Here Come The Warm Jets: Week 2 2008

I had a bad feeling about this game from the beginning. It's true. I even said so via text message to our friend Greg out in Seattle right when the game started.

Here's why, and what seemed to me to be a little bit lost in the coverage prior the game: the Patriots are still a talented, disciplined, well-coached team, even without Tom Brady. And if they were going to find a way to stay that way, it was going to be against the Jets, whom all of the Pats, especially the coach, hates passionately. There's something about the combination of shared adversity and intense hatred that can focus the mind of an NFL team, at least for a week.

On top of that, the Jets are still a team working in a lot of new people, most particularly the quarterback. We all knew the first four to six weeks were going to be sloppy, no matter who they were playing. But sloppy against a team like the Patriots, even a little sloppy, and you don't have much of a chance.

So you have the combination of a team motivated to show everyone that they can win without their star QB, playing a team trying to figure itself out but now with dramatically increased expectations.

Of course the Jets were going to lose. I felt it in my gut.

That, of course, didn't make it any less frustrating. Because if the Jets played up to their potential consistently, they definitely could have won this game. But they didn't, as is typical, so they lost, which is familiar.

The other thing that's typical, of course, is that the coverage of the game's aftermath has been all about the quarterback play. That's what the media story line is always going to be. If you look at it, though, the quarterback play wasn't what was important in this game.

This was actually a very evenly played game, statistically.

Really. Look it up.

Total Yards: 260 for the Pats vs 256 for the Jets
Rushing Yards: 104 for both
3rd Down: 6-14 for the Pats vs 6-12 for the Jets
Time of Possession: 31:35 for the Pats vs 28:25 for the Jets

The game could have gone either way, based on those numbers.

So let's talk about the numbers that lost the game for the Jets:

One missed FG. The Jets get the ball to open the game, and move it very nicely. Thomas Jones has a few good-looking runs, Favre makes a couple of good 3rd down throws. The offensive line is looking good, the Jets have momentum, the crowd is energetic. The drive stalls, no huge deal, kick the field goal, take the lead, and put even more pressue on Cassel, playing from behind. So they bring Jay Feely for a 31-yard chip shot. Which he misses. Badly. Thus the air is taken out of everything: the team, the crowd, the cheerlearders, everything. And Cassel can take a deep breath and get settled.

Three runs. The Jets get first and goal at the Patriots 3 yard line in the second quarter. They run Thomas Jones three times, who does not score, and they kick a field goal. I was actually okay with the first two runs - up until that point, they had been running the ball effectively, so it wasn't that bad a call. But on third down, with Favre as the QB, call a pass. That's what you have him for. And against the Pats, really against any team, you have to get a TD when you get first and goal inside the 5. Just ask the Vikings what only kicking field goals gets you.

Three penalties. The first time the Jets get the ball in the second half, down 6-3, after a drive where the defense sacked Cassel twice, they decide to show off their sloppiness. On the first play, a 10-yard run by Thomas Jones gets called back by a holding penalty. On the next play, Favre throws the ball from in front of the line of scrimmage. Whatever momentum they might have had from the good defense was gone. But, wait, two plays later, they actually convert on a third and 22, a great throw from Favre to Stuckey. On the next play, they go deep to Cotchery, who makes a great catch in Pats territory. But, questionably in my opinion, they call Cotchery for offensive pass interference. Two plays later Favre throws a bad interception. Six plays later the Patriots get a TD, go up 13-3, and basically put the game away.

Seven of nine. Field position was the real key to the game. Here's an interesting stat: the Jets had the ball nine times in the game. Seven of those times, they started from their own 20. The other two times, they started from their own 25 and their own 23, respectively. That means that every scoring drive would have had to be 55 to 80 yards, which is hard to do against any team, especially against a defense as good as New England's. Gostkowski has to get a lot of credit for this - the first five times he kicked off, it was an unreturnable touchback. But this means there were no turnovers, no big kick returns, no big penalties on the Pats after a kickoff, any of that. Hard to win when you play a team that is not making mistakes.

26 yards, 29 yards, 14 yards, 40 yards. The net yardage of four punts by Ben Graham. Those are pitiful numbers. The Patriots had three scoring drives where they first got the ball in Jets territory. One of those was after Favre's interception. The other two were because of terrible Graham punts. Giving an offense you know was going to be conservative (runs, short passes, etc.) a short field is making it a bit too easy for them.


So where does it leave everything? 1-1. Which isn't the worst thing, but it isn't great. They play the next game in San Diego, on Monday night. The Chargers are going to be pissed and desperate at 0-2. Not an easy game, by any means.

Can the Jets win games, even against good teams? Absolutely. The offensive line looked very good at times, and the more they play together the better they should get. The run defense looked dominant, up until the fourth quarter when they gave up a bunch of runs to Lamont Jordan (of all fucking people), and the offense didn't do the defense any favors, putting together a string of short drives in the second and third quarter. Plus, Revis basically shut down Randy Moss, which was awesome to see, Favre is starting to figure things out, and Thomas Jones has looked stronger and faster than last year in the first two games.

What do they need to do? Fix the kicking game. Right now. Today. Do whatever they have to do, get a new punter, fix the existing punter, get Nugent back, get Dave Jennings from the booth, I don't care. And stop with the conservative play-calling already. It almost cost the game in Miami, and it contributed to this loss against the Pats.

The other thing they need to do? Win a game they're not supposed to win, like on the road against San Diego. Then actually win a game they are supposed to win, like home against Arizona. Then be 3-1 going into the bye week. Do that, so I can get these bad feelings out of my guts already.