Post Game Thoughts: Jets 16 Patriots 37
A very disappointing loss as the Jets never seriously threatened the New England Patriots, more or less conceding the division to their hated rivals.
Offense
The Jets certainly had opportunities, especially early, but the team is just too inconsistent to sustain drives and the lack of a deep threat has completely eliminated the big play from their arsenal. I think most people would agree after watching 9 games that WR Plaxico Burress is a better player than Braylon Edwards. He’s a better route runner, uses his size better, and has far better hands, but Edwards provided something that Burress does not and that is an ability to stretch the sidelines. The Jets lived off these big plays to Edwards in 2010. QB Mark Sanchez is just so inconsistent he can not be counted on to put together long drives where he is going to have to complete a large number of passes to move the chains. Sure he can put together one or two drives a game, but 14 points in the NFL just doesn’t cut it and that is what happens when the defense or special teams don’t set the offense up for easy scores to inflate the totals. The Jets are essentially playing a Chad Pennington style offense with a QB that completes under 60% of his passes. It cant work. He has ability to make all the throws but he cant be in a position where he is playing shotgun with no threat of run all the time. He just isn’t there to run that kind of offense. Maybe he will be one day, but he sure is not right now.
That is not to say he got much help on the day. The offensive line was horrible. The Patriots are not a good pass rushing team but they killed Sanchez. LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson pretty much lost his Pro Bowl bid with his play. I think he gave up three, just looking completely stiff and losing his man over and over. TE Matt Mulligan gave up two and needs to be cut. Every week he is a nightmare. RT Wayne Hunter gave up one and RG Brandon Moore got eaten up on a run play by DT Vince Wilfork. It was the worst game they played since the Raven debacle a few weeks ago. RB Shonn Greene and RB LaDainian Tomlinson actually ran decently but there was no commitment to the run and the game got away from the Jets late taking them out of the equation. Greene did cause an interception. He can only catch the ball when its in his gut and throwing to his hands is a bad idea.
The Jets offense just is what it is. The Patriots have a bad defense and the Jets did nothing. They will go out and play a good defense and put up the exact same stat line. Are some of the playcalls bad? Yes. Do they adjust to opponent? No. But the biggest killer is inconsistency from the QB position. People can say that it’s a team game and that you can work around it, but you just cant. There have been times when Sanchez makes a big throw late in a game or gets a pat on the back for playing error fee, but the Jets are still waiting for that moment where they say “Mark Sanchez won us the game”. He had opportunities early and failed. Those were the important parts of the game. Not the botched time out call, which everyone made too much of, or the late interception. It was those early stages where they had field position and were in the game and went nowhere drive after drive after drive.
Defense
The Jets destroyed the Patriots in the playoffs last year and gave the league a blueprint for beating New England, but they don’t have the personnel to follow through on the blueprint. Patriots QB Tom Brady played poor early on. He had a handful of opportunities to break the game open early on and he could not do it. The Jets can pat themselves on the back for holding him to 6 points early, but it was Brady who held himself to 6 points. The Jets missed so many golden opportunities. Brady put the ball in CB Kyle Wilsons hands and he just dropped it. It had the chance to be a pick 6. There was a high pop up that S Jim Leonhard should have been in a position to field and his didn’t get to it. CB Antonio Cromartie had one hit him in his hands and he couldn’t bring it down either. The Patriots took advantage of every opportunity that came to them on defense but the Jets could not do the same.
There were so many communication breakdowns in the secondary. To give up a 53 yard completion to a totally washed up Chad Ochocinco is just sad. CB Darrelle Revis recognized the problem and tried to call time out but didn’t make it in time. Once the Patriots went into the hurry up the Jets just lef guys running wide open on the field. The drive at the end of the first half that allowed New England to seize control of the game was eerily similar to the drive Peyton Manning orchestrated in the 2009 AFC Championship game. Brady spotted the mismatch and attacked it the rest of the game. S Eric Smith was a disaster on that drive. He physically cant match up with Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski, but he was just lost on coverage on one play and fell down on the touchdown pass. The biggest play on that drive, though, was a 15 yard penalty against Smith. He was lined up against tiny RB Danny Woodhead who should be an easy target for any Safety, other than Leonhard, in the NFL to just pop at the line to hold him up. Smith just whiffed and grabbed his facemask instead. That was arguably the biggest play in the game.
The pass rush could never touch Brady. Watching Brady in the pocket at times was thing of beauty. LB Aaron Maybin had him dead to rights and Brady calmly sidestepped him, danced around, and hit Gronkowski for a TD. The play was called back after a review, but that is the type of QB play that you cant stop. When the Pats decided to exclusively go hurry up the game was over. The Jets personnel just is not good enough to compete with high level players at certain positions. They targeted players like Smith, Wilson, and Strickland, all of whom had terrible games, being stuck in situations they were unprepared for while the other players were dead tired and could not mount any challenge. The Jets needed the defense to step up early in the fourth quarter when the Jets cut the lead to 7 and instead they just continued to look disinterested and if they had given up. That wouldn’t have happened two years ago and probably not even one year ago. They just are not as good anymore.
Special Teams
A total mess. K Nick Folk missed an early field goal that was a chip shot, but hes been so good that he can at least get a pass. P TJ Conley struggled. KR Joe McKnight fumbled a punt that completely changed the momentum of the game. He was only in because Jeremy Kerley had his ankle rolled on a punt return because Wilson blocked a guy right into him. McKnight did have one or two nice kick returns but the offense could do nothing with it.
Coaching
There is no way around it- Rex Ryan was completely outcoached by Bill Belichick. The decision making on the sidelines was poor at best. The team had to waste a timeout on their obligatory 12 men on the field and then came out of a timeout with a secondary running around not knowing who to cover. They decided to play musical chairs with the punt returners. Kerley got hurt so they decided not to use him again even though he was still able to play offense. They used the sure-handed Leonhard at midfield, but then chose McKnight in a deeper position. It was a strange decision. All I can imagine is that they lost faith in the offense and felt McKnight was more dangerous.
The bigger issue was no counter to the Patriot hurry up offense. New England has really worked this strategy against the Jets since the end of the playoff game. They realize the Jets are highly dependent on substitution packages so they run a hurry up to keep them from being able to bring in new personnel. The Jets had no answer. They started this week at the end of the first half when they marched right down the field and when they saw that the Jets still did not adjust in the second half they went right back to it. Ryan has to have a base package defense on the field that can play both run and pass. Instead he got caught with pass or run only personnel on the field that let Brady just carve them up and end the game. The Jets players were exhausted, not having to usually play so many downs in a row , and unprepared for the play selection. Luckily not many teams have a QB that can run that offense, but the Jets were not ready for it on this night.
Overall
The Jets probably gave the division away tonight with the terrible performance. The Patriots have a two game lead and will be favored in every game from this point out. The Jets will be favored in all but 1 game (they will be underdogs against the Giants if the teams keep playing this way) and will need the Bills to be a buffer if they want to win the division which looks unlikely right now. With the Bills getting rolled by the Cowboys the win last week looks less impressive and the Bills look like they are getting ready to roll over and play dead.
Even though if the season ended today the Jets would not be in the playoffs they are still in a good position. Their primary competition of the Ravens and Bengals have to play each other twice so the Jets do still, more or less, control their destiny, but they have lost out on the realistic chances for a home playoff game. The Jets have to start focusing on being ready for winning on the road by beating up on a Denver team with no QB in a few days.
This game helped point out the limitations the Jets have when they match up against elite QBs. The defense has not proven able to slow them down and they don’t have the firepower on offense to win in those situations. Luckily for NY the only AFC teams to have players at that level right now are New England and maybe Houston. If they can make the playoffs and get the right draw they may be able to avoid one or both of them. The playoffs are all about getting hot at the right time and the Jets have plenty of time to iron out the problems and get hot, but they have to get over this loss and ready for a quick turnaround now. We’ll learn a lot about this team on Thursday against a Denver team they should handle with ease, even in the thin air of Denver. Go Jets!
Most crucial point: Sanchez not consistent enough to not ultimately kill or stall long drives. And since the entire offense concept is built around long drives, we get what we see each week.
I really want to believe in Sanchez, and by no means do I expect that he'd be a finished product by now; but that many of his weaknessess seem growth-resistent lend to pessimism.
That said I'm not sure what options the Jets have beyond bringing in a veteran to compete with Sanchez as opposed to daddy him.
The team's problems aren't limited to him of course. But this team is no longer good enough to win in spite of the QB position. It is however good enough to win if the QB can offset those flaws in certain matchups.
Let's hope they come out angry and dominating against two very weak Denver units.
Jon- I just cant understand why they cant bring him up like NY did Eli. Manning stunk just like Sanchez. He also had brief hot spells just like Sanchez. But they didnt make Eli try to dink and dunk his way down the field. It was a ball control offense with big passes thrown in. They knew they needed to pick up big yards in a hurry because the QB could not play "small ball" effectively. There were certainly times where the Jets did that last year, but its gone now and Sanchez looks far worse than he did last season....My guess is they murder Denver. The Jets are soft this year. They beat up on bad teams (and we have learned the Chargers and Bills are not good) and lose every time they play a good one.
The Patriots capitalized on all of these mistakes (lead to 3 less NYJ points and 17 more NE points), and the Jets couldn't make a play on any of NE's mistakes (3 dropped INT's), personal fouls.
As much as I want to blame Mulligan for two sacks, why on earth is he responsible for blocking a very good pass-rushing DE 1-on-1 on a slow-developing pass play? What kind of blocking scheme calls for that? Hello Callahan?!?
What hurt the Jets D, is they had no pass rush last night. Gronkowski really only hurt them because Brady had all day to throw the ball. Other than the no-huddle confusion, the secondary played well I thought, but Brady just had FOREVER to find the open guy all of the 2nd half.
If those 4 big blunders didn't happen, or the Jets capitalize on their opportunities, they have the lead in the 4th quarter and continue to chew clock and gain yards on the ground where they were VERY successful early on. Defense wouldn't be nearly as gassed as they were during the 4Q no-huddle drive. Jets should have won that game last night, despite the misleading score. They weren't outplayed as much as they made too many unforced errors and you can't beat anyone like that, especially NE.
Sanchez played well when the game was still in reach, other than that TO. He wasn't Manning or Brees or Rodgers, but he did enough I thought. Could have done more with better blocking, but it wasn't his fault.
I hear where you're coming from, Man. I really do. But, at least three of those four blunders were major momentum changers that the well coached Patriots took advantage of in a very big way.
The final score is only skewed because the Jets acted as though they knew the game was over, and they did little to stop the Patriots from scoring again. That is, the Jets conceded the game before the game was actually over.
If you look at ALL of the Jets losses during the past three seasons, they have been blown out twice. Typically, they play a respectable game, and then they make a little mistake here and a little mistake there; just enough for them to lose the game. They are very inconsistent in FINISHING a game. When Sanchez plays like a solid QB (and he has many times), he will generally guide the Green & White to a last minute victory. When he does not, however, the Jets earn one more L in a game everyone thought they should have earned a W.
Even the special teams (arguably coached by the best special teams coach in the league) are looking rather confused. How many times are they gonna turn the ball over on a kick/punt return before someone figures out how to get the butter of their hands? And, don't get me started on the dropped passes by our highly touted receivers.
It all comes down to the Jets' mental state. Take note, each time the Jets play like this, the game is preceded by Rex Ryan singing the praises of the opposing coach, and about how much better that coach is than him. We all know that is not Rex Ryan's style, and the total lack of swagger is not a good omen for the Green & White.
The Jets (since I became a fan in '68) have had two superstar coaches: Weeb Ewbank and Bill Parcells, neither of whom would ever tolerate this sloppy, lack of discipline, game losing style of play, nor all of the in-house bickering headlining in the media. I have always been a big fan of Rex Ryan and his dad, Buddy Ryan. Having said that, I also believe they are far better defensive coordinators than they are head coaches.
The Jets clearly have enough in their toolbox to make a Super Bowl run, but allowing a defensive coordinator to act like a head coach is not going to get us there. It will always lead to close games, half of which the Jets will not FINISH.
Woody Johnson has clearly demonstrated that money is no object in building a Super Bowl team, and the Jets were a very real Super Bowl contender. It was really difficult to see some of the chinks in the armor.
But, now the salary cap is back in force and is doing what it was supposed to do, and now more than ever, this is when the superstar coaches rise up above the rest. When you have a team with the worst defense in the league, and a struggling offense, they should be at the bottom of at least their division, and yet, the New England Patriots are now the leaders of the AFC East. If there isn't good coaching going on there, then I want a chance to rub their good luck charm.
The salary cap is limiting Woody in what he can do for the team. Now, it is time for the coach to earn his bread and butter.
I'm begrudgingly sticking with my prediction of a .500 season for the Jets this season. I don't know how many years I have left in me, but I sure would love to eat crow this season. I would love nothing better than to see the Green & White win won more Super Bowl before I depart this planet.
GO JETS!!!
Jazz- I look at that schedule and I cant see how the Jets would have less than 10 wins. The Giants are the only team that they should be underdogs against and if there is one thing this year has shown us it is that the Jets usually beat the teams they should beat but cant raise their level against good teams. Its a total turnaround from 2009 where they played hard against good teams and would lose to Jacksonville and Miami. The seeming lack of growth from Rex is as frustrating as that of Sanchez. I would never trade it for anything in the world but there are times when I would think that both may have benefited from a losing campaign early rather than the success they had. Getting swept by NE is a new one so maybe that will open some eyes.
BC- With the AFC as weak as it is you never know. The NFL can be weird that way. Most of the last few champs you would not have thought would have had a chance based on regular season performance but they ended up making it, so maybe the Jets can follow the same path.
>.There were so many communication breakdowns in the secondary.
It seems to me that this happens a lot to the Jets. That there is some kind of blown coverage, allowing a big play.
1. Does it happen more to the Jets than to other teams (miscommunications and not setting up correctly)
2. Is it because the Jets have a very very complex Defense?
3. Considering that it seems to happen so often, can't the coaches and players spend extra time studying the scheme.
Dave- That was two years ago where he kind of got stripped of the playcalling. He wasnt totally stripped it was more something where Rex was going to use more influence on the final call. I will say this---when you listen to the talk Rex isnt down on Schottenheimer, he is down on Sanchez. He blamed him in game for a mistake that he made way too much out of and then praised Brady in a way that basically says my QB sucks what can I do. If Mark has another bad game I wouldnt be stunned to see Brunell get some time. Sanchez is going to be on thin ice in the offseason unless he improves and the team starts winning against good teams.