The Jets, after one of the most lopsided (and embarrassing) losses in franchise history—45–3 to the New England Patriots last Monday night—naturally had to be thrilled to get back onto the field.
They wanted to show that the Monday night massacre was just a fluke; that they could be the 9–2 team they were before that fateful night, that Wednesday’s burial of Monday’s game ball would enable them to forget their play, and revert back to the team they were before everything went wrong.
And in a way it did.
Much like their losses to Green Bay and Baltimore (and even their wins against Cleveland, Detroit, Denver, and Houston), the Jets offense stalled, delayed, and looked generally lifeless drive after drive, while the defense made play after play after play to keep the game close, before falling 10–6 to the plucky Dolphins in an ugly game on a rainy afternoon at the New Meadowlands.
“Obviously, you know a defensive game. We kind of figured it would be….a field position game,” Jets head coach Rex Ryan said in his postgame press conference.
Perhaps the Jets should have been burying game balls from every game since October, back when the offense stopped opening holes for running backs LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene, receivers started dropping passes, and the quarterback couldn’t find tight end Dustin Keller over the middle anymore.
These problems were glossed over with last minute come-from-behind wins, but the problems remained the same.
Remember when everyone was talking about Tomlinson’s career renaissance or Mark Sanchez’s coming out party? Anyone??
“The turnovers obviously hurt us early and we had a lot of poor execution on offense in particular, from the dropped passes to the protection. It was a lot of guys and shouldn’t be blamed on one person.” Ryan said.
“We’ve just obviously got to do a heck of a lot better job than that. You’ve got to be able to protect the quarterback in this league and you’ve got to make the catches when you get the opportunities.”
Lost in the disappointment of the offense was the rebound of the defense, as the Jets held Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne to an unheard of 5-for-18 passing, limited their offense to just 56 plays covering 26:12 in time of possession. (The Jets ran 81 plays covering 33:48 by contrast).
New York actually forced more turnovers—three—than their own offense coughed up (two). The MVP of this game though, according to Ryan seemed to be the Dolphins punter, Brandon Fields, who averaged a colossal 56.4 yards per punt in helping the Dolphins win one statistical advantage—field position.
“I tip my hat to their punter. I thought he was a big difference in this game,” said Ryan.
At 9–4, two games back of the Patriots, and with difficult road games in Pittsburgh and Chicago upcoming, the Jets now find themselves in a dogfight for a playoff spot.
