FLORHAM PARK, NJ – Well, it’s safe to say that the New York Jets will not be receiving any passing marks after the down-right abysmal performance in New England Monday night.
Rex Ryan and his Jets ran out of Gillette Stadium with their tail between their legs..well, sort of. After the game, the braggadocios and often-outspoken Ryan had this to say to the Patriots:
I can promise you one thing. I’ll be ready to play ’em. I’ll play them right now if they’ll go out and do it again.
Take it easy, Rex. You had your butts handed to you and you’re still talking trash. Sometimes humility is an admirable character trait.
But I digress, without further adieu here’s this week’s JetsInsider.com’s Official Morning After Report: Late Edition.
PASSING: F
- It was deja vu all over again for Mark Sanchez, as Gillette Stadium continues to be his personal house of horrors. His numbers, 17-of-33 for 164 yards and three interceptions earned a failing QB rating of 27.8.
- Not all of it can be blamed on Sanchez as his receivers once again showed the inability to hold on to the football.
- While the offensive line allowed only one sack, there was plenty of pressure coming from all angles at Sanchez. The Patriots amassed four quarterback hits.
- Once they were down 17-0, Sanchez was forced to throw the ball to make plays, which in return made the offense very one-dimensional and predictable.
RUSHING: F
- There wasn’t much need to establish the run when the team is down by so much so early, however that didn’t stop offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer from running a total of 31 times in the game.
- LaDanian Tomlinson’s production is slowing down to a halt, in the running game at least. Tomlinson, who’s known for collapsing in cold-weather games shouldn’t running the ball between the tackles. At his age he has no business between the trenches. From this point on he should play the role that Danny Woodhead has assumed for the Patriots.
- Which brings me to Shonn Greene. As long as Tomlinson is wearing a Jet uniform Greene won’t get the full attention he deserves from his team. He averaged 4.9 yards per carry and regularly gained big chunks of yardage, one of the few bright spots for the Jets.
PASSING DEFENSE: F
- To the Jets credit, they were playing against Tom Brady.
- Antonio Cromartie looked like the reincarnation of Lito Sheppard, as he was picked on by Brady for two touchdowns — one on an early 4th&3 that turned into a 25-yard score for Deion Branch after Cromartie failed to make the stop.
- Darrelle Revis was stranded on his island, as Brady stayed away from the All-Pro corner all night long. What’s the best way to stop Revis from killing your team? Just take him out of the game completely and play 10-on-10 football.
- While the loss of Jim Leonhard certainly hurt the Jets (Eric Smith’s 36-yard pass interference call, for example), let’s be clear he is no Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu. If Leonhard was able to play, something tells me he wouldn’t have made up the 42-point difference.
RUSHING DEFENSE: F
- In what is supposed to be the cornerstone of this Jets defense, the running game allowed BenJarvus Green-Ellis to average four yards per carry and score two touchdowns. Very un-Rex like, but so was this whole game.
- I don’t know what’s stranger: the fact that the Jets ran 31 times in a rout, or how the Patriots ran 26 times on the other end of that rout. Conventional wisdom usually states that the team on the losing end of a blowout passes more and the team on the winning end runs the ball. In a game where the Patriots didn’t run all that much, the Jets still couldn’t stop them.
SPECIAL TEAMS: F
- When the Jets are thinking about replacing their starting kicker with Kris Brown, you know that the kicker must be struggling. No surprise here, Folk hasn’t made a kick from 40+ yards since the Oct. 17 game in Denver. Since then he’s o-for-5.
- Steve Weatherford’s 12-yard botched punt was humiliating. Want to hear the worst part, though? The wind was at his back.
- The Jets finally force a Patriots punt with 6:08 left in the first half. They get a 31-yard return from their lone playmaker, Santonio Holmes, only to have it brought all the way back to their 12-yard line due to an illegal block in the back from Brad Smith.
COACHING: F-
- Why waste a challenge on a first drive 4th&1 spotting, only to then go for the first anyway? I’m still scratching my head over that one.
- Here’s the stat of the day for you: In games this season where Rex Ryan has had more than a week to prepare for the next game, he is 0-3. Not only that but his team has scored a total of 12 points–all field goals–in those games (opening night against Baltimore, coming off the bye week against Green Bay, and the extended layoff before the Patriots game). Ryan talks all the time about treating his players like men and giving them the necessary time off, but maybe he should re-think that state of thought.
- I have just about given up on Brian Schottenheimer as a Jets offensive coordinator. He motion and movement schemes are far to intricate for a quarterback who is only five years removed from playing high school football. He started the game, in which the best gameplan to stop Tom Brady’s hot hand would be to keep him off the field, in the no-huddle hurry up rather than establishing the run before the score got way out of hand. I don’t see him returning with the Jets next season, barring a miracle.
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Excellent analysis from top to bottom—My problem with Schottenheimer is the same that Joe Klecko pointed out in the post game–Totally Predictable–no variation in pass patterns.