A New Year Victory ?

Time to start the new year with a BIG win to make the playoffs !

50 Seasons

The perfect way to end 50 seasons would be to beat the Bengals to make the playoffs while closing down Giants Stadium!

One More !

A win and we're in.
A loss is not acceptable.
We are home.
We have momentum.
We have everything to play for.
The Bengals will probably rest players.
It's the final game of Giants Stadium.
Win a BIG game there before it gets knocked down !

Our Christmas Gift !

A Christmas gift or not a Christmas gift? That is the question. Frankly Peyton, I don't give a damn. I'll take the win no matter how we earned it or how it was gift wrapped. A win is a win and Herman Edwards said it best, "Ya play to win the game." It's not the Jets fault that the Colts rested players. We had an opponent to play against in a must win game. And who know what would have happened if Peyton stayed in? Would he have gotten hurt? Would we have still won? Let me remind you that with Peyton in the game, the Jets were ONLY down 5 points so it's not like we were being murdered and they decided to let us come back and win.

We deserved to win a game like this after BLOWING five games this year - two against the Dolphins, and one against the Bills, Jaguars, and Falcons. This five losses were mind-boggling how we lost those games. Most teams would have NEVER let those games slip away in the final minutes but most teams are NOT the Jets. If we were an experienced, winning organization, we would have WON all five of those games and would have been 12-2 entering last night's game against the 14-0 Colts. Think about it. If we had won those games that no other team in the league loses, we'd be looking at the 2nd seed and a bye. And we've don't it without our best offensive player in Leon Washington and our best defensive player in Kerry Jenkins. But, we are the Jets and nothing ever comes easy. Well, except when Peyton Manning is pulled from the game.

Things were looking bleak after last week's devastating loss to the Falcons. We needed a zillion things to happen but miracles do happen: Titans Lost. Ravens Lost. Dolphins Lost. Broncos Lost. Jets Won ! Yes, you heard me. Jets beat the undefeated Colts by a score of 29 - 15. And again, I really don't care that players were rested. We needed to win the game and can't control what other teams do. And another bonus was the Bengals winning who we play now on Sunday night and the game means NOTHING to them so maybe they'll rest players too. I could care less.

What I do care about is that in this bizarre up and down season, we head into the final game of the season, the last game at GIANTS Stadium, with a chance to make the playoffs in the year we have a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback that is still learning the NFL Game. This can only help Sanchez's career and confidence if he plays another flawless game on Sunday night.

The whole scenario seemed more bleak than back in 2002 when we needed major help. The wild card scenarios didn't go our way so we needed the Patriots beat the Dolphins to make our game meaningful vs. the Packers. However, the Dolphins were winning the entire game and up in the 4th when the Pats staged an incredible comeback. That was the opening we needed for the Jets to play a meaningful game to capture the AFC East. This year the scenarios were more improbably but it all fell our way. Now, let's win the game to erase all the bad memories of Giants Stadium and start a new Era next year. But, let's reminisce on the big win vs. the Colts.

I'm not sure where to even begin. The first half, things were not looking good after the Colts walked down the field to score a touchdown. However, we blocked the extra point on a great reach by Bryan Thomas. That gave the Colts a 6-0 lead and we were not able to muster any offense. Not much later, after some good defense, we were able to hold the Colts to a field goal giving them a 9-0 lead. Finally, we were able to put together a drive but it stalled as usual so the game was 9-3 at halftime. I was not upset as we would start the half with the ball and how can you complain only being down by 6 points on the road to a 14-0 team.

The 2nd half began and Brad Smith caught the ball about 6 yards into his endzone and decided to see if he could pull off a Leon Washington. Ten seconds later, he pulled off a Leon racing for 106 yards and a TD, a new Jets record for longest run and tied for the 2nd longest run in NFL History. All of a sudden, we were now winning the game 10-9 and Peyton Manning was still in the game. There was no gift wrapping anything yet.

However, the lead didn't last too long as the Colts walked right down the field for a touch down. However, they couldn't get the 2 point conversion so they were now only up 15-10. What was bothering me all day was that we kept on getting the penalties called against us and very few calls were going in our favor. Come on refs. Put the flags away or throw them against the Colts once in a while. It was as if the NFL wanted the Colts to go undefeated so let's just flag the Jets all the time.

After our next drive stalled, we punted to pin the Colts back deep. Then, Jim Caldwell gave us a break. On the sidelines stood Peyton Manning with his helmet still on as Curtis Painter ran onto the field to Boooo's. Painter goes back to pass, he's smushed by Calvin Pace who jarred loose the ball. Marques Douglass hops on the ball and rolls into the endzone. TOUCHDOWN ! Thanks Colts. That surely helped. And then Sanchez does something the Jets NEVER get right - hits Dustin Keller for a 2 point conversion. YES ! Jets up again 18-15.

Things then started to happen. Our running game was moving the ball. Thomas Jones went over the 100 yard mark for the 6th time in the past 10 games. We had another Feely field goal followed by Thomas Jones TD run. All of a sudden, the Colts 23 game win streak was over as we won 29-15.

People can say what they want. Maybe it was a Christmas Gift. Maybe it was a Christmas Miracle. Maybe it was hard work paying off. Maybe it was payback for all of the games we blew.

I could care less. Why? Just one win and we're in !

Let The Starters Play !

I want the Colts starters to play so we can attempt to break their undefeated streak with their real players instead of their back-ups.

Can't Just Blame Sanchez

I refuse to put all the blame on Sanchez.

Our offensive plays are so poor and predictible.

We ALWAYS are in 3rd and long situations making the throw and obvious call.

We don't have Leon Washington to be around for a short dump pass as an option when there is no one open down the field.

We also need another wide receiver. Brad Smith is good for a trick play here and there but we need another guy to get open besides Cotcherty, Edwards, and Keller.

Mark definitely makes his share of mistakes but he's trying to make things happen instead of continuing to go Run Run Pass Punt.

Hopefully these mistakes go away after a year of experience.

Look at Troy Aikman's first year - He finished 1989 with an 0-11 record as a starter, completing 155 of 293 passes for 1,749 yards, 9 TDs, 18 INTs.

So, Sanchez is learning on the run as we fix other parts of this team.

Despite all of the interceptions, there are FIVE games we blew - 2 vs. Dolphins, Jaguars, Bills, and Falcons. If we figured out how to win just ONE of them, we'd be sitting in much better shape.

Rex Ryan needs to take some of this blame. The defense needs to take some of this blame. The offense needs to take some of this blame. Special teams needs to take some of this blame. And Sanchez needs to take some of the blame. Oh, and Mike Tannenbaum needs to take some blame not drafting a Wide Receiver in this past year's draft with any of the other picks.

Playoff Scenarios

They way this works out, we have to root for the Ravens to get the 5th playoff spot and root to sneak into the 6th and final spot:

What is scary is that besides the Jets beating the Colts, all of the other scenarios are a possibility: We should have beat the Falcons though.

1.) Jets MUST beat Colts.
2.) Patriots MUST beat Jaguars
3.) Texans MUST beat Dolphins
4.) Bengals hopefully beat Chiefs so they can rest players in week #17
5.) Ravens MUST beat Steelers
6.) Chargers MUST beat Titans
7.) Eagles MUST beat Broncos

Typical Jets Loss !

You've got to add yesterday's heartbreaking loss to a long list of head scratching losses the Jets have had this year including both Dolphins losses, the Jaguars loss, and the Bills loss. Now, take this Atlanta loss that's 5 loses that ONLY the Jets would ever lose.

"Same Old Jets", "Ghost Of Jets Past", are phrases that have been circulating the newspapers. How about this phrase, "Jets Suck !"

I don't even know where to begin. We had won three games in a row and were home with Mark Sanchez back at quarterback against a dome team that hasn't won an outside cold December road game since 1982. I was freakin' 12 years old the last time they won a game like this. And guess what? We lose.

We had things going in our favor with the Jaguars losing on Thursday night. Miami was also losing on the scoreboard (and wound up losing) and the Broncos eventually lost so we would have been sitting pretty if we figured out to score a few field goals that we botched.

One field goal was a snap misheld by Kellen Clemens and he had to run with the ball for no gain. Another was a high snap that Clemens got down but that screwed up the kick and kick and it got blocked. And there was one were Feely just missed it wide right. Three opportunities blown costing the Jets a potential 9 points.

The defense played great all game until that last drive where they couldn't stop the Falcons like they did all day. It was 4th down and 6 with under a minute and 40 seconds to go. The announcers even said that the ball was going to Tony Gonzalez. Matt Ryan went back to pass and there was a wide open Tony Gonzalez in the endzone for the go-ahead score. How could the announcers know where the ball was going but not the Jets. How could be play brilliant defense all day long but on the last and most important drive of the game, we let them score a touchdown. I was disgusted. All hopes of a playoff run just went down the toilet. The game against the undefeated Colts next week would have been a huge game. Now, does it really matter? Yeah, there is still a slight hope left but this was a game we should have won and needed to win and let it slip away like we've done so many times this season. And this hurts worse as it's late in the season and other teams were helping us out. The Jets defense held the Falcons to just 165 total yards until that last drive. Come on...a game is 60 minutes; not 57 minutes !

Another nauseating part of the game was 4th and goal from the 1 where we went for a field goal instead of going for it with a 7-3 lead and Kellen Clemens dropped the snap and had to try and run for no gain. Result...Jets walk away with ZERO points from the 1 yard line.

The Jets offense was horrific all day. Sanchez (18 of 32 for 226) was his usual self showing glimmers of brilliance like the 60+ yard TD to Braylon Edwards or the shovel pass to Woodhead for a first down but the usual self in Sanchez also throw 3 interceptions. If you throw to the ball to the other team so many times, you are not going to win that many games. The running game was terrible as we couldn't get more than 2 yards a carry. And we had WAY too many penalties. One of the worst was Alan Fanaca's roughness penalty on our final drive putting us back 15 yards with :1:38 left in the game. You need to be smart when down and 15 yards is HUGE when you just need a FG to tie up the game. Another BAD one was Thomas Jones getting flagged for 15 yards when we should have had the ball on the 19 yard line with a first down. At worst, you get a field goal attempt but instead, we were forced to punt. Why be so stupid Thomas. And on the final drive, Donald Strickland got caught with a facemask which was minor but under league rules, it was still a 15 yard penalty putting them in striking distance to the endzone.

I'm just sick over the losses this season. Again, we BLEW 5 games at the end. We are still a flawed team but if we didn't blow just one of the 5, we'd have a great shot of making the playoffs. If we didn't blow 2 of the 5, we'd be in the drivers' seat for the Wild Card. And if we were a WINNING organization, we wouldn't have blown any of them and would be looking the AFC East with a first round bye ! But, these are the Jets and don't do anything right despite the regime running the team.

NOTES:
1.) "The Sanchise," surpassing Joe Namath and setting franchise rookie records for completions (176) and passing yards (2,275).

Defense Wins Games !

It was Kellen Clemens and the Jets in another Must Win game vs the lowly one-win Bucs. History against the Bucs was in the Jets favor only losing to them once in Jets history. However, we had our backup quarterback behind center and it would be typical for the Jets to lose a game to a pathetic team in December destroying all possible playoff hopes. But, we are now 7-6 and tied with three other teams for the Wild Card even though we don't hold many of the tie breaking scenarios, there's still three weeks left for a lot to change.

However, history was in our favor as we were able to beat the Bucs 26-3 despite not really moving the ball much on offense to notch our third straight win.

The game showed a ton about Kellen Clemens; he's NOT the answer. He misses wide open receivers. They didn't let him throw the ball much but when he did, there were not many throws that impressed me. Let's just hope Sanchez is OK to go on Sunday. Clemens finished 12 for 23, 111 yards, playing mistake free ball. So, the good thing was that he didn't throw the ball to the other team but man, some of the throws were quite pathetic. The most embarrassing throw was missing a wide open Jerricho Cotchery in the endzone.

Luckily, we were able to run the ball with Thomas Jones (99 yards & two TDs) and Shon Greene each getting yardage but the story of the game was Brad Smith as we used him in numerous formations where he was the key factor on offense. We had 175 yards of rushing on the ground for the day. The play of the day; however, was Brad Smith on the Fake Punt throwing a 27 yard pass to Eric Smith to keep a drive alive. That call took a lot of balls by Rex Ryan but luckily it paid off or we would have given the Bucs some great field position. We owned the battle of field position all day and wound up with way too many field goals as Clemens was ineffective on 3rd and long.

But, the story of this game was defense. If it wasn't for a stupid penalty by Bart Scott, they could have pitched a shut out. They held the Bucs with out a first down for the first 2+ quarters until Bart Scott gave them their first down on that same stupid penalty. They finished the game getting the Bucs with nine straight three-and-outs. The defense pressured Josh Freeman all day causing three interceptions with one of them happening on the first play of the game by David Harris which set up our first of Jay Feely's four field goals. Revis and Rhodes each snagged an interception of their own. You know things were going well when James Ihedigbo was getting a sack. The Bucs finished with a paltry 124 yards of total offense and just 6 first downs. The defense was dominating and this is after the Bucs offense went for over 450 yards the prior week.

So, we get a much needed win. And now we face another must win game vs. the Falcons. If we win that, then things get much more difficult as we end up playing the Colts and Bengals. Hopefully, neither game will mean much for the opposition. So, let this ride continue and at least it's going to be an interesting December.

Notes:
1.) It was only the second time in 20 years that the Jets produced a takeaway on the first play of a game; the other time was Calvin Pace's strip sack in Week 7 at Oakland.

2.) The Jets forced the Bucs into nine three-and-outs by the defense, the defense's most since Dec. 24, 2000 against the Ravens.

Sanchez Benched

1. Had NO issues with Mark not sliding last week. He's a competitor going for a first down in a must win game.

2. I have issues that he was benched. Let the guy try and practice. He's your starting QB in another must win game. Give him a chance if he can play.

3. Do we really have faith that Kellen Clemens can beat a 1 win team ?

Clemens To Get Start !

At least we are playing the Bucs !

Jets Win But Sanchez Hurt !

It was the 2nd Must Win game in a row and the 2nd Must Win Victory we cashed in. Now, if we can just win four more must win games in a row, we'll be in the playoffs. However, it won't be easy as Mr. Sanchez now has a sprained PCL. But, let's first talk about our 19-13 victory over the Bills which gets us back to even at 6-6.

Yeah, I know Joe Giradi came in during the week to teach Sanchez how to slide but I had NO issues when he dove for a first down yesterday. If he had gone into a slide, we would have been short of a first down. So, he was aggressive and dove for that first down to keep the drive alive. I have no problems if our QB dives for a first down. I have a problem when he doesn't dive or side and gets crunched by the defense. This was a fluke injury when he dove, his knee smashed into the ground. Who's to say that if he went into a sliding position that he wouldn't sprain an ankle or hurt his hip? Everyone is blowing this sliding thing out of proportion. There are times to slide and times not to slide. Yesterday, I was all for him getting the first down in a close MUST WIN game. So, I wish people would get off his case already, especially Rex Ryan. Rex says, "I love the kid, but he has to grow up and understand that he represents our entire organization." Well, maybe if we could get some receivers in that could catch or get open, Sanchez wouldn't have to take it himself and run with the ball. How about that Rex !

Sanchez was having a good game and would have had MUCH better numbers if Braylon Edwards would have caught a bomb when he was wide open. No one was within 20 yards of the guy and he dropped a ball that would have gone for an 80+ yard touchdown. Sanchez finished 7 for 15, 135 yards, a TD, and ZERO interceptions. Luckily Braylon made up for his drop hauling in a TD to extend our lead. But, we didn't need Sanchez to do much as we were able to run all over the Bills for the 2nd straight time gaining 249 yards on the ground. In our two games vs. the Bills this year, we rushed for 559 yards, a Jets record for the most yards against one team in a season. And Thomas Jones had another solid outing rushing for 109 yards and going over the 1,000 yard milestone for the 5th straight year.

The defense was great and Darrelle Revis was all over T.O. who had nine passes thrown in his direction but only hauled in 3 catches for 31 yards. If you add that to the 3 catches for 13 yards T.O. had in their last meeting, he's had a whopping 6 catches for 44 yards and a TD. Plus, Revis covering Owens hauled in another interception. The defense would have had more interceptions but we dropped three of them. All this was helped by the pass rush and constant blitzing strategy we had in place limiting the Bills to just 194 yards of total offense with just 36 yards in the 2nd half. Yup...that's pretty dominating.

And how about Jay Feely. This guy has been solid this year and knocked in another 4 field goals with one of them as long as 49 yards.

But, the story of the game goes back to the Sanchez injury. Kellen Clemens came in and was 1 for 2 for 14 yards but that one completion was a big one which got us a first down and put us in position to go up 2 scores. However, he did look a bit rusty as didn't look comfortable back there with fumbles and indecisiveness.

Now, we have a 10 day break and let's hope Sanchez is a quick healer as we'll need him if we have any chance even if it's against the pathetic Bucs.

Sliding 101

Let's hope Giradi's WSM - World Series Magic - rubs off on Mr. Sanchez.