Post Game Thoughts: Jets 24 Dolphins 6
Well the Jets needed a win and got it, but a confidence booster? Not exactly.
Offense
The Jets offense looks totally inept right now. There is no flow or identity to the offense. The team did nothing for the first two quarters of the game. It was a sad display of football against a bad football team. I have to think that QB Mark Sanchez was extremely close to getting pulled out of the game. For the first 25 minutes or so of the game he was awful. He was overshooting receivers, not being patient, and just looking overcome by the pressure early on. Sanchez finally put together a good drive at the end of the first half which led to a score. The worst may have been missing a wide open TE Dustin Keller in the end zone choosing instead to rush a throw to RB LaDainain Tomlinson who would have been 2 yards short of a first down. This is just what Sanchez does. He plays terrible and then puts together a drive that makes you think he can be really good. He made a play happen when he messed up a fake handoff and that seemed to get him going on the drive. He made a great audible on 3rd down near the goal to get the Jets a much needed score. Sanchez is hurt by the lack of playaction in the offense. The Jets need a runner who scares a defense and nobody is scared of Shonn Greene. Yes the line is not as good as it was in 2009, but no team respects a player who they feel cant make then pay off a broken play. It’s the big difference between Thomas Jones and even LaDainian Tomlinson when they got the starting nod. Jones broke off 8 carries of more than 20 yards in 2009 and LT had 5 last year. Greene has 2 in the last two years, one of which came tonight with less than 3 minutes left. It seemed as if the Jets started to give Tomlinson more carries in the 4th quarter to maybe shake things up. You have to wonder how bad rookie Bilal Powell must look to never be active.
After a week of unrest by WR Santonio Holmes he did collect a touchdown on nice run after catch. He’s had a poor year and seemed to make a weak effort early in the game on a pass. It would have been a difficult catch, but for all the talking he had been doing he should have laid out to try to make the catch. WR Plaxico Burress was completely invisible and looks to have hit a wall. He looked completely uninterested in the game on a dropped pass, but did make a nice block on the Holmes TD. The Jets have to hope he can turn things around. Keller did have a few nice catches on the TD drive. The offensive line played better and only allowed 1 sack, a pretty meaningless sack in the 4th quarter allowed by RT Wayne Hunter. The penalties are a big of a concern- Hunter had an offside call and TE Matthew Mulligan has another holding call. Mulligan needs to go. But the guys certainly gave Sanchez the time he needed to throw, the problem was most of the playcalls didn’t have the Jets taking any time in the pocket.
The bottom line is that there is nothing the offense did to calm the critics or give the team the confidence it needs. About the only positive was the fact that Holmes got a score which should keep his public griping down to a minimum for the week. There was no moving the ball up and down the field against a bad defense. There was no big outburst of scoring. It was the standard two drive a game effort that we have grown accustomed to. The Jets miss the big play on offense and without it are having a very difficult time getting the big points on the board.
Defense
Another difficult game to rate. Miami came out early and blew the Jets defense up. RB Reggie Bush, who has basically been a nobody for 5 years, looked like an All Pro as he outran the Jets defense. Miami QB Matt Moore looked like he should have been making the big bucks rather than Sanchez. WR Brandon Marshall was making catches on CB Darrelle Revis. Through most of the first 20 or so minutes Miami moved the ball up and down the field but always shot themselves in the foot. The Dolphins wide receivers must have some of the worst hands in the league. Marshall dropped one TD and a few other passes and somehow ran out of bounds on a play where he should have walked into the end zone. Brian Hartline dropped at least two first down passes. WR Davone Bess coughed one up. It was terrible. They looked like didn’t belong in an NFL game. As the game went on they began to fall apart and it let the Jets pull away.
Revis’ had two big picks and the biggest one was the interception in the end zone that he turned into a 100 yard TD return. That gave the Jets the breathing room they needed. Im surprised at all the complaints from the announcers about Revis’ pick needed to be called interference. Revis jammed Marshall at the line and Marshall just kept stumbling into Revis after that when he lost his footing off the initial hit. I cant see how that would be called interference, but the announcers harped on it all night long. Revis gave up a few grabs but made some great plays on the ball. CB Antonio Cromartie stumbled on a big Marshall reception, but otherwise seemed to have a good game. He was picked on by the TV crew, but seemed to be fine after that. S Jim Leonhard missed one tackle but also caused a fumble and had a few nice plays. S Eric Smith quietly had a good game.
There are too many plays up front where the Jets defense seems to be pushed around. RB Daniel Thomas had a run near the goalline where he was just pushing Jets around before a few of them brought him down. Its as if there is a complete lack of physicality up front. Moore had all day to throw early on and the Jets were saved more by inept playcalling and on field play by Miami than anything they were actually doing. There are a lot of holes in this defense that a good team will exploit.
There were some good individual performances. LB Calvin Pace was dominant. I think he had two sacks, some huge hits, and his pursuit helped force a fumble even though he did not cause it. He is having his best year as a Jet which is surprising since he is not in a contract year. LB Aaron Maybin stripped the ball twice and had a QB hit. Physically he is so undersized for the position but he really is relentless in pursuit. Im not sure what went wrong in Buffalo where it sounded like he just did not try, but he clearly gives effort. LB David Harris had a hit that helped lead to an interception, but had a pretty quiet night. I have a feeling that a year or two from now his contract is going to be the cause of a lot of fan complaints, but from time to time he does register big plays. Rookie DT Kenrick Ellis made his debut and had a few tackles, though his biggest one was actually caused by Pace. With the run defense being poor he is probably going to get more and more chances as the season wears on.
Special Teams
Miami was certainly afraid of the Jets return game, kicking the ball short on multiple occasions rather than giving them a chance for a return. The Jets fumbled one of those kicks and it looked like RB John Conner caught most of the blame for not making the call on the football. Coverage teams were excellent and P TJ Conley had his best game of the season.
Coaching
The Jets definitely looked distracted early on. Rex Ryan’s team looked like they were thinking as much about the controversy surrounding Holmes’ comments as they were winning a game. Rex had another 2 men on the field call, this time to give Miami a cheap first down, and he needs to get a better handle on this. Rex is a great defensive mind, but he has to be more aware of the clock and who is on the field when he makes his defensive substitutions. The Jets playcalling early on was brutal. The 3rd and 4 halfback pass to Sanchez was such a terrible playcall. Give Miami credit for sticking with it, but those plays are rarely called on 3rd and short. They did try everything on offense including a no huddle look, but nothing worked. Something just does not click between the staff and the players
Overall
I think the feeling here is very similar to the feeling in the Dallas game in that it is far better to win ugly than lose looking pretty. This was a terrible football game. The Jets didn’t look good, Miami just looked really bad. Having watched the Indianapolis Colts these last few weeks ID have to say they are worse, but both teams will be in the Luck sweepstakes. If Miami was competent on offense this would have been a much different game, but they weren’t and it let the Jets pull away.
The Jets do not look like a playoff team. The offense has not played well since the first quarter of the Raiders game and the defense is not good enough to stop the bleeding. Still a win is a win and the league makes no distinction for style points in the overall outcome of the game. The Jets are going to have to improve a great deal on both sides of the football if they want to beat San Diego next week and keep pace with the other teams in the AFC.
Next week is a big game against the Chargers. The Jets have to prove they can beat a good football team and they need to keep pace with the division winners. Right now the Jets 3 wins are against the 2-3 Cowboys, 1-5 Jaguars, and 0-5 Dolphins. They have to start to win games against quality opponents if they are to make a push for the playoffs. Their remaining schedule has 4 games remaining against teams that are currently below 0.500 and 7 wins isn’t going to cut it.
Offensively the Jets need changes. Brian Schottenheimer needs to change the approach to these games. He has an inaccurate QB that is doubting himself right now and he can not call plays that call for quick decisions into a tight window. Schottenheimer and Ryan have to let Sanchez know that its ok to be daring from time to time, he just needs to pick his spots. The Jets have preached to him for too long about being overly protective of the football. You do not draft a kid with the number 5 pick and coach him to throw very safe 3 yard passes on every down. The Jets defense is not like it used to be and they need help. Even if he screws it up from time to time they need him to start taking some chances.
On a sidenote, though I do expect to have a Chargers preview up this week, I may be taking a sabbatical from the pregame breakdowns after that. I have been writing them since I believe 2006 over at JetsInsider and on here since 2008, but I have a couple of things coming up in the real world life that are going to take up some of my free time in the coming weeks and I hope you all understand it. Ill still be posting post game reviews since Sundays are devoted to the Jets and also doing some quick stats on the site, but the pre games may fall a bit to the wayside. Im also hoping to expand the salary cap coverage to the rest of the AFC East to provide better information for all and grow the site a bit, but that is dependent upon me learning how to use some basic database programming to make the job easier to do. I think most of you guys who read my ramblings know I love the contractual side of the game almost as much as I do the Jets. It will be a challenge to cover more teams (and none will be as in depth as the Jets cap coverage), but I think I have my sheets pretty well set for the other 3 teams. So if you are unlucky enough to
have a friend that like the Pats, Bills or even worse is a “Dolphfan”, please mention the site to them, when/if I get that going. And as always- Go Jets!
The one bright spot in all of this is that because the defense is not as imposing as it once was, and because the team as a whole appears to be troubled (with in house dissension now getting media attention), I believe it will be up to Sanchez to pull out some games. I believe THIS will be the year in which he grows. Yes, he will make mistakes because the coaches have kept such a tight rein on him and actually hampered his growth, that the learning he should have done in his first two seasons will actually occur this season.
As Sanchez grows and makes big plays (finally getting on the same page as his superstar wide outs), it will ignite the rest of the team. Last night showed me that Plax does not believe in this team. I believe he was looking for a sure ticket to the grand ball, and now that the coach has turned into a pumpkin, he wants out.
Like it or not, the QB is the one who is in the best position to make a mediocre team look like a playoff contender, much like Tom Brady does for the Patriots, and Peyton Manning did for the Colts. This year, Sanchez will be a hero or a goat. If he ends up the latter, his days with the Jets may be numbered. He might ultimately end up on another team where he will be properly coached, and end up in a few Pro Bowls. Statistically, I think you will find the vast majority of Pro Bowl QBs were selected when they were playing for their 2nd and 3rd teams.
And Jason? I will sorely miss your pregame breakdowns. You are the best analyst I have ever encountered in my life. Thank you for your insightful commentary over the years.
I was at the game last night and came away very concerned with Sanchez. He looks like he's barely developed in 3 years. He doesn't recognize formations and coverages, doesn't make adjustments at the line to take advantage of what the defense is showing. He locks on to his first read, if it isn't there then he starts moving around (which is good) and hopes a breakdown in the coverage creates an opening. It looks very schoolyard-ish.
Like many Jet fans I've been critical of Holmes and Burress' professionalism. But it's completely understandable after seeing it live. There were a number of times where Holmes was outrunning his defender down the field while Sanchez didn't even look deep. A number of times The Fish had 8 in the box (on an early down), where playing man-for-man with single safety high. This is basic stuff, read which way the safety goes and launch it to the other guy. Or audible to quick slants if worried about the pass rush, etc.
I hope I'm wrong and Sanchez steps up otherwise it might be time to cut the cord at season's end.
As regards the game, yes not a lot of fun to watch. After the previous two years of football Jets fans have had expectations raised which is a lot to ask for on a year in, year out basis.
Specifically I have one thought about the game. I understand that the o line managed to protect Sanchez in this game but where are the holes, where are the running lanes ? Part of the reason Thomas Jones and company looked so good is because the o line created massive holes for the running backs. I am seeing very little daylight along the oline. A good o line can make any QB look good. I'm thinking only Barry Sanders could look dynamic behind the Jets current o line.
Unfortunately I pretty much agree with everything you wrote. Miami dropped many passes, and against a 500 team, the Jets would have lost. They looked bad. The Dolphin QB (Moore) looked good.
1. it burns me up that Santanio Holmes just got paid BIG TIME and is running his mouth in the media.
2. Sanchez missing a wide open Keller in the end zone an dinstead throwing a poor pass to LT bothers me, since a good QB gets an easy TD on a relatively easy pass.
3. The running game is weak. I don't know if its all on Greene, or also due to a drop off in Run Blcoking. Was Fanaca that important as a run blocker? (even if he was deficient as a pass blocker)
4. David Harris got paid, and isn't producing. Whats going on? He isnt that old, hasn't been hurt. I hope he gets back into the groove. Maybe its the lack of training camp, but that excuse is over s we are 6 weeks into the season.
5. Maybe I'm misisng something, but Cromartie doesn't seem to be that good a CB. Maybe run of the mill, average CB. An dhe is getting paid a lot too.
6. I am worried the Jets have a lot of money tied up in some players that aren't that good. Their long term future scares me, as they will need to come up with more receivers (Plax isnt the lon term answer) and a running back. I don't think the Jets have drafted well over the last few years, and it shows.
7. I hope Sanchez can some day be as good as the #10 QB in the league, but I'll be happy with his being #16. He makes some good plays, but is inconsistent. He makes some bad decisions, kind of like Tony Romo. I don't think he was worth a #5 pick overall. The Miami QB looked better, even with his making a bad play on a sack where he was chased out of bounds and didn't dump it off.
I wish Greg McElroy hadn't gotten hurt. I'd like to see how he progresses. Its really a shame he lost the entire season.
The Jets look bad to me. I almost hope they finish 6-10 so they can get some draft picks.
I can see them going 8-8, if they improve. But the way they are playing I'm not counting on it
Good luck with your other endeavors; we will miss your terrific postings.
WHYGML- Its amazing but the Jets have turned Mark Sanchez into Chad Pennington with the way they have drilled this "red, yellow, and green" system into his head. I remember watching early in 2005 and late 2004 before Chads shoulder came out and seeing our wideouts open down the field and outrunning the coverage but the QB never looked there. Now Chad had no arm but Sanchez does and he is doing the same stuff with the quick 4 yard pass and not letting a play develop.
Sean- Nate has his own little website he is trying and I certainly encourage everyone to check it out. Its at nyjetsplaybook.com. He does a great job. In regards to the running its a combination of the fact that Hunter is poor and Greene is basically Brandon Jacobs- a no reward, 1 yard a carry runner. It speaks volumes about that right side of the line that when you need to pick up a first down you call a toss behind your LT. That never would have happened with Woody here. They would have run right behind him or between he and Moore.
Brandon- Its really Woody moreso than Faneca in the run game. Before Woody started to get injured last season Tomlinson was running pretty well over the first few weeks of the year until teams began to adjust. They do miss Faneca being able to pull and spring big plays, but I think Woody is the guy they miss terribly. They wanted Vlad to be their road grader and hes awful....Harris has always been wildly overrated by the Jets fans. Im sure hes a nice guy and he goes about his business the right way, but watch Patrick Willis out in San Francisco for 5 minutes against the Lions and you see why he received the money he did. Hes not a bad player by any means, but hes a complementary piece not the star. The Jets did him right by essentially paying him for last season, but he is going to be pointed at by the end of next year if he does not produce more. And yes the Jets could use a good draft. Though the jury is out on 2011, from 2008-2010 the drafts have been pretty mediocre.
Has he lost something? I know he directs the defense, and he is valuable to the team, but as a player has he declined over the last year or two?
Has Eric Smith improved?
I want to clarify my "Matt Moore" looked pretty good.
What I meant was he made some very nice throws. But he also made some bone headed plays, staring down the receivers, and some terrible throws.
Thanks for all your hard work--hope all is well in your personal life. Looking forward to the expanded salary cap stuff.
dbatesman- I think Rex is committed to winning and I dont think he will stand for another year like this if that is what it comes down to. Im not sure who is out there to back up(McNabb, Collins, Pennington?) but the Jets have to look around. One of the problems Im seeing with finding backups is the guys make so much money at the position they just walk away from the game. Not that players like Trent Edwards and Josh McCown are any good, but for players like that to get calls and turn down a chance to play it says something about the money made through the years. Oh and everything is good on my end, just a hectic schedule has pretty much forced me to cut out the part of the site that takes the most time for me to write for the time being.
Glad to hear everything's good--thanks again for all your hard work.
With the current offensive coaching staff, the Jets need a QB who has already been properly coached; who has already grown but isn't 41 years old already. Perhaps the Jets could lure Matt Cassel away from Kansas City?
Even Bill Parcells (who built a reputation from molding no name players into superstars) had a seasoned veteran QB in Vinny Testaverde to lead the Jets to the 1998 AFC Championship game.
McNight needs more time on the field and looked dangerous lined up wide... Ellis looked like a load and should also be on the field...
Or look at this game-- Sure, you'd like to see a better completition percentage than 56 percent, but Mark threw for over 200 yards and 2 total TD's. But more importantly than that, he had ZERO turnovers.
The one thing that I will agree wholeheartedly with the writer of this article is that the Jets IMO have NEVER replaced Thomas Jones. Shonn Greene quite honestly had two playoff games his rookie year and outside of that has been mediocre at best.