After losing a terrible game last week on the road against the Patriots, the New York Jets (9-4) and their fans were hoping for much better things against the Miami Dolphins (7-6) at New Meadowlands Stadium. Alas, it was not to be; even though the defense showed up this week, the offense once again seemed dazed and confused as the Jets lost 10-6.
The immediate focus has to be on quarterback Mark Sanchez, who was 17 for 44 for 216 yards. He has looked like he is making it up as he goes along, and the results are not pretty. Sanchez is fumbling, getting intercepted, and stumbling his way through these last two games. In the process, the Jets' hopes to take the division are now lost, and it is questionable whether they have what it takes to even make the playoffs now.
The bright spot of the day for head coach Rex Ryan was that his defense came back, looking less like the zombies from the AMC series The Walking Dead in last week's game and more like the highly touted "best" defense in football today. The problem is no matter how well the defense clicked, the Jets offense came down to two Nick Folk field goals.
To make matters worse, while the Jets were losing this one, the Patriots (11-2) were wiping up the field with the Bears (9-4) in an 36-7 victory. Surely there is no doubt after these last two weeks that the Pats are the best team in the NFL right now.
After the loss to the Pats last week, Ryan buried the game ball in a symbolic effort to say that loss was over and the team had to move on. Today the team did nothing to prove that they, and not the game ball, are six feet under. With a road game against the Steelers (10-3) looming next week, Sanchez and the offense better get themselves together or the season will be ostensibly lost.
Article comments
1 - Arch Conservative
Victor, no mention of Sal Alosi?
He got a suspension and a fine. He should have been fired. If the Jets can't figure that out the NFL powers that be should help them figure it out.
Beyond the play of the players on the field the Jets as an organization are becoming the biggest joke in the NFL.
2 - Victor Lana
Arch, I hear you (loud and clear). When I wrote this there was no word on what the punishment would be for him. At this time it is a substantial fine and suspension for the rest of the year.
I do agree he should be fired, but his antics are an indication of a higher authority and an attitude that is suspect. As a Jets fan, I am not happy with the way things are going on or off the field.
3 - Arch Conservative
Well as a Pats fan, I couldn't be happied with the way things are going with my team.
4 - zingzing
really? that's sad. they're doing well. why is it so hard for you to be happy!?!?!!!
5 - zingzing
also, the reason sal wasn't fired is because he was only (somewhat) doing what he was told. look at the pictures. there are, i believe, six people lined up toe-to-toe on the jets' sideline, as close as they possibly could be to the out of bounds line. it's a team strategy. (and it's legal, if dubious.)
it's arguable (somewhat) that he was bracing for impact rather than actively trying to trip the guy. i dunno. i have trouble thinking that he'd really try to trip someone, because he has to know he's going to get caught. maybe he did trip him. i doubt he was thinking about it if he did.
it's the rule that needs changing. if a guy can go out of bounds to avoid a blocker, and if that player invades the other team's sideline area to do so, they have to be aware that the other team isn't going to like that too much. it seems a bit cheap to run out of bounds to avoid blockers. but i had no idea they could do that before ol' sal stuck his knee out. so there's good in that. change the rule. no purposefully going out of bounds to avoid players, in order to gain an advantage on that play. seems pretty obvious to me. problem solved.
6 - El Bicho
Brace for impact? Sticking out his knee is what initiated the contact. He tried to get in the way without looking like he was getting in the way. He wasn't fired in exchange for keeping his mouth shut.
7 - zingzing
"Brace for impact?"
stand up and pretend you're bracing for impact. what do you do? now watch the video. he turns his shoulders and his hips into the player a little. his knee does stick out, which is consistent with bracing for impact. it's a possibility is all i'm saying.
"He wasn't fired in exchange for keeping his mouth shut."
probably about who told him to be there in the first place. the coach? probably.
8 - El Bicho
I would step back rather than turn into it if I was trying to avoid contact
9 - zingzing
even if you were (quite obviously) told to stand there?
10 - zingzing
that line of six jets was not there on accident. they were told to be there. if the player wants to go out of bounds to avoid being blocked, they were there to block him. now they're not supposed to be over their side of that white stip, and the player was never off that white stip, but sal was told not to move back, i can (pretty much) assure you of that.
11 - zingzing
i can also assure you he wasn't trying to avoid contact. maybe it was an instinctual move (bracing for impact). maybe it was a purposeful trip. i've never tripped someone with my knee. or that's certainly not the way i'd try to.
12 - El Bicho
"that line of six jets was not there on accident. they were told to be there."
that would explain why I wrote: "He tried to get in the way without looking like he was getting in the way."
13 - zingzing
yeah, that's true. the idea that they'd purposefully line up there precludes the idea that they're trying to get in the way. but it's like when there's a penalty kick from outside the box in soccer. they are certainly trying to get in the way of the ball, but they don't necessarily want to be hit by it. it's supposed to be a deterrent from kicking it in that direction.
all i'm saying is that it's hard to imagine someone doing something that unsportsmanlike fully knowing he would be caught. there's no way he could have gotten away with it and he knows it. so why'd he do it?
maybe because he didn't. he was put in a bad position by his coaches who were taking advantage of a curious rule that says a player can run out of bounds to avoid blockers. it's possible he flinched at the thought of getting hit by a big, professional athlete running full steam at him.
it's fully possible that he is a cheat, and a stupid one at that, who did something rather unthinkable. it's also fully possible that he had a natural reaction. i digress to sherlock holmes and the k.i.s.s. principle on this one.
i'm no jets fan and i don't care one way or the other about miami either. but i think fucking this guy over and suspending him without pay for the remainder of the season is just messing with the little guy* when it's the coach who put him there that should be punished and the rule that made that possible that should be changed.
*i'm sure he makes good money. but he's just a strength and conditioning coach. he's probably not one who can easily do without a month of pay. and if he's not a s&c coach in the nfl next year, he's a big old scapegoat.