Jets Get Raided in Oakland 34-24

Once again....defense wins championships.  Darren McFadden must have not got the memo. McFadden's 171 yards and two touchdowns helped the Raiders get by the Jets Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum in Oakland.

The Jets were sloppy with the ball and their two turnovers truly cost them the game on Sunday.  Sanchez had a bad interception thrown in the endzone that ruined a great punt return by Jeremy Kerley.  In the second half, Antonio Cromartie bobbled a kick return and fumbled it and the Raiders ended up with the ball and scored a touchdown.  Those two turnovers were monumental in the loss.

They came out of the tunnel in the second half with nothing.  They did not score in the second half until there were 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter.  The offense did not play with the fire that we see from this offense when playing from behind.  Mark Sanchez's stats were not bad as he threw for 369 yards and two touchdowns, but he threw 43 passes and completed 27 of them and also had the interception thrown in the endzone. Center Nick Mangold missed the game due to injury.  Clearly, this was a huge hole for the Jets that was seen throughout the game.

The story of the game was the unbelievable performance by Raiders running back Darren McFadden.  He carried the ball 19 times for 171 yards and two touchdowns.  That is an astounding 9 yards per carry.  Michael Bush also ran for 22 yards and a touchdown.  Jason Campbell played a fairly mistake free game and let the run game do the bulk of the work in the victory. Campbell was 18 for 27 with 156 yards and no touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Jets have to go on the road to Baltimore and on the road to New England next.  This was a game they really needed to pull out.  Now they will hit the road to face two of the best teams in football.  They are going to have to step it up defensively and not make any more careless turnovers if they want to head back home with a winning record.

Jets D Dominates in 32-3 Win Over Jags

They say defense wins championships. Well, that is how it is looking to be for the New York Jets. Their offense did not look too pretty against a Jacksonville team with a lot of bumps and bruises and a starting quarterback by the name of Luke McCown. The defense, on the other hand was absolutely dominant.  Even with the futile play by the offense, the Jets obliterated the Jaguars 32-3.

The release of quarterback David Gerrard may have the seats in Jacksonville as empty as they were in the fourth quarter at Metlife Stadium Sunday afternoon.  Rookie QB Blaine Gabbert got to see some playing time Sunday in the second half and may be seeing a lot more playing time coming up. Luke McCown had 1 of the worst games ever seen by a QB.  His QB rating, an astounding 1.8. Yes, you read that correctly. Was it the Jets defense or the poor play of McCown? Well, a good combination of both.

The Jets secondary was nearly unstoppable as they hope to be all season long retaining pro bowl cornerbacks Antonio Cromartie and Darrelle Revis.  Both had spectacular seasons last year and both have looked good the first two weeks.

On the other hand, the Jets offense did not look like the fired up offense in the fourth quarter the week prior against the Cowboys. Coach Rex Ryan told the team in meetings the day prior that he would like to see the offense come out firing.  That, they did....for the first possession. They quickly scored a touchdown ending with a 17 yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes in the endzone.  After that, Sanchez struggled throwing two interceptions.  Luckily, the defense's dominant play had him very relaxed and not having too worry too much about carrying the team.  Cromartie and the rest of one of the top defenses last season took care of that.


One thing that I did notice and am starting to notice in Sanchez though is that he is starting to look very comfortable in the pocket.  He does not seem to be forcing as many throws and making too many mistakes like we have seen in the past.  The fourth year quarterback is starting to look more like a veteran out there.  He will try to take the Super Bowl hungry Jets to their first Super Bowl win since prior to when the first man walked on the moon.

The Jets are off to quite the start with two wins to start the season.  One coming in comeback fashion and the other in blowout fashion.  Gang Green will be tested these next couple of weeks as they play at Oakland, at Baltimore, and at New England.  Sanchez and the rest of the Jets are going to need to play a more complete game on both sides of the ball if they hope to keep their early successes going.