If anyone still cared about the Jets in New York, the airwaves would be filled with questions and concerns about Eric Mangini’s decision to kick a 38-yard field goal, down five, with less than two minutes to go. He “liked his chances” of getting a 2nd consecutive successful onsides kick and the ball back with all three timeouts in his pocket.
Instead, Cleveland recovered the kick, as most teams do when they know it’s coming, and marched down the field and into the end zone to halt the Jets’ season-best winning streak at one. On that last 31-yard TD run by Jamal Lewis, it seemed every Jets’ defender had a chance to tackle him, some even twice, and yet he rumbled into the rain-soaked end zone in front of the few, actually very few, fans left sitting in the pouring rain wondering how this season could get any gloomier.
Kellen Clemens had another critical red-zone interception (two total for the day) and Leon Washington fumbled the ball twice on kick-off returns (both recovered by the Jets). The defense …
For the first time this season the Jets hope to string two victories together against a Cleveland Browns team still in the playoff hunt.
The game will also feature the league’s best kick returners in Leon Washington and Josh Cribbs. Cribbs leads the league with a 31.2-yard return average and has two TD’s. Washington, second to Cribbs in return average with 30.6, has returned three kickoffs for touchdowns.
The Jets have pointed to sacks as a key to their recent wins, having compiled 13 sacks in their last three games (2 of them wins) after having only 9 in their first nine games. However, the Browns do not allow a lot of sacks, having given up only 11 in 406 pass attempts. So the Jets’ defensive line has its work cut out for them if they expect to get to Browns’ QB Derek Anderson.
The game could come down to a field goal. Mike Nugent has nailed 17 of his last 18 attempts, with his only miss coming from 54 yards. He has successfully converted his last 10 in a …
Jets’ rookie David Harris was named the NFL’s Rookie Defensive Player of the Month.
Harris, who took over for the injured Jonathan Vilma, has 58 tackles in just five starts. He leads the Jets with 82 tackles, despite not starting in 7 of their 12 games.
Victor Hobson had this to say about his teammate, via Mark Cannizzaro of the NY Post:
“They should have just gone ahead and named him the regular Defensive Player of the Month instead of putting the rookie tag in front it,” Hobson said. “He’s played that well.”
The honor, along with his succcess, makes you wonder if Harris should have been starting before Vilma went down with an injury. Of course, the flipside of that argument is that the reason he is having so much success could be because he was given the time to learn the game without being thrust into a starter’s role at the beginning of the season.
We’ll never know what could have been, but during this dismal season, it’s nice to know what will be.
Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist …
A mix of interesting quotes from Eric Mangini’s Wednesday press conference via the New York Jets website:
We released Evan Prall from the practice squad. Danny Ware was signed to the Giants active roster. We signed Alvin Banks, running back, and Shaine Smith, wide receiver, to the practice squad. They’ll both be out there today.
On if it’s frustrating he hasn’t been able to use [Leon] Washington more as he did Sunday …
You’re really looking to get the yards per carry up for both those guys, and that’s a cumulative deal. But in terms of catching the ball, there’s been some times where you’d like to get him out in space, whether it be on screens or things like that, and some of those have been sniffed out by the defense and you don’t get it to him. But it’s trying to work him in a lot of different areas. It’s game-plan-specific.
On his relationship with [Cleveland Head Coach Romeo] Crennel …
Rac is a great friend, great guy. I was lucky to be with …
Via Rich Camini of the NY Daily News:
UP & RUNNING: Backup RB Leon Washington received a season-high 12 “touches” against the Dolphins, which may explain why the offense was so productive. (That, and the fact that the Miami defense stinks.) He’s the Jets’ most dynamic player, and coordinator Brian Schottenheimer made a concerted effort to get him the ball. Washington lined up at halfback, quarterback (on a direct snap) and wide receiver, confusing the Dolphins.
[Thomas] Jones, who rarely says anything interesting, admitted Tuesday on his WFAN radio spot that it was “definitely a slap in the face” to be installed as an underdog against the winless Dolphins…. Last week, the Jets auditioned former Patriots FB Patrick Pass. The Jets and Patriots play next week, so the bitter rivals probably will be up to their old tricks, bringing in the other’s recent castoffs in an attempt to gather intelligence. Unlike videotaping on the sideline, this is legal.
Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist who can be reached through his website at www.jonbuzby.com.
To nobody’s surprise, Eric Mangini was his usual “mums the word” about injuries to Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery during his Monday press conference.
On Coles’ ankle injury via the New York Jets website:
“It’s going to be an ongoing process with that. It’s always like that with a wide receiver and any type of injury that affects the legs. They have got to run fast and hard and got to be able to run after the catch and all that stuff, so it’ll be an ongoing management of us continuing to give him the rehab and prep he needs and him working at it as well.”
On Cotchery’s right index finger:
“We’ll have to see where he is Wednesday-ish. It is what it is.”
Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist who can be reached through his website at www.jonbuzby.com.
Well, not exactly………
Cleveland’s loss to Arizona this past Sunday dropped the Browns’ record to 7-5 and put them in a tie with the Tennessee Titans for the AFC’s second wildcard spot (Jacksonville has the first). The first potential tiebreaker between the Browns and Titans is AFC record; currently the Browns are 5-4 and the Titans 4-4 against AFC opponents.
The next tiebreaker would be record in common games. The Browns lost to Oakland, beat Houston and are 1-0 against the Bengals with one to go. The Titans beat Oakland, beat Houston twice and lost to the Bengals.
Both teams still have to play the Jets, and so indirectly, the Jets could impact the AFC playoff race based on the outcome of their games against the Browns and Titans. Unfortunately, it’s the only way you’ll see the words Jets and playoffs in the same story this season.
Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist who can be reached through his website at www.jonbuzby.com.
Despite having won only three games it’s safe to say that nobody would have ever believed it would take Thomas Jones 12 games to score his first TD as a New York Jet.
But his one-yard run into the end zone during the 4th quarter of Sunday’s game was in fact his first TD of the season.
Jones kept the ball for his trophy case as he has done after scoring his first TD with his three previous teams.
WR Jericho Cotchery did not play yesterday and might miss a few weeks after having surgery on his right index finger.
Eric Mangini gave the Jets off today ~ their first Monday off of the season following a win. The Jets reported on Monday following the first win against the Dolphins and had to report on the Monday after Steelers victory due to the Thanksgiving game. The Jets will also have the standard post-game Tuesday off and then report back on Wednesday to prepare for Cleveland.
Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist who can be reached through his website at www.jonbuzby.com.
The New York Jets flew to balmy Miami determined not to become the Dolphins’ sole win this season. They will land in snow-covered Newark with a season sweep against Miami following a resounding 40 – 13 victory that featured the Jets scoring 20 second-half points while shutting out the Dolphins during the final 30 minutes.
The statistics were impressive: Kellen Clemens threw for 236 yards and a touch down, Thomas Jones rushed for 75 yards and a TD and Leon Washington averaged 6.8 yards on ten carries while scoring two TDs. Even Mike Nugent was a perfect 4 -4 kicking field goals.
But when playing a win-less team, the statistics should be impressive. In fact, they should be overly impressive. Which of course, the three-win New York Jets’ stats were not.
After today’s win over the Dolphins, the New York Jets find themselves three games out and in control of the tie-breaker with just four games to go.
That means that even if the Dolphins were to win three of their last four games (very unlikely) and the Jets don’t win another game (more likely), the Jets, by virtue of …
Sunday’s game against the win-less Dolphins marks the one-month anniversary of Chad Pennington’s official benching.
Was it really that long ago?
It seems like just yesterday he was taking snaps and floating pinpoint passes to open receivers. It seems like not long ago he was the revitalized Chad Pennington who took this team to a 10-6 record last year and an unpredictable playoff appearance.
It was a month ago when we last saw #10 run out of the tunnel as the starting QB for the New York Jets. Today, he spends his weeks preparing as the backup. A role he is very unfamiliar with and of course, not comfortable with.
The reality is, Kellen Clemens hasn’t exactly lit the NFL on fire. And other than the win against the Steelers, which gives him the same number of wins as Pennington this season, the QB change hasn’t really made a big difference.
Sure, you see signs of a more mobile and younger player. You see glimpses of hope when the ball is rifled to a receiver. But his late-game interception last …
Via Mark Cannizzaro’s column in the NY Post, when asked if he thought the Patriots would go 16-0, Laveranues Coles’ response? “I hope so.”
My first reaction was, “How dare he?” And that’s still my reaction. For many reasons, but none more important than one of their remaining games is against his own team.
Also from Cannizzaro’s column:
“They have a chance to do something a lot of people have never done,” Coles said. “I wish them the best. They have a great team and they’ve weathered all the criticism. I just have a lot of respect for them as a team. I’ve never been the type of person to hate on anybody.
“I want good people to do good things and it seems like they have an excellent team. Why not want them to do well?
“Looking at their record and numbers, you can’t help but respect them and appreciate what they’ve done.”
Hello Laveranues! They are the arch enemy. The New England Patriots are to the Jets what the Joker is to Batman, Tweety to Sylvester, the …
Mike Nugent’s opening kick traveled ten yards shy of a touch back, was returned 27 yards, and eight plays later Marion Barber scampered from the seven to put Dallas up 7 -0. And from that point on, like a turkey on the days leading up to Thanksgiving, it was only a matter of time for the Jets.
And then when the Jets’ only possible pro-bowler, Leon Washington, fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, the Cowboys licked their chops and slowly and meticulously dismantled the Jets in front of a sold-out Thanksgiving crowd.
The Jets had only one drive the entire first half that lasted more than four plays. The Jets’ offense, like diets on this day, was non-existent.
And as usual, the Jets could do nothing to stop the Cowboys’ running game. Unlike the Jets, the Cowboys’ offensive line opened holes for their running backs all day.
While Darrelle Revis held Terrell Owens in check until the fourth quarter, the rest of the Cowboys’ receivers enjoyed a healthy serving of Tony Romo passes, carving up the Jets’ secondary throughout the game.
One of the last drives of …
