I'd Rather Get Beat Up in an Alley—Heroic

Can you tell how dramatic I’m capable of being by that title? Heroic. Right now it makes me think of Jason and the Argonauts or the Lord of the Rings or some really epic movie with swords. 

Yesterday though, after watching our defense pretty much play for an entire half without a break, that’s the word that came to mind.  At one point Gang Green was on the field for 27 straight plays without allowing any points to be scored.  When the Bills elected to go for it on fourth down from the Jets eight yard line I have to admit I was nervous as hell.

Fred Jackson got stuffed hard and the Jets defense made a huge statement that this team sorely needed. 

Oh yeah, and Kris Jenkins is an absolute beast.  His Kung Fu is strong and if anyone wants to run up the middle they have to somehow get by his awesome enormousness.  He’s like Moby Dick but well, you know…

This was a really big game for the Jets.  After weeks of looking like a bad team squeaking out wins on an easy schedule, Favre and company packed their bags for an upstate showdown with the division leading Buffalo Bills.

For me, the biggest question marks going into Sunday’s game were:

• 1-coaching

and

• 2-coaching.

I was also a little worried about interceptions.  The coaching scared me far more to be honest.  Would we show up ready to play?  Would there be tons of penalties on our offense?  Would there be blown coverages?  Would we make bonehead calls such as throwing stupid passes in the fourth quarter when we’re winning by 13 points?  Would our special teams be caught off guard by fakes or trickery?  Basically, would the Jets be prepared for what Buffalo at 5—2 brings to the table?

Yes. And No. And there were a few of these, “huh?”  The first one came when Mangini excepted a penalty that gave the Bills new life instead of forcing them to try a long field goal.  Predictably, the Bills converted their second attempt at third down.  Shortly after though, Edwards threw that interception to Abram Elam which ended up being returned for a touchdown. 

The only way Mangini gets credit for this one is if he’s a psychic. Trust me, he’s no psychic. There were the normal offensive penalties early (the false starts are really starting to piss me off coach).

The biggest “huh?” moment came when we were winning by 13 in the fourth quarter.  We’re winning. We’ve pretty much won. All we needed to do was run the ball, eat up some time, and not throw an interception. The play called in was a play action pass that we’re all too familiar with now. It was a stupid call there’s no way around it but I guess Favre decided he needed to go ahead and spot the Bills his normal weekly seven points. 

How many games in a row is that anyway? Too feakin’ many. And Coach—tell Schotty that was a really dumb decision and not to do it again. Thomas Jones was ripping the Bills apart by this point too—averaging almost six yards a carry.There is an upside to your offense not playing much in the first half: fresh legs.

To put it bluntly: We administered an ass whuppin. Our defense rattled Edwards consistently with sacks and completely shut down the Bills running game. Lynch was still breaking tackles but there was always another incoming green jersey on every single tackle.

The Jets made a made Sunday to be sure. It goes something like this, “Our defense has some serious stamina and one enormous behemoth at nose tackle.”

There is also this one, “We will miss one field goal before halftime, then spot you seven points, and we’ll still probably win.” 

Or, “Leon Washington isn’t just fast, he’s smart so you better go ahead and  kick the ball to him.”  Leon’s due to break a return for a touchdown—I hope it’s in two weeks against the Patriots.

If you haven’t jumped on the Jet’s Voodoo bandwagon, you should do it now.  There was some funny rolling down the twitter on Sunday.  Enjoy your week Jets fans.  Huge win.