A Theft In Detroit

As I sat on the couch with my head buried in my hands, I thought about how we just let a golden opportunity slip away against an inferior Lion’s team and how we basically throw away any chance of potentially hosting the AFC Championship Game. I thought that maybe we are not a good team as some of our wins this year were squeakers and we could easily be a below average team.

Things were looking bleak down 10 points with 5:19 to go in the game. The offense couldn’t get it going. Part of the issue was all the penalties and fumbles but after the defense crushed Matthew Stafford, the offense got the ball back. However, there was nothing to make me think that they were going to wake up from this hibernation they’ve been on since the bye week, sleeping through 4 quarters last week, and sleeping for much of the game this week.

Then, our Sanchize got hot when we needed him most. Sanchize drove the team down the field and scored on a quarterback sneak with about 3:01 on the clock. However, with the officials not knowing it was a touchdown, the clock kept on ticking for another 15 seconds until it was finally called a touchdown. Okay, we were back in the game but still needed the ball back.

I was expecting an on-sides kick since earlier in the game we wasted two timeouts on the same drive when Detroit eventually scored a touchdown. You can’t waste two timeouts by the defense by having too many men on the field. That is truly unacceptable. And the team shocked me by deciding to kick it off and let the defense stop them. So, on first down, we stop the run and call timeout. On second down, we stop the run and it’s the two minute warning. And then Detroit did something extremely dumb; they attempted to throw the ball and it went incomplete. Clock stops before the punt.

Now the Jets have the ball and all we need is a field goal to tie it up. Wow. We shockingly have a game. This was unexpected to be cheering at the end of this game. And, with no timeouts, Sanchez leads a 9 play drive ending in a game tying 36 yard field goal by Nick Folk. Holy C**P !

Could this be possible? I thought that we’d probably blow the game in overtime; just tease the fans. But, we won the coin toss and the rest is history. Sanchez, poised in the pocket, hit Santonio Holmes for a 52 yard reception to set up the game winning Nick Folk field goal. The Jets Win. The Jets Win. The Jets Win!

Sanchez had a hell of a game in winning his third career 4th quarter comeback going 22 of 39 for a career high 323 yards throwing for one touchdown and one interception. The interception didn’t kill us as Detroit picked it off in the endzone and ran out giving the Lions the ball on the half yard line. As for the touchdown, Sanchez hit Braylon Edwards for a 74 yard score.

Braylon kept last week’s issue going by having a completed ball turned over. Our receivers need to hold on to the ball better. However, it was not as bad as last week’s debacle.

Still, if you take away the final 6 or so minutes, the team looked bad on offense. All week, the coaching staff is saying that we are returning to the ground and pound. Well, we couldn’t run for beans this game and kept on putting ourselves in 3rd and long situations. Maybe we should be a throw first team. Look at most of our wins over the last two years. The offense comes alive when Sanchez gets to throw the ball down field. We have so many receiving weapons between Edwards, Holmes, Cotchery, Keller, and LT that we should throw to set up the run. Can you imagine how much better our offense would move the ball?

Most of the game was still sloppy. We had way too many penalties again and some of them were just stupid and drive-killing. We need to get back to being a disciplined team.

The defense played well when they needed too but it seemed they kept on giving up big plays on third down. Revis is; however, starting to look like his old self again.

It was a great Sunday. The Dolphins lost. The Patriots lost. The Jets won.

I then thought about how wins like this could turn the season into something special. Teams that go all the way have a little luck on their side. This little luck has been missing from the Jets for years. Maybe, stealing a game like this in Detroit is the medicine that this team needs.