The Positives For The Jets:
The New York Jets came out with a win this Sunday after a twenty-penalty outing. Thank god the defense were on their A game, getting to rookie quarterback EJ Manuel for eight sacks. They also held CJ Spiller to 9 yards on 10 carries, and Fred Jackson to 72 yards on 7 carries, which includes a 59-yard run by Jackson when he was swarmed in the backfield and he squeezed his way through to get past the secondary, eventually being brought down by Antonio Cromartie. The Jets defensive front was seemingly un-blockable. The secondary was exceptional as wel,l as EJ Manuel finished with 19 completions on 42 attempts and 243 yards and only connecting with Stevie Johnson 6 times.
The Jets offense came out hot running the football and really getting Geno Smith into a rhythm early. Geno had a great afternoon despite 2 interceptions, finishing with 16 completions on 29 attempts, 331 yards in the air and 2 touchdowns. Geno also did well using his legs, finishing with 4 rushes for 14 yards and a touchdown. It was good to see some life back in Santonio Holmes, finally really getting into the game, running his routes with some speed and really going after the ball. Holmes scored the go-ahead touchdown in the 4th quarter which was an amazing play on his part, and also the ball placed on the dime by Geno Smith was a help for the 69-yard touchdown.
Geno Smith really worked the ball around well getting the ball to 6 recievers. And most importantly there was some life in the Jets running game. Chris Ivory had 4 carries but seemed to be ineffective until his day came to a close with a hamstring injury(not sure if this is the same injury as the one in camp). But Bilal Powell had no fear in taking the bulk of the carries, with 27 carries and 149 yards. His confidence as the feature back for much of the game was evident. Alex Green came in at relief for Powell, and I feel that he just may be the diamond in the rough for the Jets. He had potential in Green Bay, but with a loaded back field he wasn’t worth the wait any longer. The Jets were stellar on defense as usual, while the offense has much room for improvement, it is getting visually better as each week goes by.
The Negatives For The New York Jets:
Penalties. The Jets tallied up 20 penalties Sunday afternoon, 2 short of the NFL record for most in a game. It was an amazing lack of discipline from Rex Ryan’s squad and something they must get a handle on going forward if they want to have any chance of success. Other teams are not going to let them off the hook in the way the Bills did.
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