as well. Eric Smith also got banged up in the second half and we still confused the Patriots.

Cromartie had a nice interception at the 3 yard line to crush a potential Patriots score. The Jets turned around and had a hell of a drive from the three to the Patriots 36 yard line to set up another Nick Folk field-goal to bring the Jets within one.

And the offense finally took over the game with another Sanchez drive ending with a Cotchery touchdown and a 2-pt. conversion to Edwards to increase our lead by seven. What was impressive about this is that Nick Mangold went out of the game with a shoulder injury and this drive was accomplished with Rob Turner playing center.

The lead was then increased with a drive ending in a Keller touchdown which turned out to be the final score of the game. Sanchez ended up with 3 touchdown passes, going 21 for 30 for 221 yards and NO interceptions. Wow, that’s a hell of a game.

The defense was amazing. Jason Taylor had his biggest play of a Jet in the fourth quarter sacking Tom Brady and forcing a fumble. Cromartie redeemed himself from Monday night’s poor performance, notching an interception and holding Randy Moss to zero catches in the second half and just two catches all game. The defense also held Wes Welker to just two catches for 36 yards all game. One of the amazing stats was holding the Patriots rush to just 52 total yards or 2.6 yards per carry which in which Sione Pouha and Mike Devito were vital players in stopping the run.

Drew Coleman played solid in Revis’ absence as well as Brodney Pool getting an interception after coming into the game when Eric Smith went down.

As for the offense, Sanchez doubled his passer rating from Week #1 with a 124.3 QB rating. Mark was 11 of 12 on second downs for 82 yards and six first downs. It was a career day for our Sanchise with three touchdown passes, his most completions with 21 and his higher passer rating. And get this; he was 11 for 11 on the Jets’ three touchdown drives! And just as impressive, in his 51 pass attempts this season, there has not been an interception.

But, it wasn’t just Sanchez; Dustin Keller had a great game with 7 catches for 115 yards. LT ran 11 times for 76 yards with Shon Greene darting for another 52 yards. The offense line looked sharper giving Sanchez more time to throw and creating some bigger holes for the ground and pound running game.

This was a true team performance and was must better not getting penalties only getting 6 for 58 yards which is still a little to many but much better than the penalty fest on Monday night. And our third down efficiency was much improved going 6 for 13 after a horrific 1 for 11 against the Ravens.

Now, the dreams of a magical season are back in tact. Next Sunday, the Jets play for 1st place against the Dolphins. Can you imagine how pumped up Jason Taylor is going to be in facing his former team. Let’s start the chant now: Squish The Fish!