Saturday, November 13, 2010

Having An Old Friend For Dinner

I won't spend too much time dwelling on last week's come from behind victory over the Lions. The game left far more questions than answers as to what's to come in 2010. The New York Jets have now had four consecutive uneven performances, with no portion of the team playing consistently well, except for Mike Westhoff's special teams and our run defense. The offense has not been able to break any big plays in the run game, and QB Mark Sanchez has struggled to complete passes, with a percentage of 50.3% combined against Minnesota, Denver, Green Bay, and Detroit. LaDainian Tomlinson seems to be slowing down. The defense has been unable to get pressure on the QB, which means they're not forcing any mistakes by opposing offenses. After briefly leading the NFL in turnover margin a few weeks ago, the defense hasn't forced a turnover in two straight games. The Jets are a minus six over the last three games, and they've been very fortunate to win two of these games.

The inconsistency that the Jets have shown over the last few weeks is a common occurrence in the modern game. Even the best of teams often have to play from behind, and rarely look great for every moment of every game. New York stands at 6-2 heading into the the second half of the regular season, tied for the best record in football with a few other midseason contenders. If the Jets can feel good about any one thing coming out of the first half, it's that they've had a chance to win every week this season, and they look like they can play with anyone in the league.

That may sound like I'm justifying the uneven play, but, in the modern NFL, it's hard to expect perfection, or even consistent performance by any one unit. This week, the running game may get going and the passing game may be inefficient. That trend may reverse the following week. At the end of the day, the W is what counts.

For the first time since being fired after the 2008 collapse, former Jet head coach Eric Mangini faces his old team in Cleveland later this afternoon. Judging by the way he treated another ex-employer last Sunday, the Jets will have their hands full. The Browns are coming off two huge victories, including a 20-point victory over the Patriots that wasn't as close as the final score. Cleveland wins by pounding the ball with the gigantic Peyton Hillis, and by stopping the run and forcing mistakes in the passing game in obvious passing situations, namely third and long.

Cleveland is a well-coached team, but they lack big play talent on the outside, and they are likely starting a rookie QB in Colt McCoy. McCoy has been solid in his first few starts, although they aren't asking very much of him at this point. The job of the defense will be to stuff Hillis and force McCoy to attempt to make decisions about where the football should go, and make those throws outside the numbers, where Revis and Cromarite have a chance at a big play.

While the pass defense has been fairly efficient in recent weeks as far as limiting big plays, it's hard to win when you aren't forcing any mistakes by your opposition. If the Jets hope to have the kind of big second half that can propel them to the postseason, this is an area that must improve in the weeks to come. The Jets face the Browns today before coming home to face Houston and Cincinnati. After this stretch New York goes into the most important part of the season, which is at the Patriots, home for Miami, then at Pittsburgh and at Chicago.

The best thing about the 2010 season so far is that the Jets haven't had to pay a heavy price to learn valuable lessons about themselves so far. The Jets could very easily be 4-4. It's always better to find out your weaknesses without having to lose football games. The Jets may have to play the frantic style they've exhibited the last few weeks in order to win football games for the rest of the season, for all we know.

For now, this game should be an interesting test to see where the Jets are at heading into the second half. A solid performance in all phases is enough to beat the Browns, but it will take a complete game playing against a team with their confidence at a season-high. If they have to count on coming back from ten down in the last few minutes each week, it's going to be a long second half.

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