The New York Jets are off to their best start in 24 years. The past few weeks have been a roller coaster ride, as young Mark Sanchez has been forced each week to lead the team to crucial scores to win. Last week against the Texans, he took the Jets 72 yards in five plays using 39 seconds with no timeouts to score. Santonio Holmes scored the game-winner with 10 seconds left, making yet another huge play in crunch time.
By all accounts, Sanchez is a playbook nerd, the kind of steady and driven pro that succeeds on Sunday. He is the first to arrive at the complex and the last to leave, and takes his leadership responsibilities with the rest of the offense seriously. When the moment arrives to make plays in crucial times of the game, he has been well prepared by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, quarterback coach Matt Cavanaugh, and ancient backup QB Mark Brunell to constantly assess and process key information, like who's on the field for the defense, which two plays he wants to start with, which matchup is most advantageous, where does he need to get to for a FG, and so on. It's easy for a young quarterback to be consumed by the big moment, but Sanchez seems to embrace it. He seems to prefer the frenetic pace of the two-minute drill, where he can force the defense to react to him, instead of having to react to the defense.
When Sanchez was a rookie and suffered through a terrible stretch in the middle of the season, Schotteheimer simplified the game for him. There were more bootlegs off of play action where Sanchez would have one primary read and an easy decision. The Jets used this look repeatedly in the postseason, especially against the Bengals in the wild card round. He wasn't put in a position to drop straight back and manipulate the safeties with his eyes. In the closing drive against the Texans, Sanchez hit a big play down the sideline to Braylon Edwards to set up the TD by moving the safety to the slot with his eyes, then throwing a perfect ball outside the numbers to Edwards. He couldn't make that play last year.
As Jets fans, we have a lot to be thankful for on turkey day. This team could easily be 5-5, so most of us will gladly take 8-2. There are plenty of things to address moving forward, troubling tendencies that will ruin this great start if they are not fixed quickly. For two consecutive weeks, the defense has been given an opportunity to close out in the fourth quarter and has proceeded to give up chunks of yardage and the lead. The Houston game was quite troubling, as the defense totally blew multiple assignments on the Texans two fourth-quarter TD drives. Following Shonn Greene's fumble, the Texans needed only one play to run a corner route with TE Joel Dreessen and cut the lead to 23-17. After the game, the coaching staff revealed that it was Jason Taylor's assignment to drop into the short zone and pick up Dreessen. Of course, it's a little unclear why you would be asking Jason Taylor to cover a pass catching tight end in crunch time when he is primarily a pass rusher at this stage of his career.
Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine has taken a greater responsibility over the playcalling duties for the defense, but no one has come forward and claimed this gaffe from last week. Recognizing what you're asking your personnel to do from play to play is coaching 101, and if Ryan has acquiesced this part of his coaching duties, he needs to take it back. If he hasn't, he needs to pay greater attention to who is out there every play. The defense was outstanding for three quarters last week before they completely fell apart. Rex Ryan wants this team to be a defensive team first, but if this trend continues it won't be long before even the weakest of opponents that the Jets face will feel like they're never out of the game.
The Jets look like they may be without RT Damien Woody after Woody sprained his MCL against the Texans. A totally overmatched Wayne Hunter came in to battle with the frightening Mario Williams, and Williams wound up being a pain in the ass for the rest of the game. If you get me talking about football long enough, I will tell you at some point that one of the most important ingredients to consistent offensive success is offensive line continuity. Every job the offensive line has is a group assignment. With solid communication, they can cover for each other and never leave their backs and receivers in the types of bad situations that lead to negative plays and turnovers. If Woody can't go this week against the Bengals, I expect Wayne Hunter to see overload blitzes to his side. The Jets may have to help Hunter by using a back to chip or by leaving a tight end in, or by moving Sanchez around. The Jets running game is nowhere near where it was last season, but they've kept a fairly clean pocket all season. The Bengals don't have a Mario Williams rushing the passer on the strong side, so if Woody is held out for the Patriots in 11 days, the offensive line should survive. It may even help down the road that Hunter is getting these reps now.
So...are we lucky or are we good? That seems to be the $64,000 question this week in the media. There is a fair amount of fortune involved when a team is put in a position to make plays at the end of games and is consistently successful, however, those who would say it's pure luck are foolish. Most often in the NFL, those who are most prepared are the fortunate ones. Since the same teams always seem to be lucky, it should be obvious by now that most teams make their own luck. It's a game of inches and no team is going to get the breaks every week. The best you can hope for is that when your team is given a chance to make plays, they are prepared and ready. The Jets certainly seem to be prepared and ready, especially when the game is on the line.
This week, Cincinnati comes to town riding a long losing streak, including losing a 28-7 lead against the Bills last week at home on their way to a 49-31 loss (Yikes!). The Bengals have the ability to score, but their defense has been a mess and they are nicked up in the secondary. With the short week, the challenge for the Jets will be to remain focused on the task at hand, especially with a trip to Foxborough looming in the distance. With the AFC East race so tight, the Jets can't afford a lapse in concentration.
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