Some would call it exciting. Others would choose excruciating. Either way, the Jets have proved that even though they already have exceeded most expectations with three wins through six games, nothing comes easy.
All three wins (and two of the losses) have been decided in the fourth quarter, with Sunday's victory over the Dolphins coming by way of a missed field-goal try in the final half-minute. But the other thing all three wins have in common is the opponent's ability to come back against the Jets, who seem to fall into a defensive coma just when it is time to wake up. The Titans overcame a 16-0 deficit to tie the score in the opener before the Jets pulled it out.
The Bills were down 21-10 after three quarters and 28-13 with 3:20 left but still managed to come within a touchdown of tying it. And the Dolphins, nearly buried by a 20-3 Jets lead, hung in there only to come up just short (in field- goal attempts and coaching decisions) of forcing overtime. Jets opponents have scored 60 of their 149 points in the fourth quarter while converting 14 of 26 third downs (53.
8 percent). That includes the Jacksonville blowout when the Jags had only a fourth-quarter field goal and were 1-for-3 on third downs. Seven of the Jets' 18 touchdowns allowed came in the last quarter.
Coach Eric Mangini said he didn't think the fourth-quarter stumbles have been the result of a young defense learning a new system, and he cited the rally against the Patriots after trailing 24-0. "You would think in that situation, being a little further along in the program, you could argue that that should have been a knife-through-the-heart type deal," he said. The fourth quarter of the Dolphins game is a prime example of the Jets' "bend but don't break" mentality.
After taking a 20-3 lead early in the period, the Jets let Joey Harrington explode, completing 18 of 28 for 196 yards in the final three drives. As the game got tighter, so did the Jets' defensive play-calling. After blitzing on four plays on the first Miami drive, which made the score 20-10, they scaled back to one blitz on the second drive that made it 20-17.
With the Dolphins pushing for the tying field goal, the Jets blitzed only once on the final drive, sending two safeties on a questionable third-and-2 pass that fell incomplete and forced Olindo Mare to try a 51-yarder. "I wouldn't say it's a philosophy we like to live by," linebacker Victor Hobson said of hanging back and then hanging on for dear life toward the end of victories, "but if it happens, we take advantage of it." The Jets have been lucky, too.
They have beaten the Titans, Bills and Dolphins, teams with much bigger problems than the Jets are facing. Each should have been a comfortable win yet turned into a thriller. There are plenty of soft spots on the rest of the Jets' schedule, and a 10-win season as well as (clear your throat) a playoff berth are starting to become possibilities.
But if the Jets cannot adjust their fourth-quarter philosophy in tight games and get more aggressive, one or more of those wins they were counting on could be stripped from them in a heartbreaker. Bend but don't break? Gimme a break!
Lions and Tigers, oh my! The Jets haven't played Detroit since 2002 and have faced the Lions only 10 times. Yet Sunday's game between teams that were not expected to cause much of a gurgle on their way down the NFL drain could be the second layer of a heated rivalry between Motown and the Big Apple.
If the Mets can beat the Cardinals in the NLCS, Game 2 of the World Series between the Mets and the Tigers would be scheduled for Sunday night in Detroit. One of the teams would have to defend the honor of our fair city, right? LB Victor Hobson has picked up three turnovers in the last four games, returning a fumble for a touchdown against the Bills and grabbing an interception and a fumble recovery against the Dolphins on Sunday.
It's the first time he has made more than one takeaway in a season in his four-year career. "A linebacker's job is to be around the ball," Hobson said. Perhaps working with Bryan Cox, the Jets' assistant defensive line coach who is also in charge of takeaway technique (yes, there is such a thing) has helped Hobson and the Jets, who have 11 takeaways.
The Lions' defense is ranked 27th, but it no doubt will be fired up this week by coordinator Donnie Henderson, who spent the previous two seasons in that post with the Jets. Players were already talking about facing their former comrade after the game Sunday. "Coach Henderson is coming back and I know what kind of defense he preaches and teaches," Chad Pennington said.
"They will have their A game." LB Jonathan Vilma, one of Henderson's prized pupils, joked that the coach may be so fired up that he'll take the field himself. "If he could, he would," Vilma said.
Laveranues Coles is second in the NFL in receiving yardage, third in receptions and is nudging his way into conversations about elite receivers in the league. If he can maintain his pace, he will not only finish with the best season of his career, but the best statistical season any Jets receiver has ever compiled. After Sunday's 41-0 loss to Jacksonville, have you lost any confidence in Eric Mangini's Jets?
I'm not panicking. Just a blip on the radar It was embarrasing, but I still like the team's direction Of course I've lost confidence, the Jets lost by 41 points! Hey, I was never that confident to begin with We are 3-3 very lucky.
Mangini has played scared with a lead and no one can dispute that. We need to be aggressive with a lead, send all type of blitzs' that will drive a QB crazy.Not sit back let the QB pick who he wants to throw to.
John Abraham is missed. Submitted by: V. Cox Thanks SULLY.
..I screamed at the TV all game.
..why wasn't Washington playing the whole game?
..Mangini forget Barlow and Blaylock.
.Since Houston is hurt play Washington..
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