Final Score: Jets 31 – Dolphins 28
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Passing:
Pennington 15/22, 124 Yards, 2 Passing TDs, 1 Rushing TD, 0 INTs
Rushing:
Jones 25 Att, 110 Yards
Receiving:
Cotchery 5 Rec, 54 Yards
Kick Returns:
Washington, 2KOR, 55 Average, 1 TD, Longest 98 Yards
Defensive Tackles:
David Barrett/Darrelle Revis 7 total tackles (tied) , 1 assist (tied)
In the Jets’ first win of the season, the score of the game made it seem closer than it actually was. That being said, the Jets defense should not have allowed the Dolphins to pull so close in the fourth quarter.
Here are some of the high notes of the game … add yours in the comments:
- The Difference – Just like last time these two teams played, Leon Washington was the difference in a win and loss for the Jets. After the Jets gave up their second rushing TD to Ronnie Brown, Leon Washington ran a kick back for a touchdown. Beyond Leon’s great play, credit has to be given to the Jets blocking on the play for Leon. The Jets special team showed a spark against a middling Dolphins’ special teams unit.
- Could They Do It? — Questions were circling about the Jets ability on defense to create sacks and turnovers. The Jets did do both in the game, with an opportunistic interception by none other than Kerry Rhodes, and a sack by defensive vet Shaun Ellis. The Jets did bring pressure more effectively this week, but they were only able to grab one sack on the day against a fairly green offensive line.
- Gotta Run That Ball — With Zach Thomas watching from home, this was a game where the Jets had to get the ground game going, and they did. By running at Thomas’ replacement Channing Crowder. With Jones carrying 25 times, playing the hammer much of the second half, the Jets had their first rusher break the century mark since Week 13 of last season when Cedric Houston had 105 yards against Green Bay.
- Running Roughshod — The Jets defense against the run is still suspect, with Ronnie Brown averaging 4.8 yards on 23 carries for 112 yards. Also, just like last year the Jets struggle badly against talented running backs on HB screens, checkdowns and the like.
- Rookie Revis — It’s hard to watch Revis and think he’s a rookie, his fire, his aggression, but his ability to execute, wrap up stuff like that could make him really special. David Barrett had a good game after getting barraged for a few weeks.
- Hold the Line – The offensive line did have some gaffes, (Mangold allowing Holliday to destroy Pennington on the first series) but the unit only allowed one sack, which is impressive
- Straightarm of Death — Thomas Jones work in the weight room was evident on the straight arm he put on Travis Daniels, who got abused twice on one play by Jones.
- Penalty Plus — The Dolphins continued their waywardness with 9 penalties for 56 yards. The three most devastating that stood out to me were the Jason Taylor offsides on a Dolphins tackle for loss, the personal foul (helmet to the head) that hit Pennington and the 12 men in the huddle.
- Temper Teddy — The Jets did a good job of controlling Ted Ginn. The best coverage came on the one punt where Brad Smith never overcommitted, but waited for Ginn to make his move and held him long enough in place to get assistance to keep Ginn from scampering off.
- Harris On the Rise – David Harris saw a number of snaps Sunday, and you could see why the Jets nabbed him. Harris did a fair job in coverage, and on a fake pass / handoff, Harris sniffed out the play and made a nice Tackle for Loss.
- Foot on the Throat — The Jets squeaked out a victory, but they go to Buffalo this coming week with the chance to go square their record. Buffalo has played some tough opponents thus far, and will be desperate for a win over the Jets.
19 Responses to Final Score: Jets 31 – Dolphins 28
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Howard Tish says:
Let’s not get too excited. The Fins are certainly one of the 5 worst teams in the league. The Jet DL is an embarrassment; it doesn’t pressure the QB and allows RB’s to run right through to the LB’s who aren’t aggressive enough. Thomas has stopped progressing and needs to play up on the line more often, Barton is missing, where is Dyson the team’s best cover corner (until Revis has more experience)? and the safeties aren’t involved enough. Maybe the 3 unproductive TE’s should play some defense instead of collecting dust?
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Is it me, or is Harris the only linebacker that when he hits someone, they either stop or go backward? It seems to me the rest of our linebackers are content to be dragged for an extra 2-3 yards after contact. Vilma can have a second career as a bullrider . . .
Aside from the 4th quarter defense, the team seems to progressing, especially offensively. The line is gelling — how about some credit to D’Brick for controlling one of the best defensive ends in the game yesterday? Good to see Jones get going.
Here’s hoping the team doesn’t relax — Buffalo will be as desperate as Miami was yesterday, especially coming back home after getting whipped by the bullies on the block. I know they’ll be starting a rookie QB, so even more of a reason to find different ways to bring pressure.
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scapp says:
When I had breakfast this morning, i saw this on the side of my milk carton:
Missing:
NY Jets Play Action Pass
If Found, please call Brian Schottenheimer…Is anyone else dumbfounded at the lack of PA passes? There were several times yesterday when they ran TJ a couple times for decent yardage, and I was thinking, PA PASS!! This is the perfect time!! Then, another run, stuffed upt he middle. What gives?!?!? Chad is GREAT at the Play Action?!?
Am I crazy or did anyone else notice this?
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By the way — when are we going to get the mea culpa column from Gary Myers? Leinart was benched in Arizona while D’Brick was handling Jason Taylor . . .
scapp — I kept saying that yesterday, too. Chad is the master of the play action — where is it? The only thing I can think of is that they’re waiting until their run game with Jones becomes more established before they go to it regularly.
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Wormfather (AKA Aaron) says:
I’d pay a king’s ransom for video of the stiff arm. A few of my friends havnt seen it yet.
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Mike A. says:
All of the previous posts were right on the money. Miami’s OF is not good by NFL standards and Ronnie Brown had huge holes to run through all game. Green had plenty of time in the pocket most of the day also. Their offensive numbers were better than ours (except for the score). For those of us who bet the game this should have been a lock, except for our defense. Much work needed !!
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Scapp – great post about the PA. Especially in the last real offensive series (not clounting the kneel down series), I was begging them to do it. On the second down before the punt, the run JOnes right up the middle and he gets stuffed, then 3rd down is an obvious passing down. That 2nd down play was the prefect time to run PA – they would’ve bit.
Also, when does Nugent get some love??? He’s been booming many of his kickoffs and had become super accurate on FG attempts. Even inthe Pats game, Hobbs’ 108 yard TD return was deep in the endzone. Give Nugent credit for fixng a problem that we all harped on last year.
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Jags says:
Partial blame for the 4th Q let down goes to Schottenheimer for turning into his old man, or maybe Joe Walton snuck onto the headset. For two series, the O played like the game was over (run, run, pass, repeat). I too agree with the “foot on the throat” comment. Come on…there was fresh fish blood for the taking. The screen pass was driving me crazy. Does Bob Sutton need to see it work in, maybe, one or two more games before he does something?!! I think Sutton needs to start taking some heat for the D. I haven’t heard any of the media dogs mention him in the 1st 3 wks.
In the end, a win’s a win. I just think the Jets could’ve made it a little more convincing.
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Ferragamo says:
The defense was absolutely horrible yesterday! Yes we won the game, yes we got a sack and an INT, but there was no reason for Miami to be in the game at all in the second half, we had all the momentum, but the D gave it right back. Like some have stated I don’t know if Bob Sutton needs to take some heat for it or should Mangini get the blame because the defense is his design to begin with? Bottomline we got to clean this thing up! Where are all the new players we brought in who were supposed to help this unit out? Kenyon Coleman who? David Bowens? SO far the rooks like Harris and Revis have look good in spots, but they’ve has also had some rookie hiccups. If the defense keeps this nonsense up every week it’s going to be a very long year.
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GlockNSoul says:
Unfortunately, seems like we could use the following comment every week: If ________ (fill in the blank – Ronnie Brown, Willis McGahee are the two most recent examples, but any RB will do) played all his games against the NY Jets, they’d already be carving his bust for Canton.
Is it time to put Bob Sutton officially on the hot seat? As far as coordinators go, Brian Schott seems to have more imagination in his pinky than Sutton has in his entire body.
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Dennis says:
ITA about Nugent – he’s been great on kickoffs. Now we just need the coverage to step up.
And I agree about the defense. They’ve got a long way to go.
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Bent says: Aaron…
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c263/GreenMachine10/Tjonesstiff2-1.gif
You owe me a king’s ransom.
(Hat tip to one of the posters at JetNation).
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What a vicious weapon — Jones gets 8 more yards from the initial stiff arm to when he goes out of bounds.
Guess all that time in the gym working on those guns pays off!
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Great video Bent…Thomas Jones completely b**ch slapped that Dolphins DB, I want to see more of that next week from our big armed RB.
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Thanks Bent.
That was one serious stiff arm. The second one literally sends the dude 5 yards back. Stiff Arm FTW!
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Can’t say I agree with the poster who said that Schott should take some blame for the D’s meltdown. Yes, the play calling got predictable – and I would’ve loved to see some play action – but the bottom line is that the run, run, pass thing pretty much worked. The Jets ate up a lot of clock and had good field position when they didn’t score. If the D had lived up to it’s part of the deal – like maybe getting a stop or not letting them score TDs in less than 3 minutes each, then Schott’s play calling would seem perfect.
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Jeff says:
The defense is horrendous thats the bottomline. We dont have a powerful enough D to stop other teams when it counts. I remember muliple games last year where playing that stupid lackadaisial prevent defense nearly cost us several games
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Is it just me or are teams really eyeing Clemens to take Chad’s job, because Chad would be a lock to start in teams like Chicago, Atlanta, Minnesota, Jacksonville? Hey who wouldnt take a QB who has a 120+ rating with an average O-line and no stars at wideout.
a major highlight for me today were the sweet catches by coles, cotchery, and baker, which were, well, sweet. the offense’s ability to chew up clock on long drives in the second half was also inspiring. “foot on the throat” is certainly right – i think dan dierdorf was accurate when he said the defense was playing with less tenacity after they got the big lead. miami was gouging large gains with the both the run and pass, so to me that was an issue with lackadaisicalness. as i remarked during the game, “there’s such a thing as a stop for a short gain,” as it seemed the defense could only stop runs in the backfield or after ronnie brown had gone past the ten yard marker. if the offense continues to click against buffalo – and dominate the clock – the defense need only execute better.
–adam