Game Recap: Sweet!
For teams on the rise, there are games that have to be played and won before their full lessons can be understood. They are the games that teach the offensive coordinator the exact moment to run and the exact moment to pass. They teach the defensive coordinator the moments to play “prevent,” the moments to blitz the passer, the moments to put his unit in cover two. They teach the players, the exact moment to give everything they have, and the exact moment certain things matter most.
It’s one thing to understand these things on paper. It’s another thing to actually understand them in your gut. The New York Jets played one of those gut-check, statement games tonight, and they won it 34-31 in an overtime thriller in Foxboro. In so doing, coordinators, players and coaches, learned the things that only a game like this can teach: how to win.
Naturally, it wasn’t going to be easy. This was a division game between two bitter, divisional rivals. Both teams wanted the game badly, not just because the winner would inherit undisputed control of first place (and the number two spot in the playoff hunt), but because these players had a history and these coaches, once close friends, had become ferocious antagonists. There was the Mangini departure, the refused handshake, the defeat in Foxboro in 2006, Spygate. There was enough drama for a few seasons of a tele-novella with a dozen episodes of CSI:Miami left over.
A reasonable person would have guessed that it wasn’t going to be pretty, and they would be right. In the end, it was too painful to be pretty. There were enough mistakes and heartaches to fill all the cardiac units in all the hospitals in New England.
The game could not have started off better for Jets fans. The Jets took the opening kick and produced a superb drive, taking it right down the field with a nice mixture of pass and run capped by a one yard pass to Mister Everything, Leon Washington, who niftily eluded a half dozen tacklers and punched it in to make the score 7-0. After a New England drive that stalled resulting in a 42 yard field goal, Jets’ fans were feeling pretty good. Even more so when they took the next possession 10 plays and scored a field goal extending the lead to 10-3. But, the Patriots drove it right down the field again making it 10-6 and Jets’ fans began to feel the old, familiar agita.
When Leon Washington took the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and a 17-6 lead, every Jet fan in America became a believer in magical thinking. Oh, please, can the game be over now? But, there was more nachas, as my grandmother used to say.
On the next possession, Jerricho Cotchery decided to give his impression of Superman. It worked. He caught an 18 yarder on first down. After a four yard run, Favre went for it all on the next play. He threw it up for grabs 55 yards in the air to Cotchery, who was well-covered, but caught it anyway behind his back, falling over. It was a Jets version of the Catch-in-the-Hat from the Super Bowl. But, JCo wasn’t done yet. Not satisfied with merely doing everything on the series but cook dinner, he stretched out like Elastic Lad on the next play and scored, despite being tackled on the four yard line. It was 24-6 and we couldn’t lose, could we?
Then the game took a dour turn. The Patriots, suddenly had a clue how to handle the Jets on both sides of the ball. After a promising Patriots’ turnover, on downs, forced by a CJ Mosely sack, the Pats went to a no huddle and drove efficiently down the field scoring a touchdown just before the half. Jets’ fans were forced to look away.
By the start of the second half, you would have thought that the Jets were trailing by two scores instead of leading. Jets’ fans were apprehensive. Was it all going to slip away? Even though the game wallowed for the rest of the quarter because of ugly mistakes on both sides, it didn’t feel right. Finally, the Patriots were able to score another touchdown as the quarter expired. A two point conversion made it a mere field goal advantage for the Jets.
The Jets found their offense again at the start of the fourth quarter but JCo, uncharacteristically fumbled and, although the defense stiffened, it could not prevent a game tying field goal. That beautiful 24-6 lead was all gone. The Patriots knew how to win.
Then, a 39 year old, grizzled veteran who has incurred the unremitting wrath of many writers on this blog, vindicated his owner, his coach and his general manager and forced many correspondents to commit Sepuku. Favre took the ball and drove it expertly down the field making throw after throw and, yes, managing the game, using up all but three minutes on the clock. Aided by two holding calls on the Pats at the goal line, the Jets went up by a touchdown. All we had to do was hold and Kris Jenkins decided to single-handedly make that happen.
But, even after being forced to punt, the Pats wouldn’t die. They stopped the clock and held the Jets on third and two and got the ball back. Once, again, they proved they knew how to win driving the length of the field making a fourth and one with eight seconds to go on a perfect pass by the oft-maligned Matt Cassell, who only threw for 400 yards tonight (and ran for 62 more). Tied, ugh! Overtime, ugh!
That’s when that 39 year old, who many on this blog have pilloried, did it again. The drive, the only one in overtime, started off badly for the Jets with a sack and then an incomplete pass. Favre, facing third and fifteen, glanced into the Patriots sideline and saw Bill Belichick signaling his players to play deep. There was no deception or disguise. The Jets were sending four receivers straight out on go routes. The Pats were in a deep zone. Favre knew what the coverage was. The Pats knew what the pattern was. Favre decided to run around and hope someone got free. Then he spotted Dustin Keller (who had dropped a touchdown pass in the first quarter). Keller was all alone at the marker. Favre sent a bb his way and the Jets had new life. Once again, he hit pass after pass, expertly, perfectly and smartly, driving his team into field goal range. Then it was Jay Feely’s turn. He blithely trotted on the field and calmly hit the game winner. Sweet!
The Jets still have work to do. They gave up 511 yards, 400 in the air to a guy who couldn’t throw long. Still, they won the game. In so doing, they may have learned how to win.
Filed under: Main Page, Opinion/Bent
since i am here…will copy and paste from the end of dustin keller is god….
wow..he is good…even with the drops….
look…the game was sick. an unbelievable finish to a great rivalry game with a TON on the line. i am of course stoked we won.
BUT…to have a team play a near perfect game on offense in the first half…loved the wildcat / option with brad smith…..and follow that up with a TRAIN WRECK of a second half…save the drive that put us up 7 late of course…an absolute TRAIN WRECK OF AN OFFENSE IN THE SECOND HALF.
that is one joke.
the second joke would have been losing the game b/c the pats tied the game on a 16-17 yd td pass….on the last play….TO RANDY MOSS WITH TY LAW WHO WE SIGNED 48 HOURS AGO IN SINGLE COVERAGE.
the throw was sick, as was the catch…. but its a joke that it happened.
as it is….those are still 2 JOKES that are still a fact:
the coaching is still not equal to the level of talent on this team…..schottenheimer the only guy who can be brilliant and a complete loser in the same game.
and only this team can make u feel RELIEVED that u won….b/c u knew it was a game we should have won with ease the way we played in the first half.
but again….love favre. no more hating from anyone on this site please. how many clutch drives do you have to see to know he is still the man.
keller breaking out….leon sick….jenkins a beast…. some facts cant be questioned.
A road win against a favored, division opponent with acres of championship experience? This was the tenth game together for a completely retooled Jets’ team. Maybe next time it will be easier. For now, I’ll take it.
Favre’s pass to Keller on 3rd & 15: Play of the season thus far. Hands down. We lose the game without that play. I’ve criticized Favre this season (deservedly so, I think), but he and Donkey Kong won this game for us. Outstanding.
Nice write-up Andrew.
I beg to disagree with the premise of the author. The Jets did not learn how to win by making the right choices but they did many good things to help them win. They should have lost if you just look at the poor choices they made. Based on those alone, they gave the Patriots the opportunity to win that the Patriots should not have enjoyed. The first poor choice was the unimaginative play calling in the offensive series that began with a little under 3 minutes to play. The only thing on their minds should have been getting a first down. Look at the plays; Mangini did not care enough, not nearly enough, about the requirement, not such an awesome requirement, of getting one stupid-ass first down. The second error in judgment was playing a defense against the Patriots in the final drive which was pretty close, I’d say very very close, to being no defense at all.
Have to agree with klecko RE: Favre. No more complaints about how much better Chad would be. Chad would not have won that game. He would have thrown a game ending pick 6 in the 4th quarter drive instead of a TD like he always did. And if we made it to OT with him by some miracle, he would not have converted the 3rd & 15 in OT. He would have thrown it away and we would have punted.
I wasn’t sold on Favre when he first came, but I am now. He has been great for us in the last 2 weeks.. He’s not the only reason we won, but he was instrumental and we would not have won the game without him.
When Leon Washington took the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and a 17-6 lead, every Jet fan in America became a believer in magical thinking. Oh, please, can the game be over now? But, there was more nachas, as my grandmother used to say.”
What about the Jets fan that live in Israel and woke up to watch the game at 3:15 AM and not 8:15. I felt the exact same way but for some reason I was excluded. That’s nice!!!
San Francisco loves the Jets. Our fan club had 50 rabid fans cheering the J-E-T-S at our local J-Bar, Finally knocked that monkey (Cheatah) off our back!!!
Complete with victory song Bonnie Tyler”s Total Eclipse Of The Heart and libation celebration inebriation – Irish Carbombs!
Don’t come to San Francisco tailgait unless you”re ready to party.
Jets, Favre rock – do you? This was the most awesome moment ever!!!!
Go Jets
j-bar? Never heard of it. I used to slum it at the kezar by my jet fan lonesome self until I got my directv/plasma screen/Sunday ticket/… Now I get to be lonely in my underwear
If the Jets learned anything last night, I hope it’s that they have a mediocre at best defense without Jenkins in there, and a beast of a defense with him in. What a difference he makes to this team. Feels really good (and really alien) to wake up this morning as a fan of the 1st place NY football Jets! Nice win.
Tim NC,
great point he makes us go out there. you didnt see Wilfork out on 3rd down. Bad job in that respect, hopefully we learn our lesson in that aspect of the game
They don’t have a mediocre defense w/o Jenx…the problem was that Sutton gave them nothing extra to help them last night…they sat in the same scheme with little modifications all night long…it was great that they had Revis on Welker all night…stacked up Moss all night, but it was brutal to watch without sending anyone else after Cassell…they were so afraid to get burned by a blitz, so they sat and got eaten alive underneath crap and no pressure…once in a while they put 4 guys down on the line and that seemed to work, but then they got away from it and went into that God forsaken prevent…then with :08 on the clock, they have Law play off Moss instead of jamming him at the line, which worked all night.
I also thought we can have ran all over the Pats last night, but the game plan dictated otherwise…
BTW: did anyone even see 56 on the field at all? With having all those exhausted d-lineman and LB’s running around chasing the underneath stuff, Sutton could not have used his speed at the end as a rusher when they were in prevent? come on…I’m starting to wonder if this kids problem isn’t more emotional than skill…it killed me to see Mayo wreakinig havoc and no sight of VG.
Can someone explain why the Jets took a timeout after the Thomas Jones run on first down shorlty before the 2-minute warning? Why stop the clock for the Patriots? Was Jones out of bounds, stopping the clock anyway?
Jets must be butter…
because they’re on a roll
Oh yeah,
Some one tell peter king to go eat a bag of d#cks!
MAL…it was New England that called that timeout.
David i, I wasn’t just referring to last nights game, and I completely disagree with you. All season long the entire dynamic of the Jets defense is different when Jenkins is on the sidelines, and it’s not just because of Sutton. Jenkins is a game changer and has been all year for this team.
huge win…the fact that it finslly went our way is huge
we’ll here from the cheatriots again though…there is still alot of football left
we need at least 11-5
TimNC…Jenx is a game changer, but Sutton did nothing to mix it up last night when Jenx was in or out when had to come out to get some air
What a game for the Jets. However there were negatives that leave concern. One is the large lead the Jets Blew. the second is the fact they allowed over 500 total yards. Thirdly are the two big plays. The first was allowing NE to score right at the end of the half which sparked them bigtime. Fourthly was allowing them to score with one tick on the clock knowing the ball is end zone bound. That should not happen, ever. This game had all the makings of “here we go again”. On the road, allowing a last second game tying score was a huge deflator. But the guts and determination the Jets showed was awesome. Marching down the field on the road. Favre showed why he’s one of the greatest. The third and 15 to Keller was his biggest pass of the season. This team has hope, but still have a ways to go. The Jets are for real but the Hatriots also showed that they are good. Rough schedule remaining with Tennesse, Miami, and Buffalo. Fortunately Miami and Buffalo are home games. They should beat SF, but Denver scares me with Cutler. If anything the Jets won a game that had loss written all over it, and showed a lot of character. Go green…
Bent,
Are you sure? I thought that NE was out of timeouts at that point.
MAL, Bent’s right. That was NE’s last timeout. They used two on the Jets’ previous scoring drive.
Can the Jets Linebackers cover anyone or does Sutton just call a bad game? They did a poor job getting to the QB.
Favre had 2 game winning drives last night. 2 more than Chad had in his career.
I know the Pats are a good team but our pass D looked TERRIBLE? Do we blame this on Sutton?
I was furious when they went into prevent especially since they had 4 down linemen on the previous series and Jenks got a sack and sent the pats 3 and out.
But in the press conference Mangini talked about the reason for the prevent. Statistics say that you have to keep the plays in the middle of the field so you have to leave the middle open.
Plain and simple we were out-coached in the 2nd half. If not for the Favre’s savvy we would have lost this game. That prevent D at the end of reg was atrocious. Are offense can look good one moment and then sputter. My humble opinion the coaching is not at the level of our talent.
Great win for the Jets despite all the mistakes and crappy playcalling.
Fire Sutton I was saying this since last season and I’m a firm believer in it now!
that was a horrible victory. Kellers drop pass, shott. same old offense that is conservative, i mean i knew what they wrere running before they even ran it, its so predictable as an offense of what they are going to do, they had the momentum, and i honestly felt we should have blew them out, i mean i wont forget when the patriots blew us out at home last year and thats what shouldve happened there last night! i mean look who was out for the patriots! warren, brady, thomas, harrison, maroney, you can down the line and we barely won againest a bunch of backups, its either we cant hold a game or belicheat is actually better then i though, making guys believe on that team they have a shot to win and making them play incredible! the jets looked like the same jets blowing leads, im happy getting this victory but the negatives in this game outweighed the postives there is no question, i mean thank god we had an 18 point lead to fall back on!!
SufferaJet…you are 100% correct. Mangini was outcoached, but we still managed to win. I thought the D was once again ill prepared for the Patriots game plan change to airing it out. I hate Billechick with a passion, but I have to give him credit for being the best at making adjustments during the course of the game. He did it with the Giants D back in the ’80’s and he still does it better than anyone else. The only adjustment Sutton made during the game was putting Lowery underneath on Moss after Law had him the first half and then pulled Law off Moss for the last second TD….he’s brutal.
Can you people be happy for one day? God its tough being a Jets fan. We won in their building with a team that has been together for only a few months. Other than Cassel they had no runnin game. Ty Law hasn’t played football in 11 months. Be realistic. We won a battle against the Pats. That hasn’t happened. We are 3-1 in the division. No more Pats except if we and them make the playoffs. It was for #1 in the division we knew it would be close.
Great game yesterday. The Pats came back twice at the end of the 2nd and 4th quarter. The score couldve easily been 31-17 Jets if it wasnt for 15 seconds of the game. 15 seconds could be a better tackle or another sack. The jets werent too far from making this game easier for themselves and Us jets fans. Tennesse here we come!!!
JustAGreenGuy: I am happy now. Thanks.
Maybe it is safe to post again. Haven’t heard from wacko 1 and wacko 2 (fonzie/hank). The reason this team is winning is Favre (there is no way Chad wins that game) and very capable talent and as everyone is seeing 10 games in, this coaching staff is not up to it. How about those second half adjustments-pitiful. They should have coasted. Beating up St Louis does not mean anything.
On reflection I see consistency here, i.e., shades of 3Q vs AZ.
Only reason we held on there was because our offense was so much more electric in the first half of that beautiful Sept. day…maybe we need medical advice to treat the bipolar schizonphrenic phobia the coaching staff has about large leads?
JustAGreenGuy – I’d agree with you if it wasn’t always Groundhog day (for past 40 years)…28 great minutes and then we do our Jekyll/Hyde thing. Consistency wins championships, not theatrics!
With the talent we have why do we want to wait? Are these guys getting any younger? Let’s be happy for today’s win, but for tomorrow and the playoffs we have to focus on playing a complete game. Otherwise it’ll be another year of “one and done” and “maybe next year.”
As a lifelong suffering Jets fan, (no matter my geographic location,) I am SO happy to see the Jets win this game! I want to savor and enjoy this long-overdue win. And I think that we have a realistic shot to beat the Titans next week. Go Jets!
Also, I want to show some serious love to Leon Washington, Cotchery, Keller, Favre, and Jenkins! This team has some serious talent. I think that Tannenbaum should be applauded. This team is SO much better than last year’s squad. Let the critics say what they will, but this team has the TALENT not only to win our division but also makes some noise in the postseason. But does it have the coaching…?
While I feel MUCH better than I did after the Oakland game, I have to agree with some of the other opinions here. I’m still a tad bit concerned with the coaching staff. Tannenbaum is great, and I really like Mangini. And yes, of course, no one should have expected an easy victory against the Pats. But the truth of the matter is that the coaching seems to be our weakest point. Especially considering our record, I’m happy to give Mangini the benefit of the doubt. And forget about criticizing Favre. He’s not perfect, but the majority of our failures seem mostly to be the result of inferior coaching. I’d feel a lot better with a couple of new coordinators next year.
I mean, while Cassel played lights-out, look at the talent difference between the two teams. Look how many key injuries the Pats have. Our 18 point lead was no fluke. It was only as close a game as it was because of Belichick’s great coaching. I hate the Pats and Belichick, but I have to respect them too. Woody was smart to want to emulate them. It’s amazing that the Pats are as good as they are right now with all of their injuries. For example, look at what happened after halftime. That was coaching, folks.
The Jets have so much potential. This team is as good (or should be as good) as any Jets team I’ve seen in a long time. The talent level is there, (or at least very nearly there,) to make a serious Superbowl run, maybe even this year. I just hope that our coaching staff doesn’t prove to be the very thing that hold us back.
But whatever happens for the rest of the year, I feel really good right now. Go J-E-T-S, Jets! Jets! Jets!
Oh, I also left out Thomas Jones when I was giving out props. I simply forgot. Sorry about that, big fella. You were great too.
JustAGreenGuy, your right I don’t seem to be as happy about this win as I would have liked. If it was tight all the way then probably, but to blow a leadl like that just kills me. The Pats were missing about 5 of their best guys and they still nearly won it. I’ll say it again: BAD coaching. How long can we win unless the HC and coordinators start picking up their game like the players have.
I think the jets match up really well with the Titans…. I see a very hard fought 16-9 type victory for the Jets…. I however see the broncos as very tough matchup for the jets…. I think were gonna need a lot of luck to win that one… Hopefully we can hurt cutlers finger on the first play too.
Tennesse will be a great game. Having more rest and more preparation time. Brett Favre and Leon will be the difference. Denver is a great first half team and great first possession team. Our wide receivers will be big in this game. And TEs. We should win this game in the second half of the game.
Great win versus the hated patsies. The handshake between Belicheat and Mangini at the end was hilarious. Mangini held on to Belicheat’s hand and it was like he was saying “where are you goin, im not done with you yet, i got some s*** talking i want to do”. That was great.
On another point, and i hate to be the one who points this out but it was just too funny, who saw Farve slap Faneca in the ass. It looked like he was goin low to give somebody a five but instead went for the rear end of an unsuspecting Faneca. At the end of the season, we need a video of all of Farve’s celebrations after touchdowns or really good plays. The dude is like a little kid when it comes to celebrating and its fn hilarious.
I think he said Happy Thanksgiving!!! Not in a facetious way though. Like letting bygones be bygones!!
my pet goat,
Actually, the name’s R-Bar (Sutter & Polk), but we’ve chased all the Patrot fans away and affectionately refered to the place as J-Bar.
Hop off the Lazy-Boy and check it out… or meet up at the Niners tailgate.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot – Go Jets!
After last nights huge win, the positives far outweigh the negative’s.
Our offense has found its groove with a solid sometimes spectacular running game and Brett being comfortable in the offense. He makes throws and makes plays only special QB’s can make. It’s been happening for 17 years, he fits in to ANY coaches system and WINS GAMES.
Our defense is championship caliber when Kris Jenkins is in the game. We he is out there we can stop anyone. New England is a brilliantly coached team that realized that they had to get him off the field to reach the endzone. That was the only chance they had last night.
As a long suffering Jet Fan living in Boston I was quite pleased with the result and glad to see Belichick leave the field a loser. However, this game only made me further concerned that Mangini and his staff will never have what it takes to string together a series of games against high quality opponents to ever reach a Super Bowl. The idea that a coaching staff needs to learn how to win is a valid one if one believes they actually took lessons away from prior experience.
If the staff really was learning how to win then they would have known from the first game this season (and the Oakland game) that playing conservatively on offense and hoping for the Patriots to make a mistake was a bad approach. The 2 sequences at the end of the half and the end of the game are inexcusable examples of not learning from your mistakes and not grasping what are the key turning points in the game. Not going for a first down with the full playbook right before the half and ensuring a 24-6 lead was a crucial mistake that almost cost them the game. Then to repeat the same mistake at the end of the game with 3 plain vanilla runs (especially the 3rd and 2) when all they need was one first down shows that they are not learning and simply overwhelmed in the heat of the battle. Favre and the veteran players won the game despite of the coaching staff (Westhoff is an exception) not because of them.
It was clear not only from the play on the field but in his post game comments that Mangini just does not get it when it comes to managing a game. He is a deer in the headlights (especially against Belichick) and this is likely to be exposed when the playoffs start. Hopefully, this is magnified when the play the Patriots and they can avoid them from here on out but he has shown numerous signs in other games of just not executing strategically under pressure.
As to comments regarding Tannenbaum being great I have to beg to differ on that one as well. While I admit Keller is clearly a good draft choice you also saw a prime example of why the Patriots are a better run organization than the Jets (unfortunately). Tannenbaum decides to draft Ghoulston and pay him $20m guaranteed to ride the bench and the Patriots picking one spot behind them trade down to get an extra pick and pick Jerrod Mayo who was arguably the best defensive player on the field (besides Jenkins).
The players should be applauded for a great win and effort under hostile environment. The 7-3 record is impressive and gives them an opportunity to win the division. But as a long suffering fan I am hoping to see a Super Bowl at some point and that takes more than just talent. Until Mangini shows some ability to learn from his mistakes and perform under pressure this team is likely missing a key ingredient necessary for a Championship.
NOT TO BE NEGATIVE. WE COULD’VE BEEN 8-2!!!
[...] this week’s game recap, Andrew Weiss of The Jets Blog wrote, For teams on the rise, there are games that have to be played and won before their full lessons can … I think it’s even simpler than that, for teams on the rise, they must defeat teams on the [...]