Thanks to Rex Ryan, They’re Not the Same Old Jets

 

For Rex Ryan, who put his coaching reputation as a defensive wizard on the line with a week of inspired horn-blowing before his Jets met the Patriots, the cold-fish, no-look, post-game handshake he got from losing coach Bill Belichick had to be the sweetest reward of all.

 

Ryan earned his reward by believing in himself, believing in his defense and believing that Jets fans would not reject as cheesy the coach’s clarion call for full-throated support against his team’s most vexing opponent.

 

“We’re giving the game ball to our fans,” Ryan said Sunday after a 16-9 victory at Giants Stadium that ended the Pats’ eight-year winning streak on the Jets’ turf. “This game ball is going in our trophy case.”

 

Too bad Jets fans can’t do with the game ball what NHL players can after their team wins the Stanley Cup: Keep it for a day and do whatever you like.

 

Instead, Jets fans can savor a victory as brash and decisive as Ryan himself.

 

Twice in the game’s final nine-and-a-half minutes, the Patriots had the ball needing a touchdown to tie the score.

 

Did the Jets retreat into the conservative shell of a “prevent defense” and give Tom Brady ample opportunities to break their hearts?

 

As Ryan himself might say, “Hell, no.”

 

Blitzes came early and often—from up the middle, from the right side, from the left (blind) side, making Brady uncomfortable throughout.

 

Brady finished 23-for-47 for 216 yards with an interception and no touchdowns—pedestrian numbers by his standards.

 

The Jets kept the heat on Brady until his final pass, intended for Joey Galloway over the middle, was repelled by nickel back Dwight Lowery with 62 seconds left.

 

That’s when the noise at Giants Stadium became deafening, noise from Jets fans who had grown tired of seeing their team pushed around by the Patriots, tired of lamenting “Same Old Jets” after apparent victories had morphed into numbing defeats.

 

And if offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer had not kept under wraps in the first half rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez (3-for-5, 15 yards, 1 fumble) and his favorite receiver Jerricho Cotchery (0 receptions, 0 yards), the Jets might well have routed the Patriots

 

That’s how well the Jets’ defense played.

 

There is reason now to believe the Jets have become at least the equal of the Pats, if not their superiors.

 

Ryan is the reason.

 

He has built a defense that hasn’t allowed a touchdown in eight quarters this season. (The Texans’ Week One touchdown came on an interception.)

 

His defense limited the Pats to three field goals in a first half in which Brady and Co. began drives at the Jets’ 17, the Jets’ 49 and their own 40.

 

Ryan’s defense shut out the Pats in the second half, causing one New England fan to tell me, “We didn’t have Wes Welker. That hurt us a lot.”

 

This is the NFL equivalent of grasping at straws.

 

Since when is the absence of Welker, out with a knee injury, a valid reason for the Pats’ inability to score a touchdown all day?

 

Randy Moss played. So did Brady and Galloway and Laurence Maroney.

 

But most of all, the Jets’ defense played.

 

The defense played well enough to justify Ryan’s bold talk and send a clear message to the rest of the NFL: These are not the same old Jets.

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Jets-Patriots: Expect New York To Run All over the Pats on Sunday

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez makes only his second NFL start Sunday, and he’ll face the AFC East rival New England Patriots.

Heading into the grudge match, much has been said about the ability of Pats coach Bill Belichick to disguise defensive coverages and confound a young quarterback.

That’s certainly true, and Sanchez figures to have some rough moments at Giants Stadium. He’ll take the kind of graduate exam in reading defenses and avoiding the rush that he never faced in his one year as a starter at USC.

But it’s also true that if the Jets play to their strength Sunday, then Sanchez won’t have to win the game on his own.

Indeed, Sanchez may be only a supporting player.

The Jets, on paper, should be able to run the ball down the Patriots’ throats.

It would be a surprise if the Jets are not able to control the clock, the tempo, and the game with Thomas Jones and Leon Washington running behind a solid, veteran offensive line.

It would be a surprise if the Jets don’t win the time of possession statistic by a decisive margin.

It would be a surprise if Pats quarterback Tom Brady and stellar receivers Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Joey Galloway are not watching most of the game from the sideline.

Unless the Jets are sloppy with the football and give the Pats short fields with which to work, Sunday’s game could be similar to the Giants’ Super Bowl XXV win over the Bills, in which the victors held the ball more than 40 minutes.

Or the Jets could run over, around and through the Pats in the kind of embarrassingly one-sided victory for which safety Kerry Rhodes has called.

The Pats’ best tackler, middle linebacker Jerod Mayo, is out with an injury.

And the Pats will rue the decision to trade defensive line stud Richard Seymour, who showed this past Monday night for the Raiders that he’s still at the top of his game.

Jets versus Patriots really should not be about the performance of Sanchez if the Jets play the way they are best suited.

Smashmouth football, anyone?

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It’s Speak Up and Put Up Time For New York Jets

Although football fans around the country have reason to wonder if the New York Jets’ performance against the Patriots on Sunday will cash the checks written by the mouths of their players and head coach, this much is clear: The Jets are relevant again.

 

Not since Bill Belichick scribbled his infamous note of resignation as the “HC of the NYJ” and signed with the Patriots in 2000 have the Jets received this much national media attention.

 

The number of NFL coaches who would have done what Jets Coach Rex Ryan did this week to rally his troops and the team’s fan base during Patriots Week can be counted on one hand—maybe one finger.

 

Many an NFL coach would have muzzled his players if anyone spoke as openly as Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins about wanting to beat New England.

 

“This is our Super Bowl,” Jenkins said firmly.

 

Then, after emphasizing how determined he is to whack the Pats, Jenkins added that if any New England players objected to his comments, “They know where to find me.”

Beautiful.

 

For far too long, the Jets have virtually assumed the fetal position as soon as the Patriots stepped off their team bus outside Giants Stadium.

 

The Jets have lost eight straight home games against the Pats, dating back to Week 2 of the 2000 season.

 

The Jets’ eight consecutive defeats to New England tie the longest such streak in the NFL. The Steelers have won eight in a row against the Browns in Cleveland.

That’s ancient history, the Jets are saying.

 

What matters now, according to voluble safety Kerry Rhodes, is not beating only the Patriots, but also embarrassing them.

 

“You go out from the first quarter on, from the first play on, and try to embarrass them,” Rhodes told the New York Daily News. “We don’t want to just beat them. We want to send a message to them: We’re not backing down from you. We expect to win this game, and it’s not going to be luck. It is not going to be a mistake.”

 

How great is that?

 

In an appearance Friday on “NFL Live,” an ESPN program that used to routinely ignore the Jets, Rhodes told host Trey Wingo, “They’ve come into our home field and beaten us eight straight times, and that’s not a good look. We’re trying to change the culture around here.”

 

Asked about rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez facing a Belichick-coached team for the first time on Sunday, Rhodes said, “They’ve got a great coach over there, Belichick, who schemes very well. [Sanchez] is going to see a look that he hasn’t seen, so he’s going to have to be calm. And we’re going to try to take the pressure off him with our defense. And we’re going to try to run the ball like we do. We have one of the better [offensive] lines in the game. Those guys have seen a lot, and they’re going to keep him calm, and he’s going to be O.K.”

 

People who know the Jets only as a team that has made one Super Bowl, way back in 1970 when Joe Namath played quarterback, must think Rhodes is out of his mind.

Is he tugging on Superman’s cape?

 

Hardly. The Jets beat the Pats in their last meeting, 34-31 at New England.

Rhodes understands that the Jets must convince themselves that last year’s road victory was no fluke and that they are not inferior to the Patriots. That’s the first step toward proving it.

 

Rhodes actually is following a Jets tradition started by Namath himself when he guaranteed the team would beat the heavily favored Colts in Super Bowl III.

 

Namath and Company cashed that check with a 16-7 win. Now, it is up to Ryan, Jenkins, Rhodes et al. to do the same.

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New York Jets Defense Needs to Show Something Against New York Giants Tonight

Throughout the preseason, Jets coaches and players have acknowledged that the defense is well ahead of the offense in coach Rex Ryan’s first season.

 

While that’s not unusual for an NFL team, what is unusual is that the Jets’ defense has yet to show anything in either of the first two preseason games.

 

Yes, it will take a while for Ryan’s 4-6 defense system to take hold among his new players.

 

But the Jets’ defense will be expected to show some ferocity tonight in the annual preseason battle against the Giants.

 

The Jets’ defense showed nothing against the Rams or the Ravens to indicate that it’s going to be the kind of aggressive, ball-hawking, turnover-forcing unit that the Ravens—Ryan’s former team—has been during this decade.

 

One need only look back to the first quarter of the Jets’ 24-23 loss at Baltimore on Monday night to see the kind of defense about which Jets fans can only dream.

 

On Mark Sanchez’s first pass, the rookie quarterback faced intense pressure from linebacker Ray Lewis, resulting in an ill-advised pass into the ample breadbasket of nose tackle Haloti Ngata that was returned for a touchdown.

 

On Sanchez’s second pass of the game, the Ravens’ coverage confused the rookie, resulting in a throw that should have been picked off by Lewis and returned for a touchdown.

 

“I could’ve caught it,” Lewis said after the game, “but I didn’t want that one until the regular season.”

 

Certainly, the future Hall of Famer will get other pick-six opportunities this season as the leader of the stout Ravens’ defense.

 

But how long will it take for Ryan to elevate the Jets’ defense to that lofty level.

 

The expectation is for Ryan to do exactly that, because he has brought a trio of former Ravens defenders—linebacker Bart Scott, safety Jim Leonhard and defensive end Marques Douglass—to the Jets.

 

And because Ryan has all but promised to reshape the Jets’ defense into the Ravens’ image.

 

But that may be easier said than done.

 

When Lewis was asked after last Monday’s game about his team facing Ryan, his former defensive coordinator in Baltimore, Lewis said, “I don’t care if you’ve coached for us or not, when you play against our defense, it’s tough.”

 

Sanchez can vouch for that. Two series into his first nationally televised appearance as Jets quarterback, his team was down 7-0. And it should have been 14-0.

 

How long will it be before opposing quarterbacks come away shaking their hands and panting after facing the Jets’ defense?

 

It would be encouraging to see Giants quarterbacks Eli Manning and David Carr struggle as much against the Jets as they did in last Saturday’s loss to the Bears.

 

That would be the first real sign of the preseason that the Jets’ defense is truly on the right track.

 

Jets Fans Who Covet Marshall: Be Careful What You Wish For

That the Denver Broncos appear ready to cut the cord on belligerent wide receiver Brandon Marshall is not necessarily good news for the receiver-hungry New York Jets.

 

The Broncos today suspended the All-Pro for the rest of the preseason because of “conduct detrimental to the team.”

 

According to many observers in Broncos camp, Marshall consistently gave less than a full effort on the practice field while continuing to whine about wanting to renegotiate his contract.

 

Despite the tried-and-true business axiom of “Buy low, sell high,” the Jets should not make a deal for Marshall.

 

Although it appears that Denver’s rookie head coach Josh McDaniels will be as unsuccessful dealing with Marshall as he was with former star quarterback Jay Cutler, that does not mean Jets rookie head coach Rex Ryan would fair any better with the toxic wide receiver.

 

If anything, Marshall would be more of a head case as a Jet…in “The Big Apple,” the media capital of the world, playing under the brightest lights in the biggest city.

 

If Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum believes a change in scenery is all Marshall needs to be an All-Pro on the field and a Boy Scout off the field, then he is naïve.

 

Marshall is a bad actor and a team-killer whether he’s working in the Mile High City or just across the Hudson River from Broadway, whether he’s in Broncos blue and orange or Jets green and white.

 

A player who demonstrates an utter lack of self-control off the field, as Marshall has during his stint in Denver, won’t change just because he changes uniforms.

 

A player who tries to put himself above his team in one city will do the same in another city.

 

That’s who he is. That’s what he does.

 

Was Terrell Owens really any different in Philadelphia than he was in San Francisco? Was he any better in Dallas than in Philly or San Fran?—No and no.

 

The same is true of Marshall, a “T.O”-wannabe.

 

The Jets should resist the temptation to try to rehabilitate him.

 

Jets Running Back Shonn Greene Could Be Steal of 2009 Draft

When the New York Jets play in a nationally televised game Monday night against the Ravens, rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez will command most of the media attention.

 

But another Jets rookie, running back Shonn Greene, could end up stealing the spotlight.

 

Greene, a halfback from Iowa who runs with abandon, has been the talk of Jets’ camp.

 

Before the year is out, Greene, whom the Jets traded up to select with the 65th pick, could be considered the steal of the 2009 draft.

 

“He has more of a combination to him: he’s part-battering ram, part-finesse,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said at his news conference in Florham Park, N.J. today. “I think he can be a special back. I really do.”

 

Unlike Sanchez, who has to develop timing with his receivers and chemistry with his offensive linemen, Greene can play mostly on instincts while he masters the playbook.

 

See the hole, hit the hole. See the blitzing linebacker or safety, pick him up.

 

Although it’s only a preseason game, the proud Ravens defense is always eager to make a statement. So if Greene excels against Ray Lewis & Co., then he’ll be in line for significant playing time once the real games begin.

 

Should the Jets decide Thomas Jones to be expendable, Greene will be the reason. He runs hard, breaks tackles, and likes contact.

 

That’s understandable, considering he played running back and linebacker at Winslow Township High School in Atco, N.J.

 

And Greene, who turned 24 yesterday, is not averse to hard work.

 

After playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2005 and 2006, Greene spent 2007 working in a furniture store while attending Kirkwood Community College. Why? He needed to raise his grade point average to become academically eligible to return to Iowa.

 

To say Greene came back with a vengeance would be an understatement.

 

In 2008, Greene won the Doak Walker and Jim Brown awards as the best running back in college football. He was the only running back in major college football to gain more than 100 yards in every game last year.

 

After being named the Most Valuable Player in Iowa’s Outback Bowl victory over South Carolina on New Year’s Day, Greene surprised many by declaring early for the NFL draft.

 

Despite some concerns about the health of his ankle, Greene felt ready to play for pay. And he’s proving his readiness every day in Jets’ camp.

 

“I still don’t think he’s 100 percent [healthy] from that ankle [injury],” Ryan says, “but he’s toughing it out.”

 

Last year, legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno gave Greene the kind of compliment the rookie hopes to hear from NFL coaches.

 

“He’s one of those guys who takes a good tackle and doesn’t get knocked down,” Paterno told the Reading (Pa.) Eagle. “He’s always going down the field. And he seems to know where the second [would-be tackler] is.”

 

Greene hasn’t received much media hype yet.

 

But once the season starts, opposing teams would be wise not to sleep on him.

 

 

New York Jets Should Not Go Anywhere Near Brandon Marshall

Anyone who follows the New York Jets knows the team is supermodel thin at wide receiver.

 

Anyone who follows the Denver Broncos knows All-Pro wide receiver Brandon “The Beast” Marshall is unhappy…again…and pushing for a trade.

 

Marshall apparently would fill the Jets need for an elusive, physical receiver with big-play capabilities. And at 25, Marshall could still improve.

 

Nevertheless, the Jets should not go anywhere near him.

 

Comparisons between the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Marshall and the narcissistic Terrell Owens are not only limited to the playing field. Both are among the chief reasons that wide receiver has become the NFL’s diva position.

 

Bringing in Marshall would be troubling because he has shown extreme ingratitude to a Broncos organization that stood behind him despite his well-documented, off-the-field problems.

 

Marshall, like Owens, appears to be the kind of player who manufactures his own discontent. Any team on which he plays is likely to have bad chemistry and a poisoned locker room.

 

The Jets, trying to rebound behind rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez after the failed Brett Favre experiment, don’t need to bring in Marshall to cause problems.

 

Sanchez doesn’t need an egocentric receiver whining on the sideline (in full view of the media) because he wants more balls thrown his way. Nor does Sanchez need Marshall, or a Marshall-type, taking shots at him in the press and online.

 

Let Marshall use Twitter, the Web and local newspapers to trash some other poor quarterback, or offensive coordinator, or head coach, in 2009.

 

The Jets would be better off pursuing a free agent wide receiver, someone not as talented as Marshall but productive on the field and non-cancerous in the locker room.

 

Ashley Lelie has the speed to stretch defenses. His skills went to waste last year on a 49ers team that didn’t have a quarterback who could throw deep.

 

Lelie has been an effective deep threat for the Broncos and Falcons. He could help the Jets in that capacity if David Clowney is not able to do in real games what he has done in the preseason.

 

And why isn’t anyone giving Marvin Harrison a look? The erstwhile Colts receiver probably has one good year left. That’s all the Jets need.

 

Considering the great on-field chemistry Harrison had with Peyton Manning for many years in Indianapolis, Harrison could be instrumental in accelerating Sanchez’s learning curve by teaching the rookie how Manning prepares for game days.

 

Harrison or Lelie would be a better fit for the Jets than a diva like Marshall.

 

A Healthy David Clowney Should Give Jets Plenty To Smile About

It should have come as no surprise to New York Jets fans that quarterback Mark Sanchez looked poised, sharp, and ready to lead in his preseason debut Friday night.

The Jets knew what they were doing when they traded up to the No. 5 slot in this year’s draft and anointed the former USC star as their quarterback of the future.

But for Sanchez to truly win over football fans in the media capital of the world, he needs weapons.

And the player at the receiving end of Sanchez’s 48-yard laser in the opening quarter of the 23-20 loss to the Rams has a chance to become the Jets’ most expolsive receiver.

David Clowney could be the deep threat, and big-play man, the Jets sorely need.

Not only did Clowney beat a Rams cornerback down the right sideline to haul in Sanchez’s deep pass, but he also flew past the St. Louis secondary to grab Erik Ainge’s 50-yard pass for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“I guess they should have read the bio,” Jets head coach Rex Ryan said about Clowney, while taking a friendly jab at the Rams. “He’s pretty dang fast.”

Pretty dang fast, indeed. But a great dancer, he’s not.

Clowney’s end-zone celebration looked as if someone had dropped a bee in his pants. He might want to just give the football to the nearest official next time.

As a receiver against the Rams, Clowney picked up where he left off in the preseason  last year, when he led the Jets with 222 yards on eight catches.

Those numbers included catches of 71 and 70 yards in a win over the Browns.

Unfortunately, Clowney injured his shoulder in the next preseason game against the Redskins and was limited to one catch in two regular-season contests.

But even that catch—a one-handed grab from future Hall of Famer Brett Favre for 26 yards—gave a glimpse of Clowney’s big-play capabilities.

It was easy for Jets fans to dream last night of an autumn Sunday in which Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, and Shonn Greene are churning out yards behind a veteran offensive line.

And Jerricho Cotchery is excelling as a possession receiver when, suddenly, Sanchez uses a play-action fake to freeze the safeties, and throws over the top to Clowney for a game-changing bomb.

For that scenario to become a reality, Clowney needs to be ready on game days.

“Staying healthy, that’s all,” Clowney told the New York Post. “I made it this far by working hard. It’s not like I can’t catch.”

This could be the year Clowney reintroduces himself to football fans. The former Virginia Tech star appears to be the antithesis of the selfish, “me-first” jock.

In June, he hosted the David Clowney All-Star Football Camp in Palm Beach County, Florida, to help develop high school varsity players in the area where he grew up.

With such good work on and off the field, Clowney has a chance to give the Jets plenty to smile about.

 

 

 

Defense Can’t Rest for Playoff-Minded Jets

New York Jets fans will be looking for different things during tonight’s preseason opener against the Rams.

Many fans will be eager to see how first-round pick Mark Sanchez looks at quarterback when he takes over for tonight’s starter Kellen Clemens.

Others will focus on the performance of the running backs, even though three-fifths of the starting offensive line will sit out the game because of injuries.

But in defensive guru Rex Ryan’s debut as head coach, there should be more anticipation on how the defense performs. After all, if the Jets are to become a legitimate playoff contender this season, the defense will have to lead the way. 

It’s usually true during training camp that the defense is far ahead of the offense in terms of execution and cohesiveness, and the Jets have been no exception since camp opened at SUNY-Cortland last Friday.

The Jets on paper lack the offensive firepower to win high-scoring games. So their defense will have to stuff the run, limit big pass plays, harass the quarterback and force enough turnovers to win low-scoring games.

In short, the Jets will have to become the Ravens, albeit without Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and Ed Reed.

Darrelle Revis has the potential to become a shut-down corner back, and a consistently strong pass rush would greatly increase his chances of achieving that status.

Lito Sheppard, a former All-Pro with the Eagles, could shine again as a corner back and playmaker in Ryan’s 4-6 defensive scheme.

And Kerry Rhodes, no fan of departed head coach Eric Mangini, could also flourish as a playmaking safety.

In the first week of practices, the Jets have shown more eagerness to try to make big plays on defense.

Safety Jim Leonhard, who along with linebacker Bart Scott followed Ryan from the Ravens to New York, picked off a pass and tossed a lateral on the return.

Laterals were a no-no under the ultraconservative Mangini, according to Rhodes.

“He thought [laterals] were too risky,” Rhodes told the New York Daily News.

But Ryan won’t stifle the aggressiveness or creative impulses of his defensive players, as long as they operate within the team’s system.

Many times in this decade the Ravens have turned an interception or fumble recovery into a momentum-shifting touchdown because a player had the presence of mind—and the freedom—to lateral the football to a teammate who took it to the house.

The Jets will need to make big plays on defense to become playoff contenders this season, because it’s going to take a while for their offense to catch up.

 

Mark Sanchez’s Star Could Fade If Jets’ Receivers Don’t Shine

Never mind how the New York Jets’ wide receivers look in Green vs. White scrimmages at training camp. The first test for a unit that appears to be the Jets’ weakest link occurs Friday night in the preseason opener against the Rams.

 

It’s still surprising that the Jets traded up to take quarterback Mark Sanchez with the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft without also acquiring a first-rate starting wide receiver.

 

As it now stands, the Jets will start Jerricho Cotchery—who has never been a No. 1 wide receiver and may not have the ability to be a true No. 1—and a player to be named.

 

This is no way to ease Sanchez’s transition to the NFL.

 

Much has been made of the way rookie quarterbacks Matt Ryan of the Falcons and Joe Flacco of the Ravens led their teams to the playoffs in 2008.

 

But unlike Sanchez, Flacco, and Ryan each had a proven, veteran receiver and a proven tight end on the field to act as a security blanket. Each had someone to whom he could throw to get that crucial, drive-sustaining first down or that big play down the field.

 

The Jets, at least on paper, have one receiver of such potential (Cotchery) and a bunch of question marks.

 

Chansi Stuckey? David Clowney? Wallace Wright? Britt Davis? Marcus Henry? Aundrae Allison? Paul Raymond? Huey Whittaker?

 

Is Brad Smith really a starting NFL wide receiver? Or is he what he has been so far: a jack of many onfield trades, but a master of none?

 

The Jets, on paper, have neither a wide receiver nor a tight end who should command double coverage. This absence of firepower and big-play ability from the receiving corps could seriously stunt Sanchez’s growth.

 

Maybe the Jets will get lucky for a change. Maybe Stuckey or Clowney will emerge as a weapon.

 

Stuckey was strictly a slot receiver in 2008 with 32 catches for 359 yards. In preseason games last year, Clowney led the Jets with 222 yards on eight catches before a shoulder injury limited him to two regular-season games.

 

Maybe Davis or Henry can be the sleeper the Jets sorely need.

 

Or perhaps help will come via the waiver wire once other teams start shaping their rosters for opening day.

 

But the Jets should not be in this precarious position. At season’s end, general manager Mike Tannenbaum may have some explaining to do.

 

It would be a shame if Sanchez looks like a star on Broadway but doesn’t win games because his cast of receivers is better suited to be understudies.

 

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