The New York Jets looked like a different team, yet again, this sunday. Seeming to form a pattern going back and forth from better, to much worse. Last week, the Jets defense looked like the best defense in the NFL, and the offense looked just well enough to score enough to win some games. Not by any means do I see the Jets making the playoffs, but I didn’t expect for them to get abused by the Titans.
Chris Johnson was non-existent in the run game with 15 carries for 21 yards and a longest rush of 8 yards. Jackie Battle was more effective than Johnson but certainly did not shine with 11 carries for 38, which includes a broken play for 20 yards. Jake Locker was the real anchor for the Titans offense, working the ball around well with 18 completions on 24 attempts, 150 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The Jets secondary looked poor, to say it nicely. Kendall Wright seemed to be open every play, and if it wasn’t Kendall Wright it was Nate Washington who tallied up 105 yards receiving . The Jets had 2 sacks, and many hurries on Locker, one of which was one to take Jake out of the game – and possibly 4-8 weeks of the season. DeMario Davis, the quickly emerging star, led the New York Jets with 9 tackles while his partner in crime, David Harris, finished second with 6. The linebacking corps and defensive line are certainly is not the problem for this Jets defense, but the secondary sure is. Losing Laron Landry and Yeremiah Bell doesn’t seem to be too big of a deal, but Dawan Landry sure is not filling their shoes. The Jets secondary finished second in pass defense last year even though they had lost Darrelle Revis to a torn ACL early in the season, so it’s not Mr. Cromartie. Although Darin Walls was picked on early, he got more comfortable as the game went on and went back to his old style of play that we saw in the pre-season.
The Jets offense had nothing going for it. Losing Stephen Hill, who was diagnosed with a concussion on the first drive of the game, was a huge loss to the offense. Along with losing Stephen Hill’s consciousness, the Jets offensive line lost its talent giving up 5 sacks to the Titans defensive front and giving Geno Smith virtually no time to even look for a reciever. The horrendous offensive line play really ruined Geno Smith going forward, as we saw his confidence almost slip fully away. Thankfully, Geno was determined enough to go out every drive to face the Titans defense who had a target on the rookie’s chest. Sadly enough, that determination led to a whole bunch of rookie mistakes. I wouldn’t hold a grudge towards Geno for his play this week – not even Peyton Manning could have handled that pressure entirely. Expect Rex to fire up his offensive line and really get them going. Expect a new team to take the field against the Atlanta Falcons. An upset may just be in store for the Jets.
The upset is only imaginable if the Jets fix their penalty situation – the penalties are worse than watching the Butt-Fumble. But that’s a story for another day.
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