by Stop Mike Lupica on September 23 at 8:21PM
...or so we hope. Game Notes!
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- The Jets first possession was horrible. They go three and out, without even picking up a yard, prompting early boos from the crowd at
JetsGiants Stadium (two more years, two more years). - Hey, CBS just cut to commercial using Kanye West's "Stronger" as the outro music. Wow, that's thoroughly modern. By the way, that Kanye song is playing right now on Z100. No, I don't mean while I'm writing this - I mean while you are reading this. No matter when that may be...
- The Jets defense continues to be unimpressive. They can't make a big play at all - no forcing turnovers, no putting pressure on the other team's quarterbacks, no breaking up passes. If a pass is incomplete against the Jets, it's because the other team's QB threw it badly, or because the WRs dropped it. On the bright side, they close quickly. But right now this Jets defense is a few missed tackles away from "atrocious".
- The Jets go to the hurry-up offense on the second possession. Chad is 0-3 after another incomplete pass. On third-and-1, Thomas Jones... makes it! Shotgun... lots of time for Chad for the first time this whole season... and he hits Jerrico for a big pass play. A roughing the passer penalty gets the Jets inside the Red Zone. Thomas Jones, 2 carries in a row, combined 8 yards. On 3rd-and-2 from the 3 yard line... TJ again. He gets the 1st down inside the 1. 4 shots from the 1-yard line to get a touchdown.
- Scratch that - the offensive line messes up, gets a 5-yard penalty for offsides. It's on none other than Adrian Clark (Pete Kendell's replacement). If we don't get 7 points, blame Mike Tennabaum.
- It's second down, inside the 5... my guess, the Jets run it again with TJ to get closer, than go to the fade in the corner for Coles on third down.
- Nope, they go straight to the fade to Coles on second down... TOUCHDOWN, J-E-T-S. Why don't teams expect this? That's like the 5th time this season the Jets have run that play. Jets 7, Fins 0.
- The Dolphins drive for a touchdown on the Jets defense. Penalties hurt alot - a couple were called on the corners.
- And there goes LEON WASHINGTON, 98-yard return for a TOUCHDOWN. Jets 14, Fins 7.
- Justin Miller who? It's bad enough Mr. Second Round doesn't play good enough defense to be a starting corner, but if Leon Washington and Brad Smith (and Darrell Revis, too) can keep the Jets' special teams going, you may not see Miller much next season.
- Cam Cameron, Miami's coach, goes for it on 4-and-1 from the 11. Good call. Ronnie Brown gets it.
- But a 5-yard penalty on the next play (12 men in the huddle - a terrible penalty, a sign of a rookie coach) pushes the Dolphins back a little. A great tackle on 1st down, and a loss on 2nd down makes it 3 and goal from the 12 yard line for the Fins. Short pass gets nothing. Field Goal makes it Jets 14, Dolphins 10.
- Pennington just got sacked again. The O-line is not impressing me. It's now 3rd-and-16... draw play? Nah, the little screen. No gain, punt time.
- Ben Graham with a booming punt. That's the Aussie I remember. Brad Smith with an incredible downfield play on the punt, stopping the return for a very small gain. Great work by the special teams today.
- On 3rd&10 from the 10, Vilma and Rhodes finally get good pressure on a quarterback, forcing Trent Green to throw it away. Another field goal makes it Jets 14, Dolphins 13.
- The Jets get the ball with around 2:00 minutes to go. After moving the ball quickly down the field (and thanks to the squib kickoff by the Dolphins that went out of bounds), it's 3rd and 3 with 22 ticks left for the Jets. Smith gets a nice reception over the middle. A spike kills the clock with 13 seconds left. 1 timeout left. Ball on the 10-yard line.
- Great catch by Jerrico Crochety at the 5; he catches with one hand, then gets out of bounds with 7 ticks left. 3rd and goal coming up... fade to Coles, anyone?
- NO, it's a pass to the back of the end zone (middle part) to Chris Baker, the TOUCHDOWN maker. Amazing catch by Baker, perhaps even better than Jerrico's. Wow. Jets 21, Dolphins 13 at the half.
- Thomas Jones is getting work on the Jets' opening drive. He's rushed almost every play on this drive. He got a nice gain thanks to a great block by Brick Ferguson. A nice gain on the next play, this time thanks to Mangold and Moore's blocking. The O-line is showing some signs of life finally.
- Jones again to the 22-yard line. On 2nd & 4 he get only two yards. It's 3rd & 2, from the 20...
- Chad goes hurry up, and gets a penalty flag for offsides on the Dolphins. Nice move. 1st down from the 15.
- Smith, on a running play, gets 10 yards.
- 1st & Goal from the 5. No passes yet on this drive, all rushes. TJ gets stopped on 1st down. 2nd down, same result. 3rd & Goal from the 5 coming up...fade?
- Too deep a pass for Baker. Field Goal by Nugent. Jets 24, Dolphins 13.
- Green throws a pass into traffic while being pressured (!) by the Jets; the pass is intercepted by Kerry Rhodes for the Jets' first turnover of the season.
- Interesting play here... after losing 2 yards on the first two downs, it's 3rd & 12 for the Jets. With the play clock ticking, Chad takes the 5-yard penalty rather than to blow a time-out. 3rd & 17 for the Jets...
- And Coles gets a 22-yard pass completion! Wow, great call.
- Thomas Jones is putting on a show now. First he pummels into a would-be tackler, making him hurt. Then, on the very next play, he stiff-arms the sh*t out of #29 (Travis Daniels). That's called "the Ike to Tina Turner". Seriously, that was the baddest stiff-arm I've seen in a football game in like... more than three plus years.
- 3rd and goal from the 2.5 yard line. Shotgun... and CHAD goes up the middle untouched for a TOUCHDOWN. 31-13 Jets.
- A Miami touchdown drive (very quick one) gets it to 31-19 with 8:56 to go.
- And the Dolphins go for two... and they get it on THE STATUE OF LIBERTY play. 31-21. Hysterical. Also, that all but guarantees that a late meaningless TD by the Dolphins means that the Jets don't cover (it's a push). Considering our biggest bet of the day was on the Jets -3... Ugh.
- And Miami gets the ball back with 3:34 left. Just enough time to ruin the spread. Come defense... big play...
- And with 1:15, on a screen to Brown on 3rd & 10... touchdown, Miami. Bye-bye big $$$. At least I didn't lose.
- F*ck that... I didn't win. That sucks. But the Jets did win, 31-28. Not a great game, particularly by the defense (the Dolphins outgained the Jets most of the game), but they were in control the whole game, and won easily. The schedule includes the 0-3 Bills next week, and the Giants after that. A winning streak is not only a possibility right now, it's practically a must with these weak teams coming up. They need to get those wins.
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