Keys For Continued Succes By The New York Jets in 2010
In the last two weeks, the Jets have faced many distractions with the injury to Darrelle Revis' hamstring, the Braylon Edwards arrest and yet, they are able to overcome everything and pull out two wins from three of their hardest games. With a 28-14 upset against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. And on Sunday night the Jets pulled out an even bigger by surprising their rivals the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium, beating them 31-23.
After week 1, it seems the Jets have made tremendous head way by being able to beat both the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots, the only problem is, they're only going into their fourth week this Sunday. After Sunday there will still be 12 more regular season games to be played in which the Jets need to win if they want to return to the playoffs and make the Super Bowl instead of falling short in the AFC Championship game like they did last year.
This slide-show will give you everything you need to know to judge whether the Jets will be successful for the next 4 months.
Mark Sanchez
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Through three games, Mark Sanchez has shown why the Jets traded up in the first round to get him in the 2009 draft. With a rough season passing wise for Sanchez last season, he came back this season determined to correct his mistakes and even after the first week is still correcting his mistakes.
After losing to Baltimore, one of the major criticisms directed towards Sanchez was his choice in passes. During the game against the Ravens, Sanchez would just check the ball down to players like LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene and on occasion, Dustin Keller but those passes could not get the job done. Although the game against Baltimore did not include much that you could compliment the Jets on, what Sanchez did that kept the game close that he has not done the last three weeks is throw an interception.
Over the last two weeks, Sanchez has been able to throw 6 touchdowns without an interception and in big games against teams like the Patriots and Dolphins, the number of interceptions is a big statistic. If Chad Henne hadn't have thrown the interception at the end of the 4th quarter in Sunday's game, the final score may have been 31-30 and it would have changed the game drastically since there was still almost a minute left.
In order for Sanchez to help the Jets produce he needs to make smart choices and take smart chances. Rather than just throwing the ball up he needs to wait for the right moment and if he has no other choice, overthrow it so nobody else has a chance. He also needs to keep up his accuracy. On one of his touchdown passes to tight end Dustin Keller, Sanchez threw a perfect pass right past a linebacker which helped the Jets build a 14-0 lead early on. Now that Sanchez has faced three intimidating defenses and has risen above them, he shouldn't be afraid of the rest he plays which should allow to be calm in the pocket which allows him to make the right choices which will be the key for Mark Sanchez.
Kyle Wilson, Antonio Cromartie
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Some may switch the names Wilson and Cromartie for Revis since he has been injured for a week and will be listed as questionable for this week. Wilson and Cromartie with the absence of Revis have stepped up to face big receivers like Brandon Marshall, Wes Welker and Randy Moss, but they have not stepped up enough.
Against the Patriots in week 2, the Jets secondary without Revis did a good job of containing Randy Moss and Wes Welker, and this great containment was complimented by the fact that they were able to pick Tom Brady off twice in the game, both not going to Revis. The success of the secondary without Revis was key in that game especially with the Patriots aerial attack. With such a successful week 2 it was obvious that the success should carry over into week 3.
For the most part, the success from week 2 for the Jets secondary stayed in the past. Filled with pass interference calls and blown coverages, Chad Henne and the Dolphins receivers picked apart the Jets secondary, luckily Mark Sanchez and the Jets were able to pick the team up. In the picture shown of Wilson and Hartline, he was called for pass interference moments later. On top of the many penalties, the Jets allowed Brandon Marshall to catch 10 passes for 166 yards, Davone Bess caught 6 passes for 86 yards and Brian Hartline caught 5 passes for 84 yards.
Without Revis it seems the Jets cannot contain receivers for a full game which will become a problem in the future especially if Revis continues to get inured which would be a consequence for not going to training camp and holding out for a new contract which he is already under performing. If the Jets want to win games with a combination of offense and defense, they will need to limit the receivers like last year where they only allowed one receiver to have over 100 yards, meanwhile this year, 3 receivers have already met that mark against the Jets.
Dustin Keller
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After a catastrophic first game against the Ravens where Keller ran out of bounds a yard short on 4th down in the fourth quarter and single handedly killed the Jets chances of a comeback. Because of his atrocious performance, Keller has been playing with a chip on his shoulder.
On Sunday nights game against the Miami Dolphins, Keller made up for the fact that he had a bad start to the season and the star receiver Braylon Edwards was suspended for the first quarter. Keller had no problem with the absence of Edwards and as the Jets drove down the field, he caught a 24 yard touchdown pass from Mark Sanchez to help build what would be a 14-0 lead.
In the following quarter, Keller scored another touchdown. Overall, Keller scored 2 touchdowns with 98 yards receiving. In order for the Jets offenses to be able to successfully produce they will need Keller who has become Sanchez's go-to man. Whether or not Braylon Edwards will be able to play on Sunday against the Bills is questionable due to his DUI arrest early last week and the Jets will be without Santonio Holmes until week 5 when they play the Minnesota Vikings.
If Keller consistently produces the way he did against the Dolphins, it will be greatly appreciated by Mark Sanchez and the other receivers as it will allow Sanchez to throw to many more people on the field rather than having one guy get the majority of receptions.
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LaDainian Tomlinson
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Reborn after a bitter departure from San Diego is running back LaDainian Tomlinson. Tomlinson last season was known for short gains and not producing for his fantasy owners which was not what people were accustomed to and in an offense converted to heavy passing, the amount of carries Tomlinson received began to decrease.
For the last three weeks, Tomlinson has been sharing the role of running back with Jets second year back, Shonn Greene. Greene who started rough against the Ravens has been seeing less snaps in games while L.T. has begun to see more of the field. So far, Tomlinson has been consistently rushing about 70 yards each game.
Although he is not rushing for 120 yards which most people were used to seeing, his effort has been incredible. Of those 70 yards each game, many of them have been second effort yards. The Jets have been mainly using Tomlinson as a third down back and whenever he gets close to the first down marker, LaDainian makes sure that he gets the first down.
While the amount of yards don't show tremendous success for Tomlinson, it is effort put in that is showing and that is helping the Jets offense. Going into this season, many thought that Tomlinson would be the backup running back but as of now, he is the best running back the Jets have. As long as he continues to put in the effort during games and stays away from injuries, LaDainian Tomlinson will prove to be a great asset for the New York Jets.
Brad Smith
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One of the most underrated players on the Jets offense is Brad Smith. Smith formerly a quarterback at Missouri has been a major piece for the Jets equivalent of the wildcat offense. Smith will occasionally take snaps as quarterback during game, and when he is under center most defenses should be afraid.
When Smith comes into the game as a quarterback, there are two threats to run since there will most likely be a running back next to him, he is skilled at running the option, and can throw the ball. Against the Ravens, Smith ran twice for a total of 27 yards with one rush that went for 22 yards.
On Sunday Smith showcased his ability to be a threat once again by not only rushing for 41 yards, he also threw a pass that went for 11 yards. The plays where Smith enters a game could be crucial and he should not be taken lightly by defenses.
The Rest Of The Season
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If the Jets incorporate their successful passing game with their already successful passing game there is no doubt that they score like they have been the last two weeks. With Sanchez throwing crisp and precise passes against tough defenses like the Ravens and Dolphins; it makes one wonder what he could do against a team as bad as the Bills. Without Revis, the Jets secondary will need to hold their own and avoid stupid penalties like pass interference or defensive holding since that was the situation against the Ravens where the Jets had over 100 yards in penalties, the majority of which were caused by the secondary. If LaDainian Tomlinson continues to play as hard as he has been, there is no question as to whether the Jets run game will be like it was last season or as successful as it has been in the past. As long as the Jets fire on all cylinders and play crisply there is a possibility that they finish the season 15-1 but they must stay focused and all of the off-field distractions need to over with.
Remaining Jets Schedule:
**Bold shows Remaining Division Games**
at Buffalo Bills (10/3)
vs. Minnesota Vikings (10/11)
at Denver Broncos (10/17)
Bye Week (10/24)
vs. Green Bay Packers (10/31)
at Detroit Lions (11/7)
at Cleveland Browns (11/14)
vs. Houston Texans (11/21)
vs. Cincinnati Bengals (11/25-Thanksgiving)
at New England Patriots (12/6)
vs. Miami Dolphins (12/12)
at Pittsburgh Steelers (12/19)
at Chicago Bears (12/26)
vs. Buffalo Bills (1/2)
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