As Gang Green Turns: Jets Defeat Lions in OT 23-20

Article first published as As Gang Green Turns: Jets Defeat Lions in OT 23-20 on Blogcritics.

Okay, New York Jets fans, you can take a deep breath. The Jets (6-2) defeated the Detroit Lions (2-6) at Ford Field, but you can't feel too good about this game. Yes, a victory is a win, but the struggle to get this one should worry head coach Rex Ryan and the rest of us as well.

In a week that featured the lowly Cleveland Browns beating the New England Patriots, this could have been a game the Jets regretted all year long, but they did pull out a victory courtesy of Nick Folk's thirty yard field goal (Folk's thirty-sx yard field goal tied the game and sent it into overtime).

I've been pretty hard on quarterback Mark Sanchez in the last few weeks, mostly due to his penchant for throwing interceptions. While he gave one away today, he also completed 22 of 39 passes for a career high 323 yards. He tossed one magnificent touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards, a 74-yard beauty that came near the end of the first half. This doesn't mean Sanchez had a great game, because he looked lost at times (as I have been pointing out consistently), but he and the offense got the job done overall.

The Jets defense was not much better than the offense in this one, although Darrelle Revis and company did limit Calvin Johnson and that was a big factor in this game. Also, during the game injuries to Lion's kicker Jason Hanson and quarterback Matthew Stafford certainly helped matters.

Gang Green and all their fans can breathe a sigh of relief after getting away with this one, but we should have no illusions; a good deal of luck and some mistakes and injuries for the Lions made the game go to the Jets.

I don't know what Rex Ryan is going to do, but he had better get these guys playing like they did at the end of the game for four quarters, or there are going to be lots of unhappy Jets fans when the playoffs come around and we're watching other teams on the field.

As Gang Green Turns: Sanchez Survives Despite Two Interceptions

Article first published as As Gang Green Turns: Sanchez Survives Despite Two Interceptions on Blogcritics.

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez took no turnovers into this game against the Denver Broncos (2-4), but that wouldn't last long. By the time the first half was over, Sanchez had thrown two interceptions, and the Jets (5-1) went back to the locker room down 10-7. It could have been worse, but it should have been better.
There was nothing to boast about in this game in terms of execution. The offense and the defense seemed like they were phoning it in today. LaDainian Tomlinson, who coming into this game was like a rejuvenated man, seem to be an invisible one until the fourth quarter. Back in the saddle Santonio Holmes had butter fingers, and Darrelle Revis, in the game but not seeming fully there yet, was beaten - and looked bad in the process - by Demaryius Thomas for a touchdown.

Of course, the focus would be on Sanchez and his falling apart in that first quarter. Much has been said recently about the way he has found his maturity this season, but early on he seemed a bit lost, though he used common sense in situations like when he allowed himself to be sacked instead of throwing the ball away. He also made a nice 32-yard pass to Braylon Edwards resulting in a TD in the first half, but it seemed like he couldn't find any consistency.

As the game progressed it felt like those games many Jets fans have sat through before: a game that shouldn't have been lost but would inevitably be because of the inability to get the big play. Head coach Rex Ryan was surely thinking about grabbing something stronger than his vegetarian shakes when he went back to that lockeroom at the half, but the Jets came back out and were not ready to throw in the towel.

The big play eventually did come in the form of a lucky break for the Jets. As the final minutes of the fourth quarter were ticking away and on fourth down with six yards to go, Sanchez threw a long pass from Denver's 48-yard line to Santonio Holmes, who got roughed up by Denver's safety Renaldo Hill on the two-yard line. This gift-wrapped the next play for Sanchez, who wisely gave the ball to Tomlinson who rushed in for the game-winning TD.

It wasn't the kind of game that the Jets wanted to play, but winning is the ultimate goal, and the Jets now have won five straight. There were lots of red flags that Ryan needs to address with the team, and one has to wonder if Revis is ever going to be Revis again.

Even though this 24-20 victory keeps the Jets in first place in the AFC East, that lead is tenuous at best because we have to wonder if the Jets players will get their acts together. Sanchez needs to be a leader on the offense, just as Revis needs to be on defense. What we saw today has to make us wonder if both guys will rise to the challenge, or if their luck will run out in the next game.



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As Gang Green Turns: Jets Trounce the Bills 38-14

Article first published as As Gang Green Turns: Jets Trounce the Bills 38-14 on Blogcritics.

If the soap opera stuff of the preseason on and off the field antics and the TV show Hard Knocks was getting kind of boring for the average Jets' fan, now he or she must be delighted to see that the Gang known as Green have what it takes. In pounding the Buffalo Bills (0-4) in what was a romp to be sure, the Jets proved their legitimacy as playoff bound and now sit in first place with a 3-1 record.



Head coach Rex Ryan must have been delighted to see his offense running on all cylinders, with Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomilson both rushing for over 100 yards, and Braylon Edwards and Dustin Keller easily scoring touchdowns. In total the Jets had 273 yards rushing and won their third straight game against their division for the first time in ten years.

Of course, QB Mark Sanchez continued his impressive steering of the offensive ship. He was 14 for 24 for a total of 161 yards and two touchdown passes. Sanchez had me worried during the preseason when he looked sometimes lost and confused on the field, but whatever has happened to shake him from that malaise is working great. Sanchez seems confident and in charge now, and the team is reaping the rewards of his growth as an on the field leader.

One has to be happy to see LT returning to form for the Jets. He rushed for 133 yards on nineteen carries with two touchdowns. In doing so he passed the great Tony Dorsett to reach seventh place on the list for all-time career yards rushing. It was the first time LT has rushed for more than one hundred yards in more than two years, but the way he is going now it makes me think he is going to have quite a few more one hundred yard games this year.

With little drama and lots of fanfare, the Jets cruised to this victory, and this should quiet some of the yackers here in New York who were shooting the breeze on talk radio this past week. Many of them thought that the Jets would ease up against lowly Buffalo, get shocked by some unexpected plays, and lose the game. How very wrong they were.

A championship team takes all games seriously, even those against teams that are 0-3. The Jets came out today and had the look of a team that is playoff bound. They left all the drama in the clubhouse, and on the field they went to work and it was a pleasure to watch.

This sets the Jets up nicely in first place in the AFC East for their big game next Monday night against the Vikings. Having won three straight, Gang Green is playing the game in their hard-hitting fashion and are taking no prisoners. It looks like they are more than ready for that challenge next week.

As Gang Green Turns: Despite Sitting Out First Quarter, Edwards Key to Jets Win in Miami

Article first published as As Gang Green Turns: Despite Sitting Out First Quarter, Edwards Key to Jets Win in Miami on Blogcritics.

If you were writing the script for the Jets 31-23 win over the Dolphins in Miami, you would probably not have conjured up as good a twist as what happened in reality: Braylon Edwards - the guy who got in trouble with a DWI last week - turned in the key performance that helped push the Jets to victory. Instead of sipping an alcoholic beverage through a straw and landing himself in the pokey,

Braylon Edwards was the straw that stirred the drink in the Jets win.
Should the Jets and their fans be happy they got out of Miami with a victory? You bet your bottom dollar. There is the other side of the story though, the thing that got away from everyone in the euphoria of victory: Edwards still was caught and arrested for drinking and driving last week with a blood alcohol count of 0.16. How he could even drive like that is beyond imagination, and the fact that no one was seriously hurt or killed is amazing, but there is still the notion of the disciplinary action taken or the lack thereof in last night's game.

Edwards sat for the first quarter. This is head coach Rex Ryan and team owner Woody Johnson's version of tough love. You can call it a slap on the wrist, but it's more like a tap on the finger. What did Edwards learn from his benching last night? More importantly, what the heck did his teammates and all the Jets fans (especially the kids) get out of the whole thing? You go out and get drunk, even get arrested, and we'll let you sit out for a spell before putting you back in the game. That's what they got.

That reminds me of my school days when the nuns made us stand against the wall and watch the other kids play as punishment during recess. What did we do? It didn't matter; that was the blanket punishment. When the five minutes were up, a flick of the wrist told us we could play, and we'd race off into the schoolyard and forget all about our little transgressions and just have fun.

The problem is that Edwards didn't have a little trangression. He was driving while drunk, but that was all forgotten last night after his brief benching. Edwards went out and had lots of fun as he was involved in three crucial plays in the game:  a sixty-seven-yard touchdown, a twenty-yard catch, and he inspired an end-zone pass interference call on Jason Allen, which was followed by LaDainian Tomlinson's short TD run that put the Jets ahead for good. A big night for the big man indeed!

Could the Jets have won without him? Perhaps not, and maybe that's the whole point to the light penalty of one quarter on the bench. It's a case of the Jets wanting to do the right thing in a bad situation, but they didn't want to give away the game either. Still, you can win the battle and lose the war, and I am sort of wondering if that is the price the Jets will have to pay later this season.

With their defense depleted by injuries to Darrelle Revis, Calvin Pace, and Kris Jenkins, Ryan and company probably had big fears going into this game. If they lost lost the game because Edwards was out the whole way, they would hear neverending complaints about a lack of leniency and taking the DWI thing too seriously. But now that they have won the game, with Edwards being an integral part of the victory, there will be others who argue that the Jets put winning before doing what was right. And, of course, they would be totally correct.

A lot of good things happened in last night's game. QB Mark Sanchez looked great again; the defense didn't fall apart against the Dolphins, and Edwards made it look like he was indispensible. The problem is that all those good things don't erase the DWI. It is going to be an albatross hanging around Rex Ryan's neck for the rest of the season. The question is will he be like the Ancient Mariner and forced to keep telling a story of woe? That would be a losing cause in the long run, but hopefully Ryan will find a way to remove that albatross before it ends up defeating him.

As Gang Green Turns: Total Drama on Revis Island

Article first published as As Gang Green Turns: Total Drama on Revis Island on Blogcritics.

My father always said, "You can't have it both ways." This usually meant I was being taught a lesson about something. This happens all the time with teenagers. They want money, but they don't want to work for it. They want a car, but they don't want to pay for it. They want privileges, but they don't want the responsibility that comes with them. You get the idea.
Well, the same can be said of the New York Jets and their head coach Rex Ryan these days. Rex likes to come off as the cocky leader of a swaggering bunch of pirates that may be scallywags, but it's supposed to be okay because they have their eyes on the prize: not a buried treasure but instead the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Anyone who watched the HBO series Hard Knocks knows what I am talking about.
Well Rex can't have it both ways: he can't come out and say he's "embarassed" for the organization and its owners and all this other stuff when one of his players does something bad, because in fact he encourages the rogue mentality in that clubhouse. He may not see that or understand it, but it's clear that his players think their coach believes it's good to be bad.
Ryan might as well go around the clubhouse singing that theme song from the TV show Cops. "Bad boys, bad boys/What you gonna do/What you gonna do/When they come for you?" Sadly, the way things are going, no one is coming and no is doing anything about it either, so it seems like nothing more than a joke, but on whom?
The latest drama in the soap opera As Gang Green Turns has to do with Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards, who was arrested for driving while intoxicated. There seems to be little disciplinary action on the team's (or NFL's) part, except to say that Edwards will sit this week's game out: That's a bad decision for Edwards; worse for the Jets and their fans. If Edwards is there in uniform, he should play. If he's not going to play, don't let him suit up. He shouldn't be anywhere even close to Miami. Making him sit on his hands and watch the game from the bench teaches him nothing and his fans nothing as well.
I am not suggesting Edwards should go unpunished: he most definitely should be. He will get his day in court and hopefully he'll feel some kind of pain. It is only fitting because there are too many people in wheelchairs and in graves because of drunk drivers. He can't just get away with it because no drunk driver should get away with - even if they are first offenders like Edwards. It is an affront to the victims of drunk drivers and their suffering families.
The thing is that the NFL does not do what it should do in these cases: fine the transgressors. Hit them in the wallet where it hurts. Whatever Edwards gets paid for one game: fine him and give that money to some organization that helps victims of drunk drivers. Every game he sits he should forfeit his money. Plain and simple. If he goes to jail eventually and misses more games, fine him again and again. Maybe that will teach someone a lesson.
To add to the total drama here, Darrelle (No Man Is an Island) Revis came out and condemned his teammate's behavior and questioned the way the team is handling the situation. That's just what we need from Revis, the guy, who because of a contract dispute, held out so long that he missed training camp, got out of condition, and then came back and hurt himself. He should stick to getting himself better and back on the field. Maybe he can talk more when he's proved something, considering how he let his team and their fans down.
Ryan, who never worries about the size of the shoe sticking out of his mouth, should try to defuse the situation, not bring more attention to the problem. Yes, the whole thing is embarrasing to the organization, but the buck stops - or at least it should - on Ryan's desk. Like Harry Truman, he better take responsibility for the actions of his players. He should shut the clubhouse door and set his club straight. He had better do it quickly, or this 2010 season is going to unravel quicker than a fishing line stuck in a Great White shark's jaws.
Great white sharks? Circling Revis Island? Edwards goes in for a swim. Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun: dun-dun-dun! Rex, I think you're going to need a bigger boat.

As Gang Green Turns: Jets Survive Loss of Revis and Beat Patriots

Article first published as As Gang Green Turns: Jets Survive Loss of Revis and Beat Patriots on Blogcritics.

If you are a New York Jets fan, you probably closed your eyes when you saw Darrelle Revis go out of the game and said a little prayer. I know I did. "Please, let him get back in." Unfortunately, that left hamstring kept him out the rest of the way, but the Jets D found their mojo and shut the New England Patriots down in the second half, resulting in a 28-14 win that gave Gang Green a much needed victory.

After last week's terrible 10-9 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Jets needed this one on their home turf against the Pats. During training camp, QB Tom Brady when asked about the TV show Hard Knocks, said that he didn't watch the show and hated the Jets. Thanks, Tom, that really helped Gang Green get themselves revved up for you. Of course, it didn't hurt that Sanchez found his sea legs and the offense really took off in this game.

The story could easily have been a disaster. In the second quarter when Randy Moss beat Revis for that touchdown, it just seemed like Revis was not himself but, when Revis reached for that left leg, it was a bad omen that made it feel like Gang Green would be demolished the rest of the way. After the game head coach Rex Ryan admitted that when he heard Revis pulled his "hamstring," he was ready to shed a few tears. That Rex - always Mr. Sensitive, but most Jets fans probably felt the same way.

With Revis gone and the score 14-10 in favor of the Pats at the half, it was not a pleasant intermission for Jets Nation. As we wondered how bad it would be in the second half without Revis, something must have happened in that Jets' locker room. Maybe Ryan gave a pep talk while drinking a veggie shake and twirling a hula hoop. Whatever happened, the Jets came out and their D shut down big mouth Brady without Revis. Antonio Cromartie must have had a bowl of Wheaties, because he stopped Moss cold.

On what may have been the most important play of the night, Brady threw a long pass to Moss, but Cromartie and Brodney Pool were on him. The ball bounced off Cromartie and into Pool's waiting arms, but the officials said he was out of bounds. The Jets challenged, and replays clearly showed Pool's both feet were in bounds and that he had control of the ball. That play was basically the end for Brady and the Pats.

While I've been pretty tough on Sanchez all during the preseason and again last week, I have to give him a standing ovation for the way he played in this one. Not only did he complete 21 of 30 passes for 220 yards, but he also notched a career high three touchdowns. LaDainian Tomilson, Jerricho Cotchery, and Braylon Edwards all contributed as the offense really shined in this game.

Of course, it wouldn't be Gang Green if they weren't some drama. All-Pro center Nick Mangold suffered an injury and also left the game. Will he be available next week? And though no man is an island, will Revis be banished to the disabled list? Will Ryan then cry himself a river of tears? Tune in next week as the never ending saga of As Gang Green Turns continues.