Six days ago, the New York Jets offense was anemic and quarterback Mark Sanchez appeared to be still getting the rookie treatment in a dour 10–9 Monday night loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Against the New England Patriots on Sunday, the offense looked like the offense needed to compliment one of the league’s top defenses on the road to the Super Bowl in the 28–14 home win.
Sanchez’s leash was loosened as he completed a career-high 21 of 30 passes for 220 yards. The second-year quarterback tossed three touchdowns—the most since the Rose Bowl in 2009—to three different receivers in Jerricho Cotchery, Dustin Keller, and Braylon Edwards.
“I was seeing everything very clear,” Sanchez told NBC. “We played our game. We cleaned up a lot of the little mistakes from last week.”
Sanchez connected with Cothcery in the end zone with 38 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Jets their first lead of the game. Sanchez hit Edwards on a two-point conversion to put New York up 21–14.
While the run game still doesn’t look like the top-ranked attack from last year, they showed improvement from Week 1.
Future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson continues to prove he’s not running on empty. Tomlinson recorded 102 yards from scrimmage with 11 carries for 76 yards and 4 receptions for 26 yards.
“I’m back now,” Tomlinson said. “The recession is over.”
Despite not coming to New York to be a short yardage back, Tomlinson converted a key fourth and inches by diving over the pile and keeping the chains moving for the Jets in the waning minutes of the game.
While Tomlinson had the impact of the premiere back, the man who’s supposed to take that role—Shonn Greene—carried the ball 15 times for 52 yards. Still not feature back numbers, but nonetheless an improvement from his 5 carries 18-yard performance in the season opener.
The defense looked fine without nose tackle Kris Jenkins who is out with an ACL tear. Not much of a surprise there, as New York had the No. 1-ranked defense last season after losing Jenkins for the season in Week 6.
The defense didn’t even seem to miss a step without their best player Darrelle Revis for half of the game. Revis grabbed the back of his left leg after getting beat by Randy Moss on a 34-yard touchdown pass with 34 seconds left in the first half.
Revis did not return, but the Patriots were nevertheless shut out in the second half. New York hopes to have a healthy Revis next Sunday night to lock down Brandon Marshall as they take on the Miami Dolphins.
Tune in every Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on WRSU-FM as Matt Sugam co-hosts Scarlet Football Fever discussing Rutgers Football as well as the N.Y. Jets and Giants.
Against the New England Patriots on Sunday, the offense looked like the offense needed to compliment one of the league’s top defenses on the road to the Super Bowl in the 28–14 home win.
Sanchez’s leash was loosened as he completed a career-high 21 of 30 passes for 220 yards. The second-year quarterback tossed three touchdowns—the most since the Rose Bowl in 2009—to three different receivers in Jerricho Cotchery, Dustin Keller, and Braylon Edwards.
“I was seeing everything very clear,” Sanchez told NBC. “We played our game. We cleaned up a lot of the little mistakes from last week.”
Sanchez connected with Cothcery in the end zone with 38 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Jets their first lead of the game. Sanchez hit Edwards on a two-point conversion to put New York up 21–14.
While the run game still doesn’t look like the top-ranked attack from last year, they showed improvement from Week 1.
Future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson continues to prove he’s not running on empty. Tomlinson recorded 102 yards from scrimmage with 11 carries for 76 yards and 4 receptions for 26 yards.
“I’m back now,” Tomlinson said. “The recession is over.”
Despite not coming to New York to be a short yardage back, Tomlinson converted a key fourth and inches by diving over the pile and keeping the chains moving for the Jets in the waning minutes of the game.
While Tomlinson had the impact of the premiere back, the man who’s supposed to take that role—Shonn Greene—carried the ball 15 times for 52 yards. Still not feature back numbers, but nonetheless an improvement from his 5 carries 18-yard performance in the season opener.
The defense looked fine without nose tackle Kris Jenkins who is out with an ACL tear. Not much of a surprise there, as New York had the No. 1-ranked defense last season after losing Jenkins for the season in Week 6.
The defense didn’t even seem to miss a step without their best player Darrelle Revis for half of the game. Revis grabbed the back of his left leg after getting beat by Randy Moss on a 34-yard touchdown pass with 34 seconds left in the first half.
Revis did not return, but the Patriots were nevertheless shut out in the second half. New York hopes to have a healthy Revis next Sunday night to lock down Brandon Marshall as they take on the Miami Dolphins.
Tune in every Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on WRSU-FM as Matt Sugam co-hosts Scarlet Football Fever discussing Rutgers Football as well as the N.Y. Jets and Giants.
