Avoiding The Trap Game

First, a belated postmortem on Miami...

Last Sunday's nationally televised spectacular in South Florida had a little of everything. The Jets exploded out of the gate as if it was the 5th quarter of the New England game, building a 14-0 lead out of the continuing maturation of young Mark Sanchez. Sanchez would finish with 256 yards and 3 more TD through the air, as he continues to be the main story of the team through 3 weeks. Even the most optimistic Jet fan was not counting on Sanchez to look this poised this quickly. His improved decision making has turned the season around. I would imagine that there will be further bumps in the road as the season progresses, but Sanchez' performance should allow everyone to breathe a little regarding whether or not we have the right guy under center. He's the right guy.

As for the rest of the squad, as quickly as we got the lead, we gave it right back. Miami started to turn the tide when they completed a questionable catch on the sidelines. The replay looked like Davone Bess only had one foot down, but Rex Ryan refused to challenge the catch. On the next play, Ricky Williams laid one on the turf, then miraculously was able to wrestle the ball from people much larger than him on the ground. The power of weed, I guess.

These two plays shifted the momentum of the game, and the Dolphins ran off 17 consecutive points. Miami could not stand prosperity, and promptly gave up the lead they had worked so hard to get. They were ahead for exactly 18 seconds.

That's when recent Jet pariah Braylon Edwards did an old school turn and burn, like Otis Taylor in Super Bowl IV (am I dating myself?). Edwards would have only 2 catches on the day, this 67-yard TD and a huge 3rd down conversion on the Jets clinching drive in the 4th quarter. He also played large on the ground, helping to spring Ladainian Tomlinson twice around the outside. Edwards may have been a fool during the week, but he played well Sunday night. As for the moralists who thought he should have sat the whole game, please find me another example of a player having to sit for a DUI and I'll gladly agree. The Jets are under no obligation to sit Edwards in this situation, especially without the results of the case still pending. The Jets get Santonio Holmes back from suspension for the Minnesota game, so the importance of Edwards will change as the season develops. I hope he has some success with the personal demons he seems to battle every season. Rock bottom is different for each person. I hope Edwards hit rock bottom in a squad car on the west side of Manhattan.

The Jets defense took some lumps during the week as the pass defense gave up 363 yards to Chad Henne, and Brandon Marshall ran loose through our Revis-less secondary. The defense definitely has issues with big, physical receivers without Darrelle Revis on the field. He won't be back for Buffalo, and the word on the street is that he might not be ready for 2 or 3 games. You have to hope that the defense will be well served in the long term by having to learn to cover without Revis. You would also have to think that that Rex Ryan is a little upset by what he saw in the secondary last week, and that they will have more success with Buffalo.

Aaahhhhh...the Buffalo Bills. The classic trap game. For the uninitiated, a trap game is a contest against a lesser opponent that usually comes immediately after or immediately before a more anticipated game against a much more competitive opponent. The worst kind of trap game is a road division game against a rival, like we have this week. Buffalo has been mostly terrible in the first 3 weeks, although they looked better with Fitzpatrick driving last week against the Pats. Their run defense has been abysmal, so this is a perfect week for Shonn Greene to get his confidence back, and for the ground and pound identity of the 2009 Jets to re-assert itself.

There is no reason for Schottenheimer to get too cute this week. The Jets can win the man-on-man battle up front, and they should do as little as possible to deviate from what will work best. It's almost time for kickoff in Buffalo. I should be back later today with the highs and lows.