 |
| I'm in the house |
The Jets started this game well on defense they brought the pressure early and often but it was Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens who in the end came out on top in this one, 10-9!
The Jets forced turnovers but even when they had great field position they wound up settling for 3 Nick Folk field goals.
That's disappointing for a team with Super Bowl expectations.
The offensive game plan was horrible and way too conservative. I personally think Mark Sanchez is a good quarterback but that's when he's allowed to attempt to succeed. Monday night the Jets forgot to take the training wheels off.
Sanchez wasn't allowed to stretch the field. He threw too many short dink and dunk passes. He has a strong arm unlike Chad Pennington. Let him air it out. He has a potential big playmaker in wide receiver Bralyon Edwards. They need to utilize him. The one time they did, they committed an untimely penalty which nullified the big play.
The "L Train" LaDainlian Tomlinson was running well when he was given the chance to do so. Shonn Greene on the hand, fumbled a few times and they kept him on the sidelines too long. He finally came back in the game ice cold and he proceeded to drop a pass that was thrown to him.
The defense played well for the most part but they were forced to be on the field way too long since the offense couldn't stop sputtering.
I hope this was an aberration and the real Jets will show up to play as a team against the Patriots. We'll wait and see about that.
The team needs to be more disciplined going forward. They committed too many foolish penalities at inopportune times. The were flagged 14 different times for 125 yards. That's inexcusable and totally unacceptable. Rex needs to crack the whip.
The team took many dumb penalites on defense such as defensive holding and pass interference which were critical and gave the Ravens first downs when the defense could have been getting off the field.
Even with Darrelle Revis back on his island, his teammates were exposed all night. In particular, rookie Kyle Wilson and newcomer Antonio Cromartie who had a big interception that he returned for 66 yards to put the Jets in great shape to overcome their deficiencies on this night.
The Ravens in the off season made a bold statement when they traded for Anquan Boldin who played for the Arizona Cardinals. By adding Boldin they now have the depth on offense to spread the field for quarterback Joe Flacco.
Boldin in his Raven debut made his presence felt all night. He wound up with 7 receptions for 110 yards. In the process, he made life miserable for the Jets secondary and he forced them to have to pay close attention to his supporting cast too. It proved too much even for this great Jet defense to handle.
The Ravens now have many weapons in their arsenal. In addition, they recently picked up wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh who was released by the Seattle Seahawks. They join veterans Derrick Mason and tight end Todd Heap who looked like the Todd Heap of 5 years ago according to my friend and Raven fan Peter Agnew who joined me for this game. Heap was a beast. He finished the game with 6 catches of 72 yards.
When the Jets made a last gasp effort to try to overcome their mistakes, Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis delivered a thunderous hit on Dustin Keller over the middle helping to seal the deal for the Ravens.
Lewis talked a big game beforehand and he backed it up as his team came out with the narrow victory.
Stay tuned all season to see if the Jets can rebound from this false start.
Thank you for reading.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
No comments:
Post a Comment