My beef today is with almost everything that the New York Jets did last night in their opening game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Everyone around the country seemed excited about this Jets team coming into the season, especially with HBO's Hard Knocks and Rex Ryan's trash talking; some even picked them to be the best team in the NFL this year. Last night the Jets were anything but.
It was an ugly game just like everyone expected, but it certainly wasn't ugly in the way that everyone expected. Sure, you can say both defenses were gritty and tough, but the main reason neither team scored points was the play from their respective horrendous offenses. The Ravens were able to consistently advance the ball but early turnovers cost them. On the Ravens' first drive, Joe Flacco fumbled the ball when he was sacked at his own 20 and a recovery set the Jets up for a field goal. Then on their next drive, they advanced the ball deep into Jet territory, but lost it when the Jets jumped on a Willis McGahee fumble inside the Jets' 20. The last Ravens turnover came right in front of the Jet endzone, when Antonio Cromartie picked off a ball intended for Anquan Boldin and returned it to the Baltimore 24 yard line. Those plays were about the only bright spots for the Jets though.
The big show of the night was the Jets' stagnant offense, and calling it that is being kind. It was more like atrocious, horrific, disgusting, and just downright foul. Yet, I don't fault the players even as close to as much as I fault offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. The play-calling by Schottenheimer was elementary to say the least. I understand that the Jets love establishing their running game, with their ground 'n pound style of play that Rex Ryan has become famous for, but it wasn't finishing the job for them last night. With a defense as talented as the Ravens', especially in their front seven, the Jets needed to combine their big runs, which they did have a few of, with more play-action passes and deep balls from Sanchez.
The Jets also needed to mix up their play-calling. They only passed twice on first down in the entire game, one time was a great pass to Dustin Keller that would have put them on the doorstep of the endzone, but was called back because of an illegal shift by Braylon Edwards. The other was a five yard completion. With 7:07 left in the third quarter, after a big Brad Smith kick return and with the Jets down 10-6, it seemed as if momentum could swing in their favor. Instead they went three-and-out after running the ball three straight times.
Look, I'm a supporter of protecting and developing Sanchez but Schottenheimer just babied him last night, consistently turning to a running game that could only give him so much in return, with a struggling Shonn Greene. Through the middle of the fourth quarter, Sanchez had only thrown the ball a dozen times. Many people criticized Sanchez last night for checking down to his running backs too often, but how could he have the confidence to throw downfield, when his offensive coordinator rarely gave him any opportunity to.
The Jets can ram the ball down the throats of mediocre opponents all they want, but Sanchez needs more opportunities to throw the ball than he got last night against good team like the Ravens, especially when they expected him to step up in a two-minute drill and throw the ball every play. It was like asking a quarterback to come off the bench and lead the final drive all the way downfield, and he could have done it if not for Dustin Keller. On a crucial fourth down with less than a minute in the game, Sanchez found Keller and got the ball to him just short of the first down a few steps from the sideline. Instead of attempting to get the ball past the first down marker he ran out of bounds and the Jets fell a yard short of having the drive live on. So say what you want about Sanchez, but this Jets offense only got six downs, tying them for a franchise worst, as a result of Brian Schottenheimer's boneheaded play-calling.
Then there were the penalties. My God, it seemed like every other play, especially on defense was a penalty. For all of those cocky Jets fans who thought the Jets could do without Revis, just imagine what this game would have been like if only Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson had been playing. The entire Jets squad combined for 14 penalties totaling 125 yards, compared to the Ravens' five totaling 38 yards. The two CBs had a horrendous first half, surrendering a combined four penalties for a total of 60 yards, and then on top of that struggled in the second half to stop the passing game. Revis didn't play often, but when he did, it was easy to see that he was back to being Revis Island, shutting down whomever he covered. Why the Jets didn't use him on the Jet killer Anquan Boldin who ran all over Cromartie for 110 yards, is understandable considering Revis' missing training camp, but still inexcusable in such a close, important game.
There were some positives however. The front seven played like they were possessed by the football gods, getting in Joe Flacco's face and completely shutting down the Raven running game, which only had 49 total yards on a combined 35 carries. Bryan Thomas especially stepped up in Calvin Pace's absence with 9 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Mike Westhoff's special teams also looked wonderful with some great returns and awesome coverage, but that was no surprise considering Westhoff's outstanding track record.
The best thing that I took out of this game was how close it was. Despite the penalties and the terrible, offensive (not in the good way) offensive play, the Jets only lost by one point to a team that many experts have representing the AFC in the Super Bowl. One of the signs of a great team, is that on even their worst nights they can stay with almost anybody. The fact that the Jets were so bad, yet were in the game all the way up to the final seconds, shows me that this team has the potential to win it all.
There will be some big questions to answer though. With today's news that Kris Jenkins will miss the rest of the season, as he did last year, with a torn ACL, the Jets front seven will need to hang tight as they did last night, with both Jenkins out all year and Pace out for the first few weeks - the Jets' toughest part of the schedule - and back-ups will have to step up as they did last night. There's also the question as to whether Shonn Greene will be able to step into the starting role. Many assumed based on his playoff performance last year that he would be a top back in the league this year, but with two fumbles last night, it's clear that he may need more time to develop and that LT will need to duplicate the great performances he had in the pre-season. If that occurs, more pressure will be put on Mark Sanchez to lead the team. With Revis undoubtedly getting more playing time next week against the Patriots after the secondary disaster this game, the defensive backs shouldn't be worried about too much, and the defense seems like it's still the best in the league even without Jenkins.
As many people predicted, much of the pressure lies on the second year QB from USC, because if the Jets want to be an elite team, which they have the potential to be, they are going to have to learn to play outside of their comfort zone more often, and that involves letting Marky Mark do what he gets paid to do in throwing the football. Hopefully Schottenheimer and Ryan realize that sooner rather than later.
Rex Ryan hasn't been hyping this team up for nothing. People think that he made a fatal mistake in talking the talk, before he was able to walk the walk after one bad game. The truth is, the defense thrive off of his leadership and inspiration and they can and will make the Jets one of the best teams in the league this year. The penalties will float away as the defense becomes more cohesive as a unit throughout the season and the offense will find its rhythm, especially with Santonio Holmes coming back after four games. It's Week 1 haters and worriers, come talk to Rex Ryan and the rest of the Jets in December when they're playoff-bound.
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