Holiday Hell

All I’ve been hearing this season is that we are a “Ground & Pound” team and that our defense is better than it was last year. This is true if “Ground & Pound” means keep running the same plays up the middle for 2 yards. This is also true that our defense is better, better at giving up a ton of yardage. This Jets team demonstrated this in their recent loss to the Bears, the Jets third loss in the last four games...

This game was disgusting on the defensive side of the ball and on special teams. The Jets started off in a quick hole due to lack of defense and then a horrible call by the coaches after already being down three points. It was 4th and short and the Jets were in punt formation. Instead of the ball being punted, Sanchez gets the snap and throws it to Brad Smith who lets the ball hit him right in the hands and drops it. This gives the Bears the ball in great field position and before I could even pee, we were down 10-0 just a few minutes into the game.

One that miserable first quarter ended, things started to change. Sanchez led a perfect drive down the field resulting in a Shon Greene touchdown run. Before you could blink, Dwight Lowery picks off Cutler for another touchdown. The 10-0 deficit was quickly erased and the Jets had all the momentum. Another nice drive later in that quarter put us 21-10 after LT ran one in. At that point, the offense was in sync and the Defense was playing okay.

The end of the 2nd quarter and then the third quarter, the Jets defense fell asleep. Cutler was eating the secondary alive with all the time in the world to throw due to the Jets lack of any pass rush. This team will not go anywhere unless they can get to the quarter back. When you can sit in the pocket for 7 to 10 seconds, you’ll eventually find a receiver and that is just what the Bears did.

Sanchez’ touchdown throwing drought ended when he hit Santonio Holmes for a touchdown but should have had one earlier when Keller dropped a sure TD which we then had to settle for a field goal. Again, another game where the Jets had the big drop that could have changed the game.

Still, the Jets had some time on their second to last drive, down by 4, to do something but some questionable play calling stalled that drive and they had to punt. The defense then came in and instead of stopping them on the first set of downs, they couldn’t stop them until the second set of downs resulting in the rest of the timeouts going away and most of the clock. We were now being set up for another potential Sanchez comeback which didn’t happen when he got picked off immediately.

You would think this team would have responded better knowing what was on the line. They were in a “win and you’re in” position and in typical Jets fashion; they lose but still make the playoffs due to the Jaguars losing in OT.

Now there is a meaningful game against Buffalo to end the regular season. We can’t get the 5th seed and are locked in that 6th spot. However, this team needs momentum. I don’t want them resting players or anything like that. This team needs to get a win under its belt to enter the post season on a high note instead of going into “The Show” as losers of 4 of 5.

It’s bitter sweet. We lost a big game as the Jets always manage too. However, we’d made the playoffs before the last week of the season which is rare for the Jets. I guess, 40 years of frustration, I’ll take it.

Oh No !

Athlete's Foot ?

This is not what we need with two weeks to go !

Foot Fetish Rocks Jets Coach

Not the way I'd like to make the Front Page !

Back On Track

The heart attack Jets were at it again this past Sunday against a Pittsburgh Steelers team they have not beaten on the road in franchise history.

It’s mostly the offense giving the Jets the need to run for your bottle of Tums but this time, instead of a miracle comeback from the offense, we had to sweat it out watching our defense let the opposition walk down the field for a potential game winning touchdown.

There was just two seconds left after the Jets watched the Steelers march down the field. The defense was sickening most of the game allowing a million third down conversions including a disgusting third and 24 on that last drive of the game. This team is in dire need of a pass rush. The opposition’s quarterback has days to stay in the pocket to find a receiver and it seems like on third down, that receiver was mostly found. And what was more concerning was that our punter kept on pinning the Steelers deep in their own end and the defense would play soft. It was almost like we would go into a prevent defense for chunks of the game.

I even thought the defense came up big when the Jets had a three point lead and Weatherford pinned the Steelers deep and we followed it up with a safety to go up by five. However, our offense decided it was best to stop the clock with a bad throw on third down giving the ball back to the Steelers again deep in their own end on another brilliant punt. However, finally, on that last play, we stopped them. Game over. Phewwwww. The losing streak is over. We finally beat a team with a winning record. We beat them on the road. We ended the TD scoring drought. And, we put ourselves in a great position to make the post season now with a 10-4 record with two games to play and a two game lead on the next closest Wild Card teams.

Earlier in the game, Sanchez broke the Jets touchdown streak with a great handoff fake and took it into the end-zone untouched. And that was on a 4th down which was huge. It also showed that this team was able to come back as they were down 17-10 at that point.

The game started off better than anyone could have imagined with Brad Smith taking the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead.

Despite some of Brian Schottenheimer’s questionable calls, the offense did do some things better against one of the better defenses in the league. What was most impressive was that the Jets were able to gain 106 yards on the ground against a defense that only allows 60 yards per game. So, the Ground and Pound, despite ugly at times, was working.

Sanchez had a decent game despite being on the road in cold and snowy conditions going 19 for 29 for 170 yards and no INTs for the first time in the past 19 games. He was helped out greatly by Braylon Edwards hauling in eight catches for 100 yards and made some key third down grabs. Santonio Holmes, in his return to Pittsburgh, also grabbed six catches and if it weren’t for a holding penalty, he should have had seven catches which would have put the Jets in a great position to go up two scores.
The Defense had its moments but one of the biggest was a Jason Taylor tackle in the end-zone for a safety. Revis had a good game despite his other hamstring acting up earlier in the week. However, we couldn’t stop this team on third down. There were way too many third and longs that we let them convert.

This was a true team effort especially coming off the week we had after two straight losses and then the “Trip Gate” incident. We are back. We need to ride this wave. 1986’s collapse is not happening. This victory squished that thought. This is the time where you need to go on a role. We faced adversity in the eye and didn’t disappoint this time. Let’s hope this is the first step in the right direction; a direction that ends in Dallas.

Time To Redeem

The Losing Streak Continues

We all wondered what would happen and how the Jets would respond after getting mauled this past Monday night by the Patriots. We all hoped the Jets would squish the fish. The only thing that was squished is the hope of wining the division after losing to the Dolphins at home by a score of 10-6.

The first loss of the year we had 3 field goals. The second loss of the year we didn’t score. The third loss of the year we had 1 field goal. This fourth loss of the year we had 2 field goals. That’s not a good pattern and now we will have to figure out how to beat Pittsburgh and the Bears on the road if this team wants to make the Wild Card. I don’t want to say it but this is eerily starting too look like the collapse of 1986 all over again. That year we started out 10-1 and lost the last 5 games of the season starting with a Monday Night Mauling. This year we started out 9-2 and were mauled this past Monday 45-3 which is the same score of the mauling 24 years prior. We are now on a two game losing streak. Are you all getting as nauseous as I am? I’m ready to puke as this once promising season where it was looking like we could host two playoff games has now turned into a three game season to try and make it in as the Wild Card.

This was ugly again. For the first time in 40 years, I was now sitting in the rain as I was spoiled the past 39 years with covered seats. So, this was a change for me but players play in the rain all of the time and it look as if this was the first time these Jets played in the rain from the sloppiness I was witnessing.

First of all, we were killed by the Miami Dolphins punter. Every time this guy punted the ball, it looked like it sailed 60+ yards. Reading after the game, their punter had the highest punting average in a single game since 1970 with an average punt of 56.4 yards. So, every time I thought we’d have decent field position, we were backed up much more than I expected. This guy killed us.

The Dolphins lone touchdown was a gift as the Jets only had nine guys on the field. Chad Henne threw for just 55 yards with the entire team gaining only 132 yards and we still lost. So, even though the team had a brain fart on the touchdown, the defense played pretty well all day with Sione Pouha standing out with his best game as a pro. Ever time there was a tackle, it seemed that it was Pouha.

With the poor weather conditions, the Jets offense had some better yardage, a total of 286, but a lot of that was because they were playing from behind and had no choice but to throw the ball in this weather. So, I’m not going to blame weather but the Jets did drop a bunch of balls including a heartbreaking Santonio Holmes drop in the endzone.

The Jets had two turnovers (one fumble, one interception) but Sanchez was not accurate and probably could have thrown 5 picks if the Dolphins could catch. It seemed as if a lot of the game that Sanchez and his receivers weren’t on the same page? What happened to this offense? We have so many weapons and we just don’t use them. We run into piles when we need short yardage. When we need 8 yards, we throw the ball for 5 yards. To me, that’s coaching and it falls on our offensive coordinator, Brian Schottnheimer, who’s needs to open it up. I’d love this to be a change for the future. We also keep on telling teams we are a ground and pound team. Why tell teams anything? If they known we are going to run, we need to them mix it up better. It just seems so predictable this offense and it’s not executed well as we are always playing from behind. Can we ever have a lead?

Our defense played well forcing three turnovers and couldn’t capitalize on good field position. I’m just at a loss for words with this team. Something needs to change and I believe it’s the offense. When this team has moved the ball this season, they are doing it with a more vertical offense. This offense moves more horizontal to the sides. To get to the first down marker, you need to move forward and I’m not seeing this happen as we’ve gone now 8 quarters with out a touchdown. That’s pathetic.

So, we move on to Pittsburgh where the Jets barely win. And now this becomes a must win game as this bleeding has got to stop.

Ain't Gonna Rain On Our Parade !

Still Reeling !

Notes From Last Night

Quarterbacks: Tom Brady (21-of-29, 326 yards, four TDS and a 148.9 passer rating) vs. Mark Sanchez (17-of-33 for 164 yards, three INTs and a 27.8 passer rating.)

Score: Patriots 45, Jets 3.

Coaches: Belicheck (great game plan) vs. Rex Ryan (no game plan, bad use of a challenge, and bad decision to let Folk attempt a 53 yd field goal in a swirling wind)

Names For This Game: Monday Night Massacre or The Rexecution

Replacements: Danny Woodhead (for Kevin Faulk) has the game of his life (104 receiving yards) including a 50 yd. shovel pass and Eric Smith (for Jim Leonhard) gets called for a 36 yeard interference call in the endzone.

Punting: Patriots barely punted vs. Jets’ Steve Weatherford booted a 12 yard punt.

Streaks: Patriots win 26th game at home vs. Jets first road loss in 10 games.

History: Worst loss of Rex Ryan era. Tied for Jets’ 6th worst loss ever. Worst lost for a Ryan defense ever.

Defense: The Jets entered the game as the league’s third-ranked defense, left as No. 8.

Similarities: Jets on Monday night 24 years ago, Nov. 24, 1986, when the Jets were 10-1 lost their 12th game by the familiar count of 45-3, that night in the warmth of Miami. The worst loss in Jets' history was 56-3 to the Patriots in 1979. And now in two games in Foxborough, Ryan and Sanchez have been outscored 76-17 with Sanchez throwing seven interceptions.

What Brady Did: Brady become the youngest quarterback (at age 33) in league history to throw 250 touchdown passes, he eclipsed Brett Favre's NFL record by winning his 26th consecutive regular-season home game.

The Future?: The Jets are now 1-3 against teams with winning records, 7-0 against teams with losing records and 1-0 against the only .500 team they have played, the Dolphins, who come to the Meadowlands on Sunday. Two of their last four games are against winning teams, the Steelers and Bears. The remaining one is against a losing team, the Bills

December: Since Tom Brady's first season as a starter, the Patriots are 34-5 in December, best in the NFL. That includes a 19-1 record at home. That lone loss? December 22, 2002 when the Jets scored 13 unanswered to win 30-17 as Brady managed only 133 passing yards. Since then, the Patriots have won 16 straight December home games.

The 1st Quarter: The Jets allowed 0 1st quarter points through the first 6 games; With 17 allowed tonight, that's 37 over the last 6 games. Jets allowed 10 points and 163 total yards last week vs the Bengals. They have allowed 17 points and 105 yards through one quarter last night.

A Murder In Gillette Stadium

This is how the Jets perform against the Patriots for the biggest regular season game in the Jets team history – they go out and suffer one of the most embarrassing loses in team history.

Police, there was a murder last night in Gillette Stadium. Actually, there has been a mass murder right on the field.

I don’t know where to begin. I started typing this at 38-3 and realistically, I should have begun typing it at 10-0.

What a joke. This team played flatter than a girl who hasn’t started puberty yet. You would think they would play with emotion. They didn’t. You would think they would play smart. They didn’t. You would think they would put up a fight. Well, they were KO’d before half-time.

The coaching was an embarrassment. Rex Ryan has no clue how to manage challenges and time outs. Why would you challenge the spot of a short run if you were going to go for it anyway on 4th down? And then, why wouldn’t you challenge the touchdown where he could have been out of bounds? Why? Because he wasted one challenge that he shouldn’t have used and didn’t want to be left without one for the remainder of the game. And where was our game plan? We had 11 days to prepare for this? Did we not do any homework?

The kicking was terrible. Nick Folk missed one. Nick Folk’s kickoffs were short. Our punting was even worse. The tackling was beyond miserable. And a block in the back penalty negated the one nice run on a kick off.

The loss of Jim Leonard showed. He was missed on punt returns. He was surely missed on defense as Eric Smith had a bad day with a bad penalty in the end zone and some poor coverage throughout.

The offense was pretty pathetic. Yeah, it was cold but that’s December football. Sanchez had 3 bad interceptions the last I counted. The first was a killer as it would have put us within striking distance after half time and make a game out of it. But, things got worse after that pick. There was also too many drops on offense. Not good.

But worse was the defense. Were they still sleeping? Maybe they were drugged. Yeah, that’s it. Kraft was still so pissed off from the whole Spygate Incident that he decided to drop a Xanax in each of the Jets Gatorade cups. That’s what it is.

The way we let Danny Woodhead look like a Pro-Bowler is embarrassing. Yeah, I like the kid you can’t let him run you down like that. We have absolutely zero pass rush. We had a stint of two sacks in a row but that was about the size of it. You’ll never beat a team like this if you give the QB all day to throw the ball.

The Jets just seemed unprepared. The only good I take out of this game is that we split the season series with the Pats. But, that’s it. We barely beat bad teams the last 6 weeks and now got murdered by a good team.

The Jets need to show that they can beat a good team. They must first fry the fish and then go out and beat a team like the Bears and Steelers to convince me that they below in the playoffs.

I’m so mad I can’t sleep. I’m sure every Jets fan is just and disgusted right now.

Here We Go...

One More Day To Wait !

Travelin' In Style

Kill Them !

Prediction

We Inch Closer To Game Day

Bring It On !

It's only Wednesday and I can't wait for MNF !

Get Brady

Jets need some pash rush !

Bring on the Pats !

Bring on the Pats !

A Thanksgiving Win !

It was Thanksgiving Night and the Jets decided they wanted to eat Bengal instead of Turkey as their meal in route to a hard fought 26 to 10 victory setting up a Monday Night Football battle against the Patriots for first place with both teams at 9-2.

There wasn’t a ton to get excited about during the Bengals game. It was another example of this Jets team not being able to put away and beat up on an inferior team. However, they did enough to get the victory.

The offense looked a bit lost at times with the same typical poor play calling. If you need 8 yards for a first down, I’m not sure why Schottenheimer calls plays that are not even close to the first down marker. This has happened way too much during his reign as offensive coordinator. This team has way too many offense weapons for us to not be putting up 30 points a game with ease.

But, this has been a magical season so far and with the offense having some difficulties, Brad Smith stepped up his game with a 53 yard touchdown run as well as a game sealing 89 yard kickoff return.

The sad part of this game was that we went into halftime losing after giving up a touchdown to basically end the first half. However, things changed quickly as the long Smith run to start the 3rd quarter gave this team the lead for good even though the score still remained close for a while.

Special teams then played a major role when a punt grazed a Cincinnati player’s helmet and James Ihedigbo hussled down the field to scoop up the ball. This made up for a prior Ihedigbo mistake when he roughed the kicker on 4th down extending a Cincinnati drive. Mr. Touchdown, Santonio Holmes, reeled in another touchdown pass, to extend the lead but a Bengals field goal kept them close only down 7.

Then, the defense really buckled down in the 4th quarter and notched two points with a safety near the end of the game. Jim Leonard had a huge interception in the 2nd quarter which seemed like ages since the last Jets interception.

But one of the huge stories of the game was the play of Darelle Revis on T.O. T.O. had called Revis an average cornerback. Hmmmm. Three Catches for a pathetic 17 yards Mr. Owens had. I guess if Revis is just average, T.O. sucks !

Anyway, I don’t want to harp too much on this game. Now, comes the meat of the schedule and it’s time to see what these Jets are really made of. Bring on the Pats!

Happy Thanksgiving

Now...let's win big for once. I'd be thankful for that!

A Jets Heist

Emotions ran high, and then low, and then high again as the Cardiac Jets offense pulled off a heist as they were the thieves in Ocean’s 11 after the defense had thrown away what looked like an easy victory giving up 17 straight points.

Things were looking great with the Jets holding on to a 23-lead and there were no signs that the defense was going to have a 4th quarter meltdown; we were finally going to be able to sit back and enjoy the final quarter of the game. Yeah right. These Jets, while they continue to win, do not make it easy on themselves giving us another heart attack for the fourth time in five weeks.

With 12:00 minutes or so left in the game, the defense gave up a field goal to make the game 23-10. Okay, that was fine. The Jets were just going to go “ground and pound” and rush the ball to eat up some clock with a thirteen point lead. Well, things were going well and then Shonn Greene fumbled the ball. Before I could blink, the Texans hit ex-Jet, Joel Dressen, for a 43 yard TD and we were not just up 6 points. Things started looking bleak and now we were in the middle of the game. I started to feel nauseous. Here we go again.

After doing nothing with the ball, the Texans have a nice drive for a touchdown to go up by one. I could not even believe we were losing this game that we had such a nice lead in. We now needed a field goal and guess what? Sanchez is intercepted deep in their own end. Crap; it was looking like the game was over.

Well, the Defense was ready and held the Texans to just three more points to go up 27-23 with just 55 seconds left. Things were looking bad as we had no more time outs and after a nice kickoff returned, we get called for a personal foul to set us back another 15 yards.

So, it was up to the Sanchize again. Can he pull off another miracle comeback? We may now how to re-nickname him the new Mr. 4th Quarter after what he pulled off. After two quick passes to LT, Sanchez goes back, about 24 seconds on the clock, and hits Braylon Edwards for a 42 yard pass to the Texans six yard line. And, amazingly, he got out of bounds to stop the clock.

There was now 16 seconds left and 2/3rds of the stadium was outside watching on monitors. Mr. Cool goes back and hits Santonio Holmes in the corner, who somehow kept his feet in bounds for the winning score. Santiono does it again as well coming up big in big spots at the end of these crazy games in the 4th quarter.

The Jets are 8-2. We could be 2-8. But, we are 8-2 and are riding a high on this miracle marathon. I hope this race continues as this has been a year like no others -- A year where this team just refuses to win. I hope it continues thru February !

Heart Attack Jets Win Again

The heart attack Jets were at it again this past Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. It was the Jets vs. their old coach, Eric Mangini. It was a homecoming for Braylon Edwards. It was Rex Ryan vs. brother Rob Ryan. It was a bunch of Ex Jets vs. their old teammates. It was all against the team that made the dumb trade for us to draft Mark Sanchez.

I’m definitely going have heart failure watching these Jets as nothing seems to come easy. Our last three wins have been wins that Championship teams are made of; you just find new ways to win games that seem lost at one point.

We got lucky in Denver with the pass interference call. We stole away a victory last week in Detroit with a miracle comeback. And then this week, we give up the lead with 44 seconds left in regulation and then win in overtime with just 16 seconds left. Sometimes luck is just with you and this seems to be one of those years like no other that I’ve ever had. Actually, back in 1998, we had 4 crazy 4th quarter comebacks that season, including the Monday Night Miracle, and that season took us all the way to the AFC Championship Game where the Jets fell apart in the 2nd half after holding a 10 point lead.

It would just be nice if we could win a game with out making us sweat it out at the end. I’d like to see a 31-10 victory already. But, I’ll surely take what has transpired through the first 9 games of the season and I’m surely not complaining about a 7-2 record as it could be a lot worse if the ball didn’t bounce our way.

The story of the game was Mark Sanchez passing for 299 yards, 2 TD passes, and 1 TD rush. But, there was as scare in the 2nd half when our Sanchize went down and Mark Brunell was warming up. However, our fearless leader re-entered the game to eventually lead us to victory. There were a few key plays in the game. There was an amazing scramble my Mark Sanchez who hit a limping Jerricho Cotchery who dove and made a miraculous catch for a first down to keep their drive alive which had put them up by 7 points after connecting a field goal. It could have been the catch of the NFL this season.

Unfortunately, the defense just couldn’t hold the Browns who walked down the field and tied up the game with just 44 seconds left. You would think that with a 7 point lead and the game on the line that our defense would have been able to stop the Browns. It was quite disgusting to watch as we had the game in hand and the defense let it slip away.

But, our lucky Jets, for the 2nd week in a row, won the coin toss. However, it didn’t result in a score. The overtime was back and fourth for a bit but things were looking bleak until the Browns, ex-Jet Chansi Stucky, turned over the ball in field goal range. The Jets then missed a FG in return. Luckily, we were able to get the ball back and Jets were in a 3rd and long situation and chucked the ball deep down field which was intercepted with about 1:34 left in the OT. This turned out to be the crucial play in overtime. The defender should have dropped the ball, forcing the Jets to punt. However, instinct took over and the Browns started with the ball on their own 1 yard line.

Our Defense was now not going to lose this game and before I could let out a deep breath; the Browns were punting the ball back to us with not a lot of time on the clock. It did help that the Browns threw on 1st down stopping the clock. Luckily, Jim Leonhard had a nice 18 yard punt return to help our field position and then on first down, Sanchez hits Santiono Holmes on a crossing route which resulted in a 37 yard TD with just 16 seconds remaining before the game would have been declared a tie. And again the Jets win.

Things didn’t start out pretty. We were playing from behind a lot in the first half. And we didn’t help ourselves with Nick Folk missing three field goals.

The most painful part of the game was coming out in the second half to conduct a 19 play, 10+ minute drive that resulted in zero points due to a missed field goal. Come on…you gotta make that kick.

Again, it wasn’t a perfect Jets victory but it was a victory and that’s all that matters in this game. If the keep playing like they do, I’ll take it as long as they win; but, I would like them to have a complete game already. Bring on the Texans !

Here are some interesting stats of this game:

1. Jets had their second straight overtime win.
2. Jets have won 8 consecutive regular season road games.
3. Jets are the first team to win consecutive overtime road games.
4. It was the first time the Jets won an overtime game on a TD reception since October 18, 1987.
5. The Jets rushed for over 100 yards for the ninth straight game to open the season. They haven’t accomplished that feat since 1978.
6. The Jets deprived the Browns their 500th franchise win.
7. The Jets have not allowed 100 yards to any running back this season.
8. Nick Folk missed a career-high 3 field goals.