New York Jets vs. Denver Broncos: 4 Things We Learned from Jets' 17-13 Loss

Thursday night's loss to Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos may have ended the New York Jets season and disproved Rex Ryan's guarantee a little earlier than usual.  

The game was close to the very end, similar to the end of the first half during last week's game against New England. Mark Sanchez and the offense left too much time on the clock with not enough points on the board, this time for Tim Tebow and not Tom Brady.  Similar to Brady, Tebow was able to methodically drive down the field and finish it off himself with a 20-yard touchdown run that would ultimately decided the game.

For the Jets, this was an agonizing defeat, as this was their game to lose, and that is exactly what they did.  Just like their loss to the Patriots, mistakes like fumbles and missed field goals culminated into one ugly performance, except for the defense who played a great game but could not support the atrocious offense for all four quarters.

With that, let's take a look at what we learned from the big trap game loss.

As always, feedback is welcome.  Enjoy!

Good Defense Wasn't Good Enough

While the offense and special teams kept giving the ball away, the Jets defense looked spectacular.  Aside from the last drive where Tim Tebow drove down field 95 yards and scored the game-winning touchdown, they were able to shut him and anybody else in a Broncos uniform down.

It started with the defensive line's penetration led by captain Sione Pouha, defensive tackle Mike DeVito and defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson.  They continued to break through the offensive line, which allowed the linebackers to burst through the gaps and break up any running attempts.

It was because of the defense, the Jets did not lose by a worse score.  At the end of the second quarter, Bart Scott's fumble recovery put the Jets in Broncos territory enough that even though they could barely move the ball, they were able to get a field goal.  The defense had to clean up the offense's mistakes more than once.

For example, early on in the first half, punter T.J. Conley had such a bad punt that the Broncos were able to take over in Jets territory without having to touch the ball.  The defense held strong making the Broncos go three-and-out and kick a field goal, which they made.  

Had the offense done what they were supposed to do with the slew of weapons they have on their team by scoring and not constantly turning the ball over, the Broncos would have been held to 13 points at most.  The defense did what they were supposed to aside from the last drive when Tim Tebow put together a nice looking drive, but because the offense gave the defense no cushion, the Jets lost.

Joe McKnight Is Too Hot and Cold

One moment he is a returning a kickoff for 107 yards and the next he is muffing punts, the Jets and their fans cannot win with Joe McKnight.  Last year it started with McKnight throwing up during training camp because he was out of shape.  This year, it seemed like McKnight was going to be a monster as he was playing flawlessly until the second loss to the Patriots.

Thursday night, with LaDainian Tomlinson not making the trip to Denver because of a knee injury, the Jets were down to one feature back in Shonn Greene going up against the Broncos.  By the second quarter, Greene was out and Joe McKnight was running the ball.

On offense, McKnight did a pretty good job of running the ball.  He did not get crazy numbers like 20 carries for 120 yards, but he was able to move the chains when they needed him to. McKnight made the biggest positive impact when the Jets began to run screen passes to slow down the pass rush, which really moved the chains.

McKnight made the biggest negative impact when he fumbled a kick return after trying to extend a very good return that would have put the Jets very close to Denver territory had he just gone to the ground, rather than trying to truck every person he saw.  McKnight's fumble was just one of many mistakes by the Jets, had they held onto the ball, the game may have finished in a much different fashion.

Offensive Line Was Below Average...Again

Last week, the Jets offensive line was having trouble protecting Mark Sanchez against New England's random assortment of defensive lineman like Aaron Carter. Against the Broncos, they were not beautiful either.

Although they looked better than they did five days before, it was not by much, as Nick Mangold and company allowed three sacks and seven hits on Sanchez. 

At the beginning of the game, they were able to recognize which players were coming and made sure they picked them up. By the second half, if it was a different story.

The Broncos began to apply more pressure and started to get to Sanchez a lot more, which was obvious on Von Miller's big hit in the third quarter after Sanchez attempted a pass. 

When in pass protection, the offensive line looked mediocre as pressure, especially from the edge, got to Sanchez all the time.  The biggest play came within the last minute when Von Miller absolutely abused right tackle Wayne Hunter and sacked Sanchez for a loss of eight.

On running plays, however, the offensive line did an excellent job of creating holes for Joe McKnight.  The best play for them came when rookie Bilal Powell fumbled near the goal line and left guard Matt Slauson recovered the ball and took it into the end zone.

It Was Sanchez After All

I have been one to stick up for Sanchez when he takes heat from everybody else, which I made clear in my article on "Why the Vile Treatment of Sanchez is one of the NFL's Biggest Injustices" but after Thursday night's game, Sanchez proved me wrong.

Through one half, Sanchez did not look too bad, he was sacked a few times and completed 14-of-17 passes.  After completing several passes to Plaxico Burress to move the ball, Sanchez made a terrible read and tried to put the ball in a tight spot to Burress again without realizing that Andre Goodman had a clean line to the ball.  Goodman's play changed the game, as he intercepted Sanchez's pass and took it to the end zone with ease.

After the first half, Sanchez was only 10-of-23 with the pick-six that killed the Jets.  His poor decision on that pass affected him for the rest of the game, as he continued to throw poor passes and could not shut the door on Denver when the Jets had possession with over five minutes left in the game.

For a while, a lot of the blame for the Jets lack of success was put on offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, but a few times during this game Schottenheimer could be seen on the sideline, absolutely disgusted with what he saw out of Sanchez and his offense. 

Even without weapons like LaDainian Tomlinson or Shonn Greene to help him out on the ground, Sanchez could simply not execute and was one of the many reasons the Jets left Denver with a loss and are very close to being out of playoff contention.