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Preview: New York Jets Vs. New Orleans Saints
Published: October 3, 2009
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The 3-0 New York Jets, the red headed step brother, to the New York Giants, takes it’s undefeated season and puts it on the line at the NFL’s most prolific offense, the New Orleans Saints 3-0 Sunday afternoon in the Superdome in New Orleans.
The perfect scenario when the indestructable force comes across the immoveable object in a test of strengths between two of the NFL least most likely undefeated teams.
The Jets in the glory of their honeymoon season with their new first year head coach Rex Ryan has turned the clock back to 1985 when Rex’s dad, the now infamous Buddy Ryan and his famed “46” defense ruled and intimidated the NFL.
The Jets in the first three games have outscored their opponents 64-33 and have held them to two offensive touchdowns. That is just flat out stifling defense.
Led by Bart Scott and Darrelle Revis, the Jets are annoying the heck out their opponents with plenty of pre-game trash talk but have been backing up that talk with outstanding play on both sides of the ball.
The offense is led by rookie first round Quarterback and USC alum Mark Sanchez. Now nobody is going to confuse Mark with either brother Manning but he certainly seems to resemble last year’s first time rookie quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan.
As said in previous articles about this team, the thing that stands out most with Sanchez is his poise under pressure. Now it’s one thing to handle that pressure while at home in a very supportive environment but this week figures to be the exact opposite that Sanchez has had to face in his last two games at home against New England and Tennessee.
This Sunday he will be indoors in one of the loudest stadiums in the league as 60,000 screaming Saints fans will sound more like a half a million. This will be Sanchez biggest test to date and the very future of the Jets season may very depend on how he does in this extremely hostile environment.
The New Orleans Saints is another of the NFL teams that has tugged at the heartstrings of it’s fans for years. For example,last year, most writers predicted a division crown for the Saints but they came up short going 8-8 while showing glances of brilliance under the leadership and passing prowess of Drew Brees.
The inconsistency of their play and their defensive holes managed to disappoint themselves as well as the fans.
This past off season Drew Brees worked out at 5:30 A.M. every morning with a group of Marines. While consumed by their work ethics he picked up on a number of chants they did during the workout. Brees brought these chants back to the Saints and they have adopted them as their own as he believes that these will be their jumping off point to a championship season.
So far so good.
After breezing through a rather easy opponent pre-season, the Saints turned on the burners for their first three games and have not let up since.
In their opener they ripped the Lions ( no big deal there) by putting up a 45 on the scoreboard. A great deal more impressive however were their next two road games. The first was in Philadelphia where they easily manhandled the Donovan McNabb less Eagles 48-22 which some writers feel might have been an early preview to the NFC Championship game.
Last week was their most impressive appearance to date. On the road in Buffalo they beat a determined Bills team 27-7 while completely shutting down Terrel Owens to zero completions. Now the Bills are not considered an offensive juggernaut, but the Saints were very pleased with their overall defensive effort.
In order for the Saints to win this game they will have to play another great defensive game and hold down the Jets running attack. If they keep the Jets offense off the field they feel that Drew Brees can light up any defensive scheme out there.
If the Jets are to win this game they must be relentless in putting pressure on Brees and knock him down and around and get him out of his rhythm. If they do that, the Saints still have plenty of defensive questions especially in their secondary. Remember this is still the same team that gave up 27 points to the Lions and over 300 passing yards to second string Eagles Quarterback Kevin Kobb.
Prediction: Jets 24 Saints 21 in a close game to be decided by a field goal with less than one minute left in the game.
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New York Jets: Unfamilar Territory
Published: October 2, 2009
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The last time the Jets started the season 3-0 it was 2004 and optimism in Jets land was at an all time high. This is a team that hadn’t been to a Super Bowl since 1969 and had disappointed it fans for decades,
That team actually won it’s first five before losing two of it’s next three and finishing the year at a somewhat disappointing 10-6.
They were victorious on the road in San Diego and beat the heavily favored Chargers 20-17 in overtime. The Jets had a 17-10 lead with 20 seconds left in regulation and literally handed the ball to the Chargers for the tying touchdown.
The following week they met the 15-1 Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Jets who had no offense against the vaunted Steelers defense had a great chance to steal the game and head to the AFC championship game. With the score 17-17 the Jets tried a 47 yard field goal that hit the crossbar and my dream for a chance to return to the Super Bowl came to an end as the ball bounced back on to the field from the direction it come from.
They had a second shot from 43 yards out in overtime but this one went wide left and the Steelers would win the game on a 33 yard field goal of their own.
I bring up 2004 as a comparison to this years 3-0 Jets. Record wise there is a great similarity and for those of us who predicted that if the Jets finished at 10-6 this year,it would be believed as a miraculous season under first year head coach Rex Ryan.
I, myself predicted that 2-4 or 3-3 at best after the first six games would be a decent accomplishment.
There is a telltale difference however in these two teams. The 2004 team did not have the swagger that this 2009 edition does. It starts right at the top with Coach Ryan and it has easily filtered down to its players on both sides of the ball.
Bart Scott, doing a very good imitation of Ravens great linebacker Ray Lewis, has every Jets defensive player believing they can pitch a shutout in every game. Darrelle Revis is also sending a message to high flying wide outs that he is a shutdown corner and has the walk to back the talk.
However the biggest difference in the Years Jets is the phenomenal beginning to rookie Mark Sanchez career as the Jets rookie QB.
What has intrigued me the most about him is his poise under pressure. There is no mistaking at times he certainly plays like the rookie he is but the vast majority of the time he looks, acts and performs like a 10 year veteran out there, unflappable in the rush of 285 pound defensive giants who want to rip his heart right out of his body.
No better example of this attitude and capability of performance came in Sundays game against the Tennessee Titans which saw the Jets fall behind 17-14 after beginning the game as if there would be a rout in the Meadowlands that day.
Not only had Sanchez gone into a funk but the whole team seemed to be coming down the roller coaster at breakneck speed with no chance to continue the ride. That’s exactly when the rookie took control.
After recovering the fumble on the dropped fair catch punt, Sanchez went to work. It seemed that before you let out the deep breath you took after scrambling for the lost ball, Sanchez fired a dart into the end zone and the the Jets were back on top 21-17.
His play in the 4th quarter of ball control was not lost on Coach Jeff Fischer of the Titans. Once the Titans got the ball back with time enough to get the game into overtime the defense took over. They held Quarterback Kerri Collins to zero completions in his last 13 attempts to seal the win for the Jets.
Overall, if Sundays performance was a measure of things to come for the 2009 Jets it’s going to be a fun season. The party moves to New Orleans this weekend with a showdown with the undefeated New Orleans Saints, another team like the Jets, who have frustrated their fans in a very similar manner.
This time, however they have tools on both sides of the ball to go a very long way in the NFC. I picked them to go to the NFC Championship Game this year and so far they are making me look very good.
In a very short 16 game season it’s never too early to call any one game crucial and if the Jets come up short in this one I don’t think anyone should press the panic button and call for Ryan’s head.
However on the flip side, a win here would by all means let the NFL community be put on alert that there will now be two New York teams on a Super Bowl appearance watch. A little early for that for sure, but a very nice prospect to hope for during the next three months.
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