Football Jets

The 2011 New York Jets season is finally here. After the lockout and the crazy free agency period the games are on and the NFL is ready to entertain us every week for months. The Jets are living the high profile life right now. People everywhere are talking about them, of course that is almost automatic when you have Rex Ryan as head coach, but still people everywhere are putting the Jets in the conversation as possible champions.

And why wouldn’t they? The Jets have won 4 playoff road games the past two seasons, they have competitive AFC Championship games, they boast one of the leagues best defenses and they of course have a throng of high profile players.

One of those high profile names was the free agent acquisition of Plaxico Burress. Here is where I throw out the lame joke, “I hope the Jets didn’t shoot themselves in the foot” with this signing. Opinions vary widely on what will be Plaxico’s production during the 2011 Jets season but he did make a high-light reel catch during the pre-season but he is 3 years removed from making his last touchdown catch, albeit it was a Superbowl winning touchdown catch.

Most of the other big names are back again with LT, Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes powering the offense and Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie and Bart Scott locking down what could possibly be the NFL’s best defense. The defense finished ranked third in the league last year which followed the number one ranking during Rex Ryan’s rookie year as head coach. The offense can at times look great, and at times look very pedestrian. This has been the case with the offense throughout the preseason and pretty much throughout the Mark Sanchez era. Sanchez is young though, most third year quarterbacks are just getting their first opportunity to start in year three, Mark Sanchez has already tied the NFL record for most playoff victories by a quarterback.

So the 2011 New York Jets season will be exciting. The New England Patriots are going to be very good again, the Buffalo Bills should be vastly improved, and the Miami Dolphins… well let’s just say Tony Sparano has done a magnificent job keeping the Dolphins mediocre – which has been an absolute delight to see for New York Jets fans.

As for my 2011 New York Jets season prediction I am going to concur with Head Coach Rex Ryan and say that the Jets are going to the Superbowl.

A great regular season rapped up for the NY Jets finishing with an impressive blowout performance against the hapless Buffalo Bills. The Jets finish 11-5 there best regular season record in a long, long time.

The win is a positive going into a huge test in the playoffs. The Jets are the 6th seed going against the 3rd seeded Indianapolis Colts. Peyton Manning has home field advantage.

A rematch of the AFC Title game that brought the Jets, who were leading during the 3rd quarter, a few plays away from playing in the Superbowl and making history.

The Buffalo Bills are coming to town. Remarkably though, this game has virtually no bearing on the Jets season, as they are pretty locked in for the 6th seed and probably will be playing the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead during wild card weekend.

As unusual as anything in sports, having the last wild card spot set before the last week of the season. Usually, two or more teams are fighting for that last wild card spot on the last Sunday of the regular season. In the NFC, the Buccaneers, Giants and the Packers all have a shot at the last spot. On the other hand, the Jets can essentially use week 17 in the NFL as a glorified bye week.

Well, any game against the ridiculously poor (but were playing better) Buffalo Bills really is always a glorified bye week.

The 38-14 thrashing of the Buffalo Bills by the New York Jets doesn’t say a whole lot about how good the Jets are as a team.

What it does say is that the Buffalo Bills Suck.

Honestly, we already kinda new the Buffalo Bills Suck but the Jets exposed them in every aspect of their suckiness. Their offense was pathetic, with their quarterback scrambling for 74 yards the only positive yardage they seemed to muster all game. Their defense couldn’t come even close to stopping the constantly improving offensive juggernaut which has become the Mark Sanchez led Jets offense. Even the Buffalo Bills special teams sucked.

The NY Jets won 2 games in the division last year, so far we have won all 3 games in the division this year. Mark Sanchez has 8 touchdown passes on the season and 0 interceptions. LT and Shonn Greene both ran for over 100 yards, with LT scoring two touchdowns.  Secret weapon Brad Smith did his usual thing and Dustin Kellar caught two touchdowns for the second week in a row.

The NY Jets blew up the New England Patriots
The NY Jets blew up the Miami Dolphins
The NY Jets blew up the Buffalo Bills

Who in the AFC East is gonna compete? We know the Buffalo Bills Suck with their 0-4 record, and despite giving both Miami and New England a run for their money in games earlier in the season the Bills might end up with 0 wins. With the Dolphins playing the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football on October 4 the contender and pretender in the division will be revealed.

Okay, so the Buffalo Bills suck, but that doesn’t mean this wasn’t a good win for the Jets. The Jets are getting a lot of attention from the media as being one of the premier teams in the AFC. Indianapolis lost to Jacksonville today, and Jacksonville is horrible so Peyton Manning’s squad is no longer as big a bully as it once was. Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston appear to be the other NFL cities with quality teams that through a quarter of the season appear to be playoff caliber.

Even though the Buffalo Bills Suck it is still awesome to watch our NY Football Jets play this well in all facets of the game. The offense can move the ball and has plenty of weapons.  Now we get to add Santonio Holmes to the mix, and if you don’t know how good a Superbowl MVP wide receiver Santonio Holmes is than you are in for a pleasant surprise. With Braylon Edwards catching another touchdown today, we will now have two awesome wide receivers. Jerricho Cotchery can move to the slot where he will be more effective and with Dustin Kellar playing the tight end position at the level he is the Jets have one of the best passing attacks in the NFL. Add to that two great running backs, a young improving quarterback, a great defense, a brilliant defensive minded head coach, a talented offensive coordinator in Brian Schottenheimer and some wrinkles like Brad Smith the NY Jets management have put together a title contender.

Today was a nice win even though the Buffalo Bills Suck, but let us focus on a huge game coming up as we have Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings next weekend.

A common theme this year is Darrelle Revis leading the Jets defense to wins. On Thursday night this was no different as Revis locked down Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrelle Owens holding him to only 3 catches for 31 yards. Literally this guy is the reason the Jets are now 6-6 and only a game behind Denver for a wild card position.

However, this big, kinda sloppy win did not come without loss. Quarterback Mark Sanchez forced the organization to hold their breath when he hobbled off the field following a third down scramble for a first down in which he chose to dive at the end of the play instead of slide. Ironcially, this is exactly what Rex Ryan was trying to avoid by having Mark Sanchez taught how to slide FEET FIRST  all week by World Series Champion Yankees Manager Joe Girardi. The dive got the first down but the collision with the field turf in Toronto caused Sanchez to sprain his posterior cruciate ligament in his healthier right knee since he already wears a brace on his left knee from an old college injury.

Good News is that if he can handle the pain he should be able to play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week, another must win game if the Jets have any post season aspirations.

Rushing and defense has been the bread and butter for the Jets all season long. Against Buffalo this was the case as Thomas Jones helped set a franchise record for the most rushing yards in two games against the same opponent in the same season. The Jets defense held Buffalo to less than 100 yards total offense in the second half and quickly ended the Buffalo game winning drive opportunity on their final possession. Defensive end Shaun Ellis sacked the Buffalo Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick on first down and then Darrelle Revis intercepted a long pass to Terrelle Owens on second down allowing the Jets to run out the clock for the victory.

The Jets slim but improving playoff hopes rest in the knee of Mark Sanchez. If he can not play then backup Kellen Clemens will be under center and the Jets will be left wondering what if.

Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez lost another game for the team by throwing 5 interceptions. The Buffalo Bills won in overtime 16-13 in what was a gift. Buffalo is one of the worst teams in football. The Buffalo Bills scored only 3 points last week against the then winless Cleveland Browns. Yet, Buffalo managed to keep the game close and pull even late and should have won it in regulation but the Buffalo kicker choked on a game winning field goal as time expired. The Jets were not so lucky in overtime as the Bills kicker booted the game winner.

Jets Mark Sanchez Throws 5 Interceptions Against Buffalo

The storyline of this game is the Jets quarterback which led them to an impressive 3-0 start has now led them to three straight defeats evening the team’s record at 3-3.  Sanchez threw the ball over and over again right into the arms of the Buffalo defense and time after time. Jets fans booed constantly from the Meadowlands and head coach Rex Ryan almost put in backup quarterback Kellen Clemens.

Yet, despite all the turnovers the Jets had chances in overtime. Receiving the kick the Jets ran the ball down the field. Running well all day were Thomas Jones and Leon Washington who combined for 318 yards. In fact, Thomas Jones 210 yards broke a Jets record held by Curtis Martin, yet the Jets became the 7th team in NFL history to lose a game with a 200 yard rushing effort by a single player. A crucial play in overtime was a Jets run inside the Bills 10 yard line that was called back for an obvious holding on the offensive line. The play was stupid, considering if he lets the defender tackle the Jets running back it would still have been a first down or at worse a very makable field goal. Instead the Jets get pushed back and out comes Jay Feeley to win the game, only the holder couldn’t catch the snap cleanly. Good Grief. Jets deserved to lose this game.

Wow, Oakland Raiders next week. That is no gimme, as Oakland shocked the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Jets should be 4-2 or 5-1. The debacle in Miami on Monday Night was one thing, a turnover plagued game at home against the pathetic Buffalo Bills is another. Both those teams were starting backup quarterbacks and had only one win coming into the game.

This team needs to wake up.

Sanchez TRY SCRAMBLING for a 1st down once in awhile. You have great protection, if you are in trouble and your receivers are covered just tuck the ball and run. Several times it would have worked in the fourth quarter and overtime. Instead, you throw the ball at the jersey’s worn by the Bills. Just mind boggling to watch. The Bills had not won an AFC East game since 2007 so basically they are familiar with losing close games. Despite trying their best to lose this game, Mark Sanchez tried even harder.