Jets Surge Into First With Dominant Win over Bills

Sunday might have been the best all around performance we have seen by the Jets all season.  They finally played the lights out defense that everyone expected to see all season.  The Jets beat the Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium 27-11 Sunday afternoon.  The Jets played an all around impressive performance not only defensively, but offensively as well.

The key early in this game was turnovers.  Both teams were turning it over early and had trouble putting up points.  The first half's only points was a 49 yard field goal by Nick Folk.  It was all about defense early.  In the second half, the Jets offense would kick it into gear.  They would get a 50 yard field goal from Nick Folk early in the third quarter.  The Bills would then fumble on the first play of their drive giving the Jets great field position in Bills territory.  They would get a nice catch and run by Plaxico Burress followed by a 1 yard touchdown run by Ladanian Tomlinson to take a 13-0 lead.  The Bills would finally score on a field goal making it 13-3.

From there on, it was all Jets.

They would have a 1:20 drive ending in a gorgeous play action touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes making it 20-3.  They would put the dagger in the Bills in the fourth driving and ending it with a 1 yard touchdown run by "the terminator" John Connor.  That would make it 27-3 and put the Bills away.   They would add on a touchdown late to make it 27-11 after converting the 2 point conversion. That would be all. The Jets closed it out with the final being 27-11.

The key to the game was the Jets dominant defensive performance.  They forced three Bills turnovers with one leading to a Jets touchdown.  The Jets finally put pressure on the quarterback allowing Ryan Fitzpatrick to be completely shut down.  Fitzpatrick was 15 for 31 for 191 yards with a touchdown and 2 interceptions.  They only allowed 96 combined rushing yards as well with 82 of them coming from starter Fred Jackson.  The Jets defense was aggressive and played their best game defensively.

The offense was solid as well. Mark Sanchez played one of his better games besides the early interception he looked like a veteran in the pocket.  Sanchez threw for 230 yards and a touchdown.  The Jets ran for 126 yards combined by Shonn Greene, Joe McKnight and Tomlinson.  The offense had a chemistry that we have not seen all season.  They looked very comfortable playing a Bills team who has been a pleasant surprise this year.

Next comes the game everyone has been waiting for.  The Jets and Patriots will face off in New Jersey on Sunday night.  The Pats beat the Jets at home and now with both teams being tied for first place in the AFC East, the Jets look to break the tie and continue their winning ways on Sunday.

Plax Leads Jets to Comeback Victory Over Chargers

One trip to the endzone would not be good enough for Plaxico Burress.

Two would not be sufficient either.

A third touchdown would have to do.  Jets wide receiver finally decided to have the breakout game fans would hope to see from him on Sunday.  Plax only had four receptions but three of them would be for touchdowns.  It was a spectacular performance by the first year Jet and former Giant.  The Jets would fight back from being down 21-10 at the half to defeating the first place Chargers 27-21.

The Jets were coming off a win against the worst team in football last week.  They needed a win against a very good Chargers team if they wanted any sort of momentum going into their bye week.  They started off a little shaky in the first half, but once again they turned on the jets (no pun intended) in the 2nd half.  Their defense played lights out only allowing 96 total rushing yards.  They forced two interceptions off of pro bowl quarterback Philip Rivers.  Rivers was 16 for 32 with 179 yards and two interceptions and one touchdown.  The Jets did not give up one point in the second half.  It was the best their defense has played in a while.  The turning point came when the Jets trailed 21-17 early in the fourth quarter and the Chargers were driving to the Jets 25 yard line.  Darrelle Revis would intercept Rivers and nearly do the same thing he did last week and run it for a touchdown.  This time he got to the opponent's 19 yard line and the Jets would get one of their three touchdowns to Plaxico Burress to take the lead and hold on for the win.

The Jets were led by their rushing attack.  Shonn Greene ran for 112 yards.  Sanchez ran for 25 yards.  Ladanian Tomlinson ran for 14 yards and Joe McKnight ran for 11 yards.  They had 162 yards combined on the ground.  Mark Sanchez was good enough to get the Jets offense by throwing for 173 yards and the three touchdown passes to Burress.

It was a masterful second half performance by the Jets and another comeback victory.  The Jets are now back over .500 at 4-3 and the Chargers fall to 4-2 with the loss.  The Jets will have a bye next week before they hit the road to face the Bills.  The Chargers return home to face the Chiefs next Monday night.

Jets Do Not Want to Return to Baltimore

Baltimore seems to be where all the wild things are.....Wednesday we saw the Orioles beat the Red Sox sending the Sox home in a crazy game and Sunday right next door we saw the Ravens make a mockery of the Jets.  The Ravens defeated the Jets 34-17 Sunday night in a wild game that was more of a defensive battle than the score indicated.

For the first time in NFL history Sunday night, we saw 5 touchdown returns.  The craziness started early. The first touchdown return was a 6 yard fumble return by Ravens linebacker Jameel McClain.  It was the result of Mark Sanchez not getting rid of the ball fast enough causing a fumble and the recovery for a score.  Immediately after that score, (just over 3 minutes into the game) Jets running back and special teams specialist Joe McKnight ran back a kickoff 107 yards for a touchdown.  Most returners would have just took the knee and taken it at the 20.  McKnight decided he may have a chance at a score and he followed his blockers and was left with just the kicker to beat for the touchdown.  He was nearly untouched.  3 minutes and 17 seconds into the game we saw a fumble return for a touchdown and a kickoff return for a touchdown.

It was due to be a wild game in Baltimore.

After a rushing touchdown by Ravens Ray Rice and a field goal by kicker Billy Cundiff the Ravens would go up 20-7.  The third return touchdown and most controversial would come after that in the second quarter.  Ravens linebacker Jarret Johnson would run back a fumble by Sanchez for 26 yards for a touchdown.  The play was reviewed, but the call stood that Sanchez did not have the ball as his arm went forward.  The fourth return of the game for a score would come soon thereafter with 6 minutes left in the first half.  Joe Flacco would make a careless pass right in the hands of Jets linebacker David Harris who took it 35 yards to the endzone for a score.

At the half, the Jets trailed 27-17.  The final return touchdown would come almost midway through the third quarter as Sanchez made a pass that we would have saw him make in his rookie season lobbing to to a receiver and not seeing Ravens cornerback Ladarius Webb there who would take it back 73 yards for the fifth return touchdown for a game, which was the new NFL record.

That would be the last scoring of the game as well as the Jets were destroyed in Baltimore.  The Jets were playing without pro bowl center Nick Mangold.  This would prove to be pivotal for the Jets as well as the Ravens defense.  They were blitzing all night and Jets inexperienced center Mike Baxter could not stop them.  Sanchez had one of his worst games of his career throwing 11 for 35 for just 119 yards and the interception.  His counterpart, Joe Flacco had just as bad of a game throwing 10 for 31 for 163 yards and the interception.  Both quarterbacks were awful in the game as the Ravens offense was led by their running backs Ray Rice and Ricky Williams running for 112 yards combined.

This road trip has been a disaster that the Jets want to put in the past.  They suffered a double digit loss to Oakland and to Baltimore.  Now, to end the road trip, they have to travel to Foxboro to face Tom Brady and their division rival Patriots as they hope to get back over .500 to improve to 3-2.  They hope to have Mangold back for the game as he will be much needed with the new and improved Patriots defensive line.  The Pats are coming off a dominant win at Oakland.  The Jets have a lot to work on this week and Sanchez and this offense is going to need to be a lot more aggressive than what we have seen if they hope to live up to Rex Ryan and the fans hopes for this season.