Believe it, the New York Jets are a good football team and are a serious contender in the AFC. Despite being considered heavy underdogs, the Jets showed they were the far superior team to the national media's darling "up and coming team," the Buffalo Bills.
You have to begin with the defense and you have to begin up front with Kris Jenkins, who was the team MVP on Sunday and probably the team MVP for the entire season thus far.
Simply put, he was a beast against Buffalo. They had absolutely no answer for him up front, as he recorded 2 sacks and lead the Jets complete stuffing of the Bills rushing attack.
I've heard a lot about Marshawn Lynch, Fred Jackson, and this Bills running offense but they were embarrassed by the Jets on Sunday. 30 yards on 17 carries speaks to how far this Jets defense has come, never mind the fact they were playing without inside linebacker David Harris.
Darrelle Revis also had his best game as a pro on Sunday. The guy is currently one of the five best corners in the league and if you disagree with that statement, you haven't watched him play. He had a strip sack and recovered the fumble he caused, setting up a Jets field goal and then iced the game with an interception in the end-zone late in the fourth quarter.
More importantly, he completely shut down Lee Evans, who didn't make a single big play all game. At safety, Kerry Rhodes stuffed Fred Jackson on a key fourth and one and saved a potential touchdown by knocking away a pass to Evans. Yet, it was the Jets other safety who had the game-turning play as Abram Elam returned an interception 92 yards for a touchdown. Elam has been very good this year, and should remain the starter over Eric Smith.
A few other notes on defense, rookie Dwight Lowery was benched in the second half in favor of David Barrett. Lowery has been getting picked on because he is opposite a lock-down corner and has struggled a bit recently. It will be interesting to see how the reps are divided up the rest of season.
On offense, the offensive line had its best game. They ran the ball when they had to, and showed they could be a smash-mouth team. Thomas Jones has had a borderline pro-bowl season, as he continued to play strong running for 69 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown. He also contributed 6 catches for 38 yards.
Leon Washington had his weekly big play, ripping off a 40 yard catch on a screen pass. Most importantly, the Jets were great in short yardage situations, converting a few big ones late in the fourth quarter which helped ice the game.
Give Brian Schottenheimer credit for his two play calls on third and one on that last Jets drive. The first play, was a quick pass in the flat to Jones and the second one was a handoff to Tony Richardson, his first of the year which the Bills couldn't have been expecting.
Brett Favre played a Chad Pennington like game, managing the short, controlled passing attack. He did show some nice zip on a few slant routes and did a good job stepping up in the pocket a few times and hitting Laveranues Coles over the middle. He made a costly mistake obviously with the interception but responded by going 5 for 5 on the Jets next drive.
It is time to give the coaching staff some credit. They had the Jets ready to play and had a sound game plan on both sides of the ball. The Jets have put themselves in good position to make a strong run at the AFC East crown.
After watching yesterday's game, I know the Jets are the superior team to Buffalo. They have already beat Miami on the road, which means the last thing left standing is to go to New England and get a victory. The Jets can't look past the Rams this week however, even though a huge game at Gillette Stadium on national television is looming.
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