– The Jets entered the game with a chance to control their destiny. Win and they were in. Instead, by the end of the day, they got into a shoot out with the Bears and lost but still wound up getting in, thanks to the Washington Redskins beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in OT.
– Yet another classic Rex playoff postgame press conference. His reaction to getting in was priceless and exactly what any coach outside of Bill Belichiek would’ve said had he found out in mid press conference. Here’s what endears Rex to Jet fans- he’s “real”. Most head coaches would’ve had some prepared statement for the situation but Rex is an in-the-moment type of guy and so he has no script.
Which naturally brings us to the whole youtube controversy which annoys me to no end. The fact that we’re even discussing this (i’m not saying that this is a silly-free space, but still) is beyond me. This is where being a wise-cracking, outspoken head coach comes back to bite you. In today’s twitter/social networking world this is news. Its sad. I asked on Facebook this week and I still believe this by the way:
“Umm, is it just me..or is the Rex Ryan foot fetish video proof that romance isn’t dead”
I still stand by that. What’s crazy about a guy still being crazy in love with his wife and why is it a big deal? Its one of those videos where I expected to see a lot worse than what I actually saw. Sorry, it wasn’t that serious.
Let’s get to the notes on the actual game:
Let’s talk about turnovers and bad decisions:
A. Warning: this is NOT a fumble so before you go and make ill-comments I’ll save you, but still it set in your mind that the ball was going to be very tough to hold on to for the rest of the game and turnovers might turn into an issue.
8:35 left in the 1st quarter and LDT fumbles on a hand off after gaining about 2 yards. That’s 3 plays into their offensive set for the Jets. THREE! But the Jets recovered so no harm no foul.
Two plays later….
6:47 left in the 1st quarter- Santonio Holmes takes it on an end around fumbles the football and Jim Nantz, of CBS fame, makes an interesting note: Santonio Holmes hates wearing sleeves because he feels it makes him fumble and after it caused him a touchdown in Ohio State he swore to never wear them again. He rubs oil on his arm to warm his hands up but of course he broke his promise Sunday and it cost him a fumble which I’m sure he’s kicking himself on. Four plays later, Matt Forte takes it to the house and scores. 7 points off turnover.
B. Opening drive of the second half and the Jets attempt a fake punt on 4th and 3 and the Bears sniffed that out immediately. How do I know this? Because you see multiple arms point out Sanchez in the formation and the Bears instinctively play the pass and bat down the Sanchez pass. Why on earth would you call the fake punt this early? There was no need to do so. You had the momentum as a team after outscoring the Bears 24-7 during the second quarter and ending the first half with a field goal. Naturally, the very next play Jay Cutler throws to Johnny Knox for a 40 yard td pass. That’s 7 points off this bad decision.
c. After playing keep away from Devin Hester for the first half, the very first punt of the second half the Jets attempt Devin Hester actually gets a chance to return it and return it he does, back to the Jet 37 for a 38 yard return and that sets up two plays later, a Jay Cutler TD pass to, you guessed it, Devin Hester. Thats 7 more points off the bad play. Also, kicking to Devin Hester should officially be called a turnover.
-Weather was certainly a factor and sure to be one. Two weeks after being decimated by the Patriots in worse weather, the Bears and Jets saw just about all four seasons in one game. Snow, sun, wind, low temperatures. But the weather affects the game this way: when Matt Forte goes in slapped into the end zone. Terrible tackling by the Jets, all day and I suppose most want to blame it on the weather but that’s what separates the good teams from the not so good ones. The Jets did a terrible job all day of tackling and some players on certain plays seemed to play matador tackling.
– IF you choose to judge Mark Sanchez by his last throw (which happened to be his lone INT of the day) then so be it. There are those who believe you’re ONLY as good as your last throw. Well, I’m not going to put this loss on Sanchez’s shoulders. The Jets defense gave up 38 points. The Jets offense fumbled 3 times which was recovered by the Bears once. Sunday’s game was one of Sanchez’s best. Certain throws he made were very revealing. Here’s a few that I thought stood out, not just in terms of degree of difficulty but situation.
(These aren’t in any order of importance):
1. Sandwiched in between a terrible first possession was a critical throw to Dustin Keller to convert on a first down. 3rd and 7 and the Jets needing to get the crowd a little quiet got a beautiful but dangerous throw. Why is this throw in the 1st quarter an important throw? When talent evaluators try to forecast quarterbacks they like to see them make throws like the one he made: zipped in between two defenders. The kind of throw that if its any softer, its knocked down or worse intercepted. The kind of throw that Chad Pennington could never make. Its the reason that talent evaluators swear by Jay Cutler while the average fan may think he’s nothing more than average, run of the mill. Its why Jeff George was still an NFL QB into his late 30’s. You can’t teach height and you can’t teach arm strength. Sanchize threw a pass that proved he had an arm.
2. 3rd quarter 10:15 left- Jets have lost the lead and Chicago is up 31-24. Sanchez on a 1st down threads the needle in between 4 Bears defenders and over Brian Urlacher’s outstretched arm to get it to Braylon Edwards right in his stomach in stride. He had Dustin Keller on the inside but instead went over the top and made such a difficult throw look easy and did it with beauty.
3. Two plays later with 8:45 left in the 3rd quarter- I said it last week and I went back and checked the tape- Mark Sanchez has got to have one of the very best play action/faking the hand off plays in all of football because he sells it so well. The key to any good play action is to mimic your movements as if you were running a running play. Most times quarterbacks give out “tells” in the way they grip the football or even the way they move or stretch their hand trying to hand the football off. I watched 5 or 6 plays prior to his play action and saw absolutely nothing that would tell me he was giving off a tell, and that kind of trickery is so difficult to stop.
Sanchez fakes the hand off to the left as the offensive line is pulling the defense that way and Sanchez rolls out right where there’s a stretch of land and with how fast he is, the defense covering receivers down field suddenly must respect his ability to scramble and thus they got sucked in leaving Santonio Holmes sitting wide open in the end zone. The combination of these skills gives Mark Sanchez SUCH an advantage. And by open I mean Holmes was 10 yards away from any defender.
– Here’s the thing about the Jets offense that I don’t like: they seem to look away from Dustin Keller way too much. Sometimes I can’t seem to find him during an offensive stretch, yet he’s a match up nightmare for linebackers and corners. He makes plays all the time and yet he seems to be lost for stretches of a game. I went back and looked at the tape and I never saw Keller double covered or the defense shading him with a safety over the top. He’s the safety valve. He has the ability to get you first downs all the time.
Which brings me to my point on Mark Sanchez. He’s a good quarterback, don’t get me wrong, but the Jets personnel department may have some explaining to do. Here’s my take on Sanchize and its unbiased:
The Jets made a decision during the season last year prior to getting Braylon Edwards that their defense was ready to win and they had a young QB who could learn quicker with better talent surrounding him and that strategy makes sense. They got Braylon Edwards on the cheap after he made it known he wanted out of there and also getting into a spat with Cleveland’s former first son Lebron James’ entourage. But then the postseason happened and the mindset became: let’s load up on receivers and speed up his progression as a second year QB. Meanwhile, the Jets had won because of their run game and their defense and Mark Sanchez being a game manager. Not because he was this excellent passer. Want to see? Sure you do:
Opponent Comp/Att YDS TD INT
Bengals 12/15 182 1 0
Chargers 12/23 100 1 1
Colts 17/30 257 2 1
Totals 42/ 68 (61.8%) 539 4 2
For arguments sake I also put in Tom Brady’s and Peyton Manning’s first 3 playoff games as well:
Opponent Comp/Att YDS TD INT
Titans (1999) 19/42 227 0 0- LOSS
Dolphins (2000) 17/32 194 1 0- LOSS
Jets (2002) 14/31 137 0 2- LOSS (41-0- but something tells me Jet fans remember this)
TOTALS: 50/105 (47.6%) 558 1 2
As for Brady:
Raiders (2001) 32/52 312 0 1- WIN
Steelers (2001) 12/18 115 0 0- WIN
Rams (2001) 16/27 145 1 0- WIN (Super Bowl)
Totals: 60/97 (61.8%) 572 1 1
Both Brady and Manning are considered the elite of QB’s whenever the topic is brought up. Look at these stats and just understand one thing: Brady was 3-0 and Manning 0-3, while Sanchez falls right in the middle with 2-1 in his first three games. But both of their teams asked Brady and Manning to direct their offense, especially Manning who had 37 more passing attempts than Sanchize and Brady who had 29 more (although you can make the case that those numbers are that high because of the intriguing game planning by Belichiek to go pass heavy during the now infamous Tuck Rule game where they had a couple of inches of snow laying on the field.). The Pats and the Colts both asked their QB to do a lot more than the Jets asked Sanchez to do.
That of course became the cue for the Jets to increase his weapon load and add Santonio Holmes during the offseason, another buy low pick up by the Jets front office. I’m not saying Sanchez isn’t capable of becoming the amazing passer that the Jets front office sees in him, but look at the win/loss record of Peyton Manning who was asked to carry the offense by passing and look at Tom Brady’s win loss record when he was asked to just manage the game. Brady 3-0, Manning 0-3. Its not a very difficult formula. The Jets have a successful formula that helped them: run the football, and stay with the run even being stubborn. Is it any coincedence that their loss in the playoffs was when Sanchez was asked to do more on the passing end?
When they got Edwards and Holmes they stacked up playmakers on offense without any thought to their roles. Were they both going to stretch the field? Were they both going to be possession receivers? Apparently its the latter. They both run the same slant route which has become their go-to play. Which brings me to Brian Schottenheimer’s game calling which has been borderline abysmal throughout the season. He’s had his moments but never a full game where you sat back and said that the game plan was the reason the Jets won. The game plan should be simple: run the football. Play the time of possession game with your opponent. Take a few shots down the field. Always have Sanchez throw to the underneath receivers and them be his first option. Dink and dunk and every 5th or 6th pass when you sense a pass rush, option to a different screen. Sound familiar? It should, its the Patriots game plan. Sanchize DOES have the tools to be an excellent game manager and has the arm to make the tough throws. That’s going to be necessary come playoff time. When the weather gets bad, the Jets need Sanchez to manage the game and Sanchez needs the Jets to call on the running game for 30-40 carries a game.
– Big strategy for the Jets was simple: play keep away from Devin Hester on the special teams department. 2 punts and 2 kickoffs and they did just that. Kept it away from perhaps the best returner in NFL history.
2nd half different story: 1st punt- goes to Devin Hester and he takes it for 38 yards back to the Jets 37. Two plays later, TD pass by Jay Cutler to Devin Hester. Kick off to Devin Hester from the 11 and that’s a 40 yard return meaning the Bears once again starts off in Jets territory.
So here were the scoring runs for the day:
10-0 for the Bears, followed by 24-7 for the Jets (Jets up 24-17), then 14-0 for the Bears, (31-24 for the Bears) then the Bears and Jets scoring TD’s and a FG for the Jets (38-34 Bears). That folks is a back and forth game. The kind of rollercoaster game that most didn’t expect to see. But again, the weather creates a variable that many don’t expect.
– Key drive of the game only gave the Jets 3 points but its a point I wanted to make with the Jets. Here is where Mark Sanchez is the strongest and where the Jets are at their strongest. Let’s consider for a second here: The Jets have weapons on offense. They have a very good running game and a very good offensive line with receivers who are playing very well. The Bears in the 3rd quarter scored 3 touchdowns on possessions of 1, 3, and 5 plays. They went 40,32, and 49 yards on three possessions thanks to a turnover on downs and then two excellent returns by All-World super freak Devin Hester. So what do the Jets do? They slowed the game down.
they start at the 32. There is 6:02 left in the third quarter. The sequence of plays was
Pass for 12 to Braylon Edwards on a slant (1st down),
Run for 2 by LDT
Pass for 7 to LDT
Run for 2 by Tony Richardson (1st down)
Run for 4 by LDT
Pass for 7 to Dustin Keller (1st down)
Run for 8 by LDT
Run for 4 by LDT (1st down)
Incompletion to Holmes
Run for 4 by LDT (end of 3rd quarter)
Start of 4th quarter
Incomplete to Holmes.
Folk hits a 34 yard field goal. – Thats 5 passing plays, 6 running plays for 51 yards.
Why is this the drive of the game? Because the Bears were playing a pace that the Jets couldn’t keep up and the Jets wisely slowed the game down and played time of possession. Game is now slowed. Neither team scored in the 4th quarter but that’s more due to the fact that the Bears were milking the clock and trying to run the football. Also, the Jet defense was being destroyed by the Bears passing game and they needed this long rest to get their feet back under them. If you’re wondering what their next drive was? 12 plays resulting only in a punt but again playing the time of possession game.
The key to the game? Matt Forte. The guy was a beast. 4th quarter with the Jets needing a stop, he comes up with a 32 yard gain. The Bears didn’t score on the drive but Matt Forte’s final tally for the day: 19 carries 113 yards 1 TD, and 4 catches for 56 yards which set up another Bears TD. This was the first 100 yard individual rusher that the Jets defense has had since the Rex Ryan era began.
– I’m not going to kill the Jets for punting on 4th down with 5:46 to go. They had not converted on one 4th down, albeit it was a fake. But here’s what I don’t get: how do you punt it to Devin Hester even with the confidence that Steve Weatherford will down them deep in their territory? It was certainly a decision that had they taken more time to discuss might have gone the other way and who knows? The Jets were killing the Bears on that drive. That was two consecutive long drives that the Bears had been taken on by the Jets and perhaps they were a bit winded and getting them at their low might have been beneficial. The Jets DID pin them back and they DID get them on a 3 and out and they got the ball back with 4:32 left which is all you can ask for. The Jets just didn’t take advantage on the next drive. 3 and out which killed them. I can however kill the Jets defense for not being prepared for the run. Forte got a critical first down and forced the Jets to use their timeouts.
– The final Sanchez pass was a mixed bag. Just a poor throw, not a bad decision. It was a line drive throw that didn’t have enough arc. It had to be dropped over Holmes head and if it had, it would’ve gone to the house. That would’ve been a touchdown but Sanchez threw a ball that was low enough in trajectory that allowed the safety to come underneath and pick it off. Good idea, poor execution. Ball game.
What does this mean for the Jets? I liked some of the things that they were able to do and some of their decisions were a lot better than prior weeks where they made key mental errors that could’ve cost them and again, this is the knock on the Jets. In games that come down to the wire, if they can’t make good decisions, they will be in a world of trouble and they need their entire coaching staff to go to time management school and go back to basics. They were able to get away with some mistakes but again, bad decisions and turnovers turned into 21 Chicago points and those are the kind of things that the Jets need to stay away from. Its not just the turnovers but the bad decisions. Hopefully the Jets will make those corrections as they head into the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
Lets go Jets!
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