New York Jets: Mark Sanchez and 5 Jets Who Have Not Delivered in 2011

After four weeks, the New York Jets find themselves in third place in the AFC East with a tough road game against the New England Patriots on tap for this week. The crunching loss to the Baltimore Ravens was hard for Jets' fans, and probably their coaching staff as well, to watch.

One way to look at this is that the Ravens' defense just played a superb game. On the other hand, maybe the Jets are under performing.

Let's take a look at five Jets who have contributed to this mediocre 2-2 start.

Mark Sanchez

In the first four games, Mark Sanchez has thrown five interceptions and lost four fumbles. Fortunately his teammates have recovered two of his other fumbles. The Jets can't be a playoff team with this many turnovers from the quarterback.

You can bet that Bill Belichick has noticed these statistics and will seek to keep a lot of pressure on Sanchez throughout the game. Hopefully the Jets' game plan will include a heavy dose of three-step quick-release passes so that the ball doesn't stay in Sanchez hands too long.

Use of a no-huddle defense might keep the Patriots from getting their preferred defensive packages in on third-down situations.

Something has to change. Not only for the sake of this game, but for his duration during the season, Sanchez can't continue to take the pounding he did in the last week's game with the Ravens.

Colin Baxter

It is not easy taking the place of a solid center like Nick Mangold, Nonetheless, Colin Baxter just wasn't  in sync with Sanchez in last week's game, and two botched snaps resulted. Since Baxter just joined the team in early September it naturally is taking him some time to get into the team flow.

The best way to address this situation for this week's game is to hope that Mangold has recovered from his ankle sprain and can be ready to face the Patriots' nose tackle Vince Wilfork. If he is not, this could be another rough week for Sanchez.

Vladimir Ducasse

Continuing along the offensive line, it seems clear that Vladimir Ducasse is not quite ready for NFL prime time yet. The second round pick from the 2010 draft has been shuffled from one position to another, but none seems to have stuck yet. 

His shadow block last week resulted in the strip sack of Sanchez and touchdown for the Ravens.

The best remedy for this situation would seem to be to leave Ducasse on the bench for now.

Shonn Greene

The Jets are a run-first team. When your leading running back, Shonn Greene, has 157 rushing yards in four games, this won't get things done. Perhaps a large part of this difficulty has resulted from the absence of center Nick Mangold.

Somehow, Greene's production needs to be improved if the Jets are to make the playoffs this year.

Running straight ahead at the Patriots 3-4 defense probably won't work all that well this week. Maybe the use of more mis-direction or cut-back plays would give Greene more of an opportunity to move along the line and try to find a gap and cut through it.

Alternatively, making Greene the second back through the hole might give the lead blocker the chance to clear out the nearest linebacker and give Greene some open space in which to operate.

Antonio Cromartie

The defensive secondary is usually a strength for the Jets, but this season has been a mixed bag for Antonio Cromartie.  In the second week of the season, his two interceptions propelled the Jets to a convincing win against the Jaguars.

But in the Week  3 loss against the Raiders, he was called for four penalties, some at critical times during the game.

An interception this week against Tom Brady, his least favorite player, would certainly help the Jets' chance for a win.