They picked up the gift "W" and managed to carry it back to their barrio in their baby blue unis, despite getting outplayed most of the game. It's pretty hard NOT to win a game when the opponent gives you 3 touchdowns in a five minute span on two kick returns and a gift wrapped fumble return for 6.
Jetties offense was obviously much more productive than the Fins O in the second half (even in the first), and ditto with the Jets D. Total yards for the game: Jets 378, Fish 104. So much for the wildcat.
Refs were obviously paying attention to D.C.'s plea and returned the favor for the game in Miami, with several huge calls--most especially the phantom illegal motion call that negated the Jets 2 point conversion. Obviously, if it was a 3 point game, the Jets would have kicked a 35 yard FG to tie it and send it to OT instead of going on 4th and 10 in the final drive. Also, the mysterious down by contact on the fumble by the Fins receiver didn't help much either; especially since the Fish went on to score their only offensive TD on the same drive that they actually turned it over.
Of course, then you have the Jets complicity in the game, which is what made it a total gift to the Fins. You can start and end with the vanishing act pulled by the special teams unit, when they pulled a matador D move, leading to 100 yd+ kick return TD's for Ginn on two consecutive kick offs in the 3rd quarter. That that has only been done once in NFL history tells you how absurdly poor the kick coverage was, and how lucky the Fins were to come away with victory.
There were also myriad mental errors for Jets players. Getting called for a false start the first time they wanted to run a two-point conversion, forcing them to settle for a kick. Keller pulling up on an out pattern when he would have had an easy catch if he had run his route, and that catch would have extended a crucial second half drive. Edwards running the wrong route on a 3rd and goal in the first half, forcing the Jets to settle for a FG. Shonn Greene handing the ball to Jason Taylor for 6 the other way.
And of course, some blame has to go to the coaches. After sticking to the game plan and running successfully most of the day, they lose their nerve down the stretch, when the Jets were in 4 down territory and could have sealed the game with 4 3 yard runs. It was 1st and 10 from the Fins 16 or thereabouts, the Jets have 2 timeouts, the Fins have note, and the the Jets have 1:50 or so to work with. It seems obvious that you could run 8 straight running plays at that point and still control the clock, leaving the Fins no time to comeback should the Jets take the lead. The Jets had run the ball effectively most of the day. Why they choose that moment in the game to run 4 straight passing plays is a mystery to me. Unless it was meant to be some psyche rescue for Sanchez, letting him lead the comeback win. If that was the plan, it obviously backfired horribly.
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7 comments:
Most losses really chap my ass, but for some reason this one isn't bothering me much. I think it's because 9 times out of 10 if we play the way we played today, we win. Today was that fluky 10th game.
Our offense and defense were both dominant. We clearly showed why we have the #1 rushing offense in NFL with our top O line and Thomas Jones. Our defense showed why it's so dominant.
If Miami needs two kickoff TD returns per game to win the rest of the way, good luck with that. I'll take the Jets game plan and execution every day of the week and twice on Sunday. I am confident that our special teams - which has been dominant for so long under Westhoff - will make the necessary corrections. I'm just impressed with how well this team has responded to the loss of Jenkins and Washington.
Not to mention the non-called 2nd fumble by Bess that should've been a Jets recovery.
Actually, I mentioned that, no?
That's true. Just figured it was worth mentioning again, since for some reason Rex Ryan allowed the Fish to quick snap him and not challenge the play.
I also don't have a huge problem with the play calls at the end of the game; had Dirty not taken that sack straight up the middle we would have been fine. It was the 2nd one like it in the game, he's got to have awareness to throw the ball away on a sack like that. Overall though his 2nd half performance was outstanding.
SWEEP!!!
Unfortunately I cannot comment on anything that happened in the game.
I watched the last 3 1/2 minutes on my cell phone via auto-refresh in the car on the way home from a day of paintball.
One of the guys gave us the halftime score after he ran to his car to listen during the lunch break. And that 3-3 barnburner was all I know of until the ride back to civilization.
It sounds like a lot went wrong for the Jets (although hearing complaints about giving up return TD's actually negates any credit you guys give Leon Washington's skills) and the Fins didn't do much right.
But the bottom line is Miami pulled off the W and put themselves in good position with the tiebreaker.
No, DC, running back kicks takes skill. But wait till you see the actual replays. It's not like Ginn had to make moves or break tackles.
On the first kick, he just took it to the sideline, and the guy who had outside containment responsibilities just froze up. He was there in plenty of time to seal off the corner. It was weird.
Then, on the second kick, it was comical. Guys were just jumping all over the place, and just whiffing. Ginn actually just stood there for a few seconds, let all the Jets players fall down, and then just took off for the sideline before turning it upfield. It was ridiculous.
The 2nd one was really ridiculous. It was clear they were going to drop him at about the 20. But for some reason Izzo totally whiffed on a little jump back by Ginn, Wallace missed a clear angle on the sideline (or maybe that was the first one), and a bunch of other guys that should have made plays totally tanked it.
It has been years (maybe even as long ago as the 90s) since I've seen a Jets special teams look that bad.
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