How can a team that had 124 yards of total offense, only half the amount of possession of the other team and only 37% success on 3rd down, walk away with a 28-16 win? Because the defense stepped up in a big way. After going 10-0 down in the 1st 2 quarters, New York got on the scoreboard just before halftime when Revis took his first pick of the season to the house as time expired. On the kick-off to start the 2nd half, Antonio Cromartie took the kick-off 99 yards for the score making it 14-10 to New York without the offense having touched the ball. Unbelievably, no sooner had Green Bay got the ball back, than Kyle Wilson was celebrating a pick 6 in the end zone making the score 21-10 without the offense having touched the ball. Green Bay was deflated and only got a TD on which the 2pt conversion failed allowing New York to pound the ball the rest of the game and get another score on fake field goal by Steve Weatherford meaning the offense did not get a single score all day and yet the team won 28-16!
MID SEASON REPORT
The most worrying thing so far this season has been how terrible Mark Sanchez has been so far this season considering his stats so far this season:
M. SANCHEZ: 91/217 for 1404yds; 4TD; 16INT; 39.4 Passer Rating
No doubt his stats would be lower if it weren’t for the 5 pick debacle against Denver, which wasn’t entirely his fault due to receivers and pass protection being poor, but still that would leave him with only 4TDS against 11INT, which is not good enough.
With regards to receivers, having served his suspension and having spent the last 2 weeks getting up to speed, Santonio Holmes is ready to come back and offer some desperately needed speed in the passing game as Jerricho Cotchery and Brad Smith aren’t going to stretch any defences and Braylon can’t do it all by himself.
With regards to poor o-line play, most of which can be traced to the LG position, that’ll have to wait until the offseason as the trade deadline has already passed.
MID SEASON SCOUTING REPORT
The team needs to be filled during the upcoming off season have been identified as being the troublesome LG position, with neither Slauson or Ducasse covering themselves in glory when given a chance.
Trevor Pryce’s age and Mike DeVito’s unconvincing play means the Defensive end is a position that needs to be strengthened as well.
Kris Jenkins age and recent injury setback means the Defensive tackle position needs to be looked at as well, while Jason Taylor’s age and inevitable decline need to be offset with new blood in the OLB position.
Eric Smith and Brodney Pool need to step up their game as FS are being actively scouted although it hasn’t been decided whether its going to be addressed this year, the same goes for Jim Leonhard at SS, although it would take an exceptional bargain for a move to be made in this draft.
With that in mind these are interesting prospects the scouts have unearthed during their travels:
OG – NICO JONES – 6’2 – 288lb – Troy
Scouts say he is very durable and strong for his size and has excellent awareness when blocking.
OG – AARON JOE – 6’1 – 290 – Louisville
Another prospect the scouts feel has the durability to succeed and has good balance between run blocking and pass protection.
DE – TOMMY JAKUBIEC – 6’3 – 277 – S. Illinois
A recurring theme with the scouts in regards to his durability, he is also seen as very strong and able to lay on some very strong hits.
DE – BRANDON WALKER – 6’7 – 264 – California
A player the scouts believe is very agile and able to slip past blockers and bring down the ball carrier or lay out the quarterback.
DT – NAJEE JONES – 5’11 – 321 – Kansas
A player that can play as the nose in a 3 man line due to his prototypical size; scouts say he is very aware and can command double teams if in the mood.
DT – MARCUS WALLACE – 6’5 – 288 – Texas
A player that’s maybe not suited to being a 3-4 nose tackle due to his weight but has deceptive agility for his height, good awareness and exceptional strength.
OLB – ONAJE AJAGBE – 6’4 – 239 – Bowling Green St.
A linebacker that’s quick, good at recognizing plays and is brilliant in pursuit, could be a very good player.
OLB – DEVONTE’ WILLIAMS – 6’6 – 239 – UCF
The scouts are high on this player saying he has tremendous upside due to his blistering speed and agility matched up with gargantuan size meaning he has the potential to be an elite player.
FS – MARCUS RICHARDSON – 6’3 – 229 – TULANE
A ball hawk of a safety who while being very aware and able to make big plays, is said to lack speed and tackling ability despite his size, which hurts his draft stock.
SS – BAR’EE HENRY – 5’10 – 194 – Oregon State
A safety that’s all speed, strength and durability with good awareness rolled up in a 5’10 package that is seen as an intriguing prospect by many scouts.
For the 2nd week in a row the Jets were handily outgained and yet come away with a W, due to the stellar play of their defense. It started when Jim Leonhard picked off Shaun Hill on the very first play of the game, and Sanchez hooked with Dustine Keller to make it 7-0. The Lions then drove down to the Jets 15 but Hill was picked off by Revis in the end zone, and the Jets went to score a field goal and lead 10-0.
There was hope for Detroit, when Jahvid Best took advantage of poor containment by the Jets to break off a 75yd TD run with 14 seconds left in the half, and when the Lions forced the Jets to go 3 and out in the 3rd quarter before tying up the game with a field goal to make it 10-10 it looked like it was going to be game on heading into the 4th quarter. Alas it wasn’t to be for Detroit as New York stepped up their defence again and this time Dwight Lowery picked off Hill, and 4 plays later Sanchez hooked up with Braylon for a 21yd TD and a 17-10 lead.
The Lions got the ball and were driving at the Jets 30 yard line when Calvin Pace rocked Best and made him drop the ball which Brodney Pool then proceeded to take to the house for a 70yd Fumble recovery TD to make it 24-10 and extinguish any hopes Detroit had of coming back with 2 miutes on the clock.
A tough bruising encounter in Cleveland with New York lucky to come out with a W. Cleveland, led by a surprisingly excellent Seneca Wallace, toyed with the vaunted New York secondary at times with Seneca seemingly opening up the defense at will. If ever they were facing resistance through the air they simply handed off to Peyton Hillis, who was proving near impossible to bring down. Fortunately it wasn’t only the Cleveland offense that was on form as LT managed to get into the endzone 3 times while Braylon Edwards hauled in a 73 yard TD bomb from Mark Sanchez against his old team. Mark Sanchez only had to keep things ticking over, a job he did well without turning over the ball allowing New York to win their 3rd game in a row & to go 5-4 for their first winning record of the season.