Jets News 10-3

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Jets replay: Week 4

Monday, October 3, 2011

The Record

Turning point

The Jets had a chance to cut into a 10-point deficit midway through the third quarter when DE Marcus Dixon recovered a Joe Flacco fumble at the Baltimore 27. But the Jets’ momentum lasted all of 14 seconds, which was how long it took Lardarius Webb to jump a sideline route intended for Santonio Holmes, make the interception, and coast 73 yards for a touchdown and a 34-17 Ravens advantage.

Costly mistakes

Jets’ CB Antonio Cromartie, who had four penalties against Oakland last week, picked up another one in the first quarter. His 5-yard infraction for holding contributed to a Baltimore drive for a FG. … QBs Mark Sanchez (Jets) and Joe Flacco (Ravens) totaled 12 for 42 passing in the first half with three turnovers, all of which were returned for scores. … The five combined returns for touchdowns — two fumbles and one interception for the Ravens and one kickoff and one interception for the Jets — is an NFL record.

Injuries

Jets’ starting OLB Bryan Thomas limped to the sideline with assistance and left the game late in the first quarter after being hurt on a play that didn’t even count (Cromartie was called for defensive holding). He appeared unable to put pressure on the leg and was taken to the locker room on a cart for further examination. He quickly was ruled out of the game. … Jets’ reserve LB Garrett McIntyre left the game later in the first half with a head injury.

Eye-catching

Baltimore rookie speedster WR Torrey Smith had a step on usually impeccable CB Darrelle Revis in the first quarter, but Flacco slightly overthrew Smith. … This is more like ear-catching: Ex-Baltimore assistant Rex Ryan was booed prior to the game, as Ravens LB Ray Lewis suspected would happen. … Ray Rice’s 3-yard touchdown run for the Ravens in the first period was reviewed and stood, although it appeared his knee might have hit the ground before he stretched the ball over the goal line. … Players had pink towels, gloves, cleats and other equipment as the NFL observes Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Coaching decisions

Ryan burned a timeout after Jarret Johnson’s 26-yard fumble return for a Baltimore touchdown was upheld by video review. He spent that time blistering the two officials on the scene. … The Jets shuffled their offensive line in the second quarter after Baltimore’s Paul Kruger recovered a fumbled shotgun snap by Sanchez, setting up a field goal. Fill-in C Colin Baxter was pulled, even though the snap appeared to be a decent one. LG Matt Slauson slid over to C and second-year pro Vlad Ducasse, whose NFL progress has been slow, entered at LG. After Ducasse helped allow a second strip sack of Sanchez, he was removed and Baxter reinserted.

Looking ahead

The Jets (2-2) finish their three-game road trip with a 4:15 p.m. game at New England on Sunday. The Patriots (3-1) rebounded from a loss at Buffalo by beating Oakland on the road, something the Jets were unable to do the week before. The Jets have lost their last two regular-season contests in Foxboro, Mass., but upended New England on the road in the playoffs in January.

— J.P. Pelzman

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Jets, Sanchez turn one over to feisty Ravens’ ‘D’

Monday, October 3, 2011 Last updated: Monday October 3, 2011, 6:37 AM

BY J.P. PELZMAN

STAFF WRITER

The Record

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BALTIMORE – Plaxico Burress said in the preseason he thought the Jets’ offense was capable of scoring 28 to 30 points a game.

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez walks off the field with his head down during the first half against the Ravens in Baltimore.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez walks off the field with his head down during the first half against the Ravens in Baltimore.

They almost did that Sunday, albeit for the wrong team.

Baltimore’s three defensive touchdowns in a 34-17 victory over the Jets at M&T Bank Stadium was a franchise record, and spoiled Rex Ryan’s first return to Baltimore for a regular-season game since leaving the job of the Ravens’ defensive coordinator in Jan. 2009 to become the Jets’ head coach.

All three touchdowns were surrendered by Mark Sanchez, who was victimized for two strip sacks that were returned for touchdowns, plus the crusher, a 73-yard interception by Lardarius Webb in the third quarter, giving the Ravens a 34-17 lead. Sanchez, who also botched a shotgun snap that led to a field goal, was harassed all night as the Jets’ offensive line again was beaten repeatedly as the Jets’ offense was responsible for 24 Baltimore points.

“We all had our share in this loss,” said Sanchez, who has nine turnovers through four games, five interceptions and four lost fumbles. He had none in the first five games last season.

“We’ve got to work through it, and it starts with the quarterback,” Sanchez added.

The Jets trailed, 7-0, after their first offensive play by failing to do something they had talked about all week - account for Ed Reed. The veteran Baltimore safety made yet another big play in his illustrious career, blitzing untouched from the right side and knocking the ball out just before Sanchez could throw on first down from the Jets’ 10.

Linebacker Jameel McClain scooped up the loose ball and rumbled 6 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Baltimore lead 3:02 into the game. This was to be a recurring theme throughout the night, as Sanchez was under heavy pressure and absorbed plenty of hard hits. He was only sacked twice, but was getting hit on short dropbacks and went 11-for-35 for 119 yards.

“You’ve got to have the protection first,” Ryan said. “We’ve got to look hard and deep at what we’re doing and how we’re protecting the quarterback.”

Sanchez said the play was the result of a miscommunication on the protection call.

“We knew that we could get to” Sanchez, Reed said. “And we know that he’s going to hold the ball a little more and think. … They must have thought we were in coverage or something.”

The Jets tied the score at 7 on Joe McKnight’s 107-yard kickoff return, the longest play in team history.

But Baltimore (3-1) then took a 17-7 lead on something very unusual on this night, a pair of sustained drives, the only scoring drives either offense managed in a defense-dominated game. Billy Cundiff’s 38-yard field goal and a 3-yard run by former Rutgers star Ray Rice made the lead 17-7 with 1:14 left in the first quarter.

Center Nick Mangold (high ankle sprain) missed his second straight game, which was a major reason for the continuing struggles of the offensive line. Rookie Colin Baxter again started in his place, but was lifted in the second quarter after a botched shotgun snap led to a Baltimore field goal, Cundiff’s second 38-yarder of the game.

Baxter blamed himself afterward and even Sanchez said the snap came to him “a little hot,” meaning with more velocity than he expected. It was Sanchez’s second of three lost fumbles in the game.

Left guard Vlad Ducasse, who came in when Matt Slauson shifted to center, had trouble pass blocking and quickly was lifted, too, with Baxter returning.

Ducasse appeared to be culpable on a Haloti Ngata strip-sack of Sanchez, which was returned 26 yards for a touchdown by Jarret Johnson for a 27-7 Baltimore advantage with 8:11 left in the first half.

“We aren’t getting defeated physically,” Slauson said, blaming the problems instead on miscommunications and blown assignments. “We’re getting confused.”

So it would help if Mangold could return next week, and Ryan said “I think he will play” when the Jets (2-2) wrap up their three-game road trip against AFC East-leading New England (3-1), tied for first in the division with Buffalo.

An ineffective Joe Flacco (10-for-31, 163 yards) put the Jets back in the game when his third-down pass to Rice was intercepted by David Harris and taken back 35 yards for a score, drawing the Jets to within 27-14.

Down 27-17, the Jets had a chance to get closer in the third. Aaron Maybin, re-signed Wednesday to bolster the pass rush, did just that with his first career sack after two unproductive seasons with Buffalo. The 11th overall pick of 2009 also forced a fumble by Flacco on the play, and Marcus Dixon recovered on the Ravens’ 27.

Momentum turned quickly, however, as Lardarius Webb jumped Sanchez’s sideline route to Santonio Holmes, picked it off, and sailed 73 yards down the left side for a 34-17 lead with 8:49 left in the third quarter.

“The ball came out late there,” Holmes said. “You can’t throw the ball late to the flat.”

Sanchez, who was hit by Terrell Suggs on the play, indicated he threw the ball hurriedly. “There’s no excuses for interceptions,” he said.

And none going forward, as the Patriots await.

“We have a lot of work” to do, wide receiver Santonio Holmes said. “I think things have to start more up front. We have to get a better job from our guys up front. They’re focused on it, and that’s going to be a big key. … Once we get [Mangold] back, I’m pretty sure things will turn around.”

Holmes added the offensive line has to do “a better job of protecting Mark and Mark has to do a better job of making his reads and getting the ball into the hands of his playmakers.”

E-mail: pelzman@northjersey.com

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Ravens' defensive onslaught leaves troubled Jets dazed and confused

BALTIMORE -- Dispatches from the Ravens' so-ugly-it's-beautiful 34-17 win over the Jets Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium ...

• Not to slight the first-place Ravens for their third victory of the season, but the biggest headline coming out of this game goes something like this: The supposedly super Jets are in trouble. I don't know if it's season-wrecking trouble just yet. But it's trouble nonetheless. New York is 2-2 after the loss to Baltimore, on a two-game losing streak, and looming this weekend is the first of two (or three) annual grudge matches with the Patriots. In Foxboro, to boot, meaning things could get worse before they get better in Gotham.

The situation just isn't unfolding as planned for the Jets on their three-game road trip. They got humiliated and dominated at Oakland last week, giving up 234 yards rushing and four touchdowns on the ground in the 34-24 loss. And then came Sunday, when New York's offense was virtually nonexistent. The Jets offense scored all of three points against Baltimore, with their other 14 coming off a 107-yard Joe McKnight kickoff return touchdown and a 35-yard David Harris interception return.

"I don't know what else to say, we got it handed to us,'' said Jets head coach Rex Ryan, looking even more dazed (but less angry) than he did last week in Oakland. "I think the credit goes to the [Ravens] defense. We're not pointing fingers, but it wasn't our best day, no question about it. It wasn't even close, but the opponent probably had about as much to do with it as anything.''

Baltimore's aggressive and takeaway-happy defense did indeed have plenty to do with New York's offensive meltdown. But the sad reality for the Jets at the moment is they just don't do much of anything well on offense. They don't run the ball successfully (38 yards on 19 carries), and they certainly can't throw the ball much when their running game has ground to a halt. Quarterback Mark Sanchez was abysmal against Baltimore, completing a staggering 11-of-35 passes, for 119 yards, one pick-six and a 30.5 passer rating.

Both segments of the offense have been affected by the Jets' offensive line issues. Pro Bowl center Nick Mangold missed a second straight game with his ankle injury, and New York's inability to pick up the slack in his absence is glaring. Sanchez got sacked just twice, but he was hit and roughed up many more times than that, and he looked uncomfortable in the pocket all night. Sanchez fumbled four times, losing three of them, and by the fourth quarter he couldn't even complete the easiest of throws.

"Well, I mean, he struggled mightily,'' Ryan said of his third-year quarterback. "There's no question about it. He had a 30.5 rating. It wasn't his best day, that's for sure, but he's our quarterback and I believe in him.''

Sanchez looks overmatched at the moment, and this was supposed to be the year he and New York's improved receiving corps took a significant step toward to lead the way on offense and win games. But the Sanchise is miles away from that kind of production in early 2011. He was under constant pressure, but he didn't exactly stand tall in the pocket. He did plenty of just chucking the ball, and seemed rattled at times.

"We didn't pass the test tonight,'' Sanchez said. "There's a lot of work to be done, and a lot to try and fix. It's not just practice this week. We've got to work. We've got to clean things up. We don't like this feeling. But the reality is we're one game out of first place (in the AFC East). We've got to fight, we really do. We've got to fight through this. We're better than what we showed tonight.''

They couldn't possibly be worse.

• And we thought the days when the Ravens defense outscored the Ravens offense were long over, gone with the Kyle Boller era. Not so fast, Men of Harbaugh. Turns out it was Throwback Sunday in Baltimore, and the blast from the past was a Ravens team that looked like its best chance to score was courtesy of the guys who are paid to keep other teams from scoring.

This one was a trip into football's bizarro world from start to finish. Baltimore's defense produced a mind-boggling three touchdowns, setting a franchise record in the process and at least momentarily setting back the notion of the Ravens having evolved into a potent and powerful offensive force this season.

Not only did Baltimore's defense outscore the entire Jets team, 21-17, but also the defense outpointed Baltimore's offense for good measure, 21-13. All told, the two perennial playoff teams combined for four defensive touchdowns and one special teams score, accounting for 35 of the game's 51 points. Both offenses in essence took the night off. The five return touchdowns (with just one offensive touchdown posted) set a one-game NFL record.

Hit me again with all the reasons the NFL has become a passing league. Because after watching this one, I can't remember any of them. Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco finished 10 of 31 for 163 yards and an interception, and he was the hot quarterback in the game. Flacco actually went a stretch of 35½ minutes without a completion, and had a 37.4 passer rating, pretty wretched statistics considering the Ravens never trailed and wound up winning by 17.

"It wasn't too pretty, but anytime you get a win in the NFL, it's a good one, especially when you're playing a good team like that,'' Flacco said. "Our defense really showed up today. I thought we were able to do some things really well on offense early on. It was a great team win.''

Not really. It was a case of the Ravens defense taking control of the game and dictating almost everything, from the very first Jets offensive snap on. On that opening New York play, Baltimore safety Ed Reed stormed in to blind side Sanchez, causing a fumble that linebacker Jameel McClain picked up and returned six yards for a touchdown. Later in the first half, the Ravens defense struck again, when outside linebacker Jarret Johnson picked up another Sanchez fumble, caused by defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, and raced 26 yards for another touchdown.

The Ravens defense capped its record-setting night in the third quarter, when cornerback Lardarius Webb timed a Sanchez pass perfectly, stepping in front of receiver Santonio Holmes to intercept and return 73 yards for the game-clinching touchdown. For comparison sake, Baltimore's defense scored three touchdowns all of last season, but matched that figure in less than 2½ quarters.

"I've been around football a long time and I've never seen anything like that before,'' the Jets' Rex Ryan said of the defensive-dominated game. "One offensive touchdown [between the two teams]. The performance by their defense was spectacular. I don't think we were even on the field [on defense] for three touchdowns. A lot of big plays. They were coming after us. That's that Ravens defense. It reminded me of the 2000 and 2006 [baltimore] defenses.''

• With Ryan's brash-talking ways setting the pace, the Jets thrive on their team-wide swagger, but it's hard to be confident when you've gotten embarrassed two weeks in a row. It's the first consecutive double-digit losses of the three-year Ryan coaching era. I asked Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis if New York has lost its swagger, and if this team can get where it wants to go with that missing ingredient?

"I have no clue,'' Revis said. "No clue. I know it's not very exciting around here right now. I really don't know. We've lost two games in a row, and last year we were successful on the road. We need to find ways to win. We're not playing up to our potential and up to our goals, that's for sure. No one said it was going to be easy. They jumped on us, and we never bounced back.''

The Jets didn't say it was going to be easy, but with Ryan predicting a Super Bowl trip for his team at the drop of a hat, they have raised the bar of expectation so high in New York that being 2-2 and a game out of first place in the AFC East can feel like a crisis of confidence. And that can start to breed upon itself, especially if next week brings another galling defeat.

"It's a little frustrating,'' said little-used Jets receiver Plaxico Burress, who has to be wondering if he signed with the right New York NFL team after all. "Right now we've lost two games we didn't expect to lose. We've got to go back to work and get it fixed. There is no need to panic right now. There's too much football left. I've been in this business too long and seen some crazy stuff.''

Yep, and most of it occurred Sunday night against the Ravens.

• So much for Ryan getting revenge on Baltimore for not hiring him as its head coach in 2008. The former Ravens defensive coordinator was making his first regular-season return to M&T Bank Stadium since taking over the Jets in 2009, and he wanted nothing more than for his new defense to outplay his old defense.

It didn't happen. Not by a long shot. Baltimore's defense was superb, and it left Ryan sounding almost humbled by the butt-kicking his team took.

"It's a long road, and we've got to get better in a hurry,'' Ryan said. "Adversity is part of this business, and you've got to face it. You're not going to be perfect, but we've got to be good enough, and we've got to fix it in a hurry because we're going against probably the best offensive football team in the league [at New England].''

Reality says the Jets are a couple of costly Tony Romo fourth-quarter turnovers away from being 1-3 and in desperate straits as they enter Patriots Week. New York was fortunate to win its opener against visiting Dallas by three points, and has really only put together one quality performance this season, the 32-3 home rout of Jacksonville in Week 2.

• Mangold's loss has undoubtedly hurt the Jets, but it also shows that New York doesn't have enough depth on its offensive line. Losing one starter should not doom an entire five-man line to bad performances. But perhaps the Jets have spent too much on the stars on their roster, and not enough on the extras and reserves. New York benched rookie center Colin Baxter for a time Sunday night, moving left guard Matt Slauson to center and inserting Vladimir Ducasse to left guard, but nothing really helped slow up the Baltimore defensive line.

The Jets running game is supposedly their calling card, but third-year rusher Shonn Greene (23 yards on 10 carries) runs as if he's never going to fulfill the promise he flashed late in his rookie year, and LaDainian Tomlinson is a mere afterthought (three rushes for minus-3 yards).

"This football team cannot be successful when we're rushing for 38 yards,'' Ryan said. "There's no chance. You've got to give Baltimore credit, they always do a great job stuffing the run, and they did tonight obviously. But 38 yards, you're not going to win. I don't know how many teams can win with 38 yards rushing. Clearly we've got to get a heck of a lot better in a hurry on that.''

• The Ravens enter their Week 5 bye looking like the class of the AFC North so far. Baltimore has won three of its four games, and leads Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Cincinnati by one game. Even though the Ravens offense wasn't sharp against the Jets, Baltimore has scored 35, 37 and 34 points in its three victories, and that'll get it done most weeks. They'll need to keep scoring, because after their bye, the Ravens draw a visit from the potent Houston Texans.

Don't forget how important it is for the Ravens to win their division this year. John Harbaugh has led his team to the playoffs in each of his three seasons, and Baltimore has won at least one playoff game each year. But the Ravens have yet to play a home playoff game under Harbaugh, having to play all seven of their 2008-2010 postseason games on the road as a wild-card qualifier.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/10/03/ravens.jets.ap/index.html#ixzz1ZizyfauS

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Jets lose with Ravens scoring three defensive TDs

Ravens 34 Jets 17

By BRIAN COSTELLO

Last Updated: 9:20 AM, October 3, 2011

Posted: 3:12 AM, October 3, 2011

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BALTIMORE — What’s Joe Namath going to say this week?

Broadway Joe should have some words for red-faced Rex Ryan after the Ravens dismantled the Jets 34-17 in front of 71,247 rabid fans at M&T Bank Stadium last night.

It was the latest humiliation handed to the Jets (2-2), who consider themselves Super Bowl contenders. At the moment they look more like a team that will be watching the playoffs on TV.

“We’ve got to get better in a hurry,” Ryan said. “There’s no question about it, but we’re a team and adversity is part of this business, and you’ve got to face it.”

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Instead of the Jets defense getting embarrassed this week, it was the offense that made the Ravens look like the ’85 Bears in a bizarre game that featured just one offensive touchdown. The Ravens scored a franchise-record three defensive touchdowns, all on turnovers by Mark Sanchez. Sanchez had four turnovers overall, three fumbles and an interception. He had another fumble the Jets recovered.

Sanchez finished with a quarterback rating of 30.5 on 11-of-35 passing for 119 yards.

“I think we wanted to him to try and beat us in this game,” Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said. “Once we knew they were going to start passing, we just pinned our ears back, and tried to get to him as fast as we could. I think we rattled him.”

It was not all Sanchez’s fault. The Jets offensive line was as sturdy as a wet piece of paper. The Ravens (3-1) were able to rush Sanchez without caution and pounded the Jets’ franchise QB.

The Jets offense has shown flashes this season, but has not measured up to the expectations it had in training camp when receivers Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason came aboard. It mustered just 150 total yards in the game, 38 on the ground.

“There are some things that need to change,” Mason said. “Until we identify the cracks, we’re going to keep having the same problems.”

Last week, the Raiders ran all over the Jets, drawing criticism of Ryan by Namath. But even with how bad the offense was, the defense kept the Jets in the game. Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was completely ineffective and Ray Rice could not find much running room.

The Jets face another stiff road test next week in New England against the 3-1 Patriots.

The Jets got a glimmer of hope in the third quarter when, trailing by 10, Aaron Maybin sacked Flacco and caused a fumble that Marcus Dixon recovered at the Ravens’ 27.

Sanchez crushed that hope immediately.

Under pressure from Terrell Suggs, Sanchez threw it out toward Santonio Holmes near the sideline. Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb jumped in front of Holmes and returned the interception 73 yards to give the Ravens a 34-17 lead.

It was the first time in NFL history there were five returns (kickoff, fumble, interception) for touchdowns in one game. For the Jets’ Joe McKnight returned a kickoff a franchise-record 107 yards for a score and David Harris returned an interception 35 yards for another.

You knew it was going to be a long night for the Jets’ offense on their first play from scrimmage. Ed Reed blitzed and got to Sanchez untouched to knock the ball loose. A swarm of Ravens surrounded the ball, with Jameel McClain picking it up and running it 6 yards for a touchdown.

Sanchez wound up coughing the ball up on another fumble, that was returned for a touchdown and one that set up a field goal. In all Sanchez turnovers led to 24 Ravens points.

“This is a very capable offense,” Sanchez said. “We’re better than what we showed tonight.”

brian.costello@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/rex_old_defense_returns_sanchez_JZ8BIPxOKdEnGHAoB7qA2O#ixzz1Zj0RjwPF

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Thomas latest Jets starter injured

Jets Blog

By BRIAN COSTELLO

Last Updated: 9:08 AM, October 3, 2011

Posted: 3:14 AM, October 3, 2011

BALTIMORE -- The Jets may have lost another starter for a significant period.

Outside linebacker Bryan Thomas injured his left ankle in the first quarter of last night's 34-17 loss to the Ravens and never returned. He exited the locker room on crutches.

The Jets did not have an update after the game, but it did not look good. He needed to be carted off the field.

Thomas is the longest-tenured Jets player and a key contributer on defense.

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Maybe Aaron Maybin is the answer to improving the Jets' dormant pass rush.

CATCHING FLACC: New Jets linebacker Aaron Maybin (51) strips the ball from Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco as he registers his first NFL sack, but it didn't do much good as Rex Ryan's team lost, 34-17, last night in Baltimore.

AP

CATCHING FLACC: New Jets linebacker Aaron Maybin (51) strips the ball from Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco as he registers his first NFL sack, but it didn't do much good as Rex Ryan's team lost, 34-17, last night in Baltimore.

Maybin recorded his first career sack in the third quarter. Maybin, who was signed last Wednesday, got to quarterback Joe Flacco twice. The first time he could not finish the play. The next time, he made sure he didn't miss.

After beating left tackle Bryant McKinnie, he flushed Flacco out of the pocket then used a second surge to get him, knocking the ball free.

Maybin was the 11th overall pick by the Bills in 2009, out of Penn State. He was considered a bust in Buffalo after failing to register a sack in his first two years. The Bills released Maybin during training camp, and the Jets picked him up, but cut him before the start of the season. The Jets brought him back last week after coach Rex Ryan's defense sacked Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell just once -- and that was when he tripped.

Ryan said last week the Jets liked Maybin in training camp, but did not have a roster spot for him.

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Center Nick Mangold was on the field 2 ½ hours before kickoff to test his sprained right ankle. He looked good running straight, but struggled when he tried to run laterally. The Jets decided to keep him inactive for the second straight week.

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Ryan used a timeout for an interesting reason in the first half -- to berate an official.

After Haloti Ngata laid a brutal hit on Mark Sanchez, who lost the ball, and Jarret Johnson returned the fumble 26 yards for a touchdown, the play was reviewed and upheld. Ryan thought Sanchez was throwing the ball when he lost it, and called a timeout to argue his point.

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The Jets sent former Ravens Jim Leonhard, Bart Scott and Derrick Mason out for the coin toss

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/green_achers_dl76D4iwFmWPUFuLpCyaSJ#ixzz1Zj0mY29o

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Jets' Sanchise turns into Can’tchise

Jets Blog

Last Updated: 9:21 AM, October 3, 2011

Posted: 3:05 AM, October 3, 2011

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headshotSteve Serby

BALTIMORE — On a night when the Jets asked Mark Sanchez to be the Sanchise, he showed up as the Can’tchise.

He was supposed to be beyond nightmare games like this, games where he gives his team absolutely no chance to win, games where he gift-wraps a blood-thirsty defense 24 points.

A visor may have protected his broken nose but it couldn’t protect him and his team from leaving M&T Bank Stadium with a broken spirit.

It wasn’t until a quarter to one when Sanchez, a 34-17 loser, dragged his bruised and battered body into the interview room

“We all share in this loss, I believe,” he said.

The disoriented offensive line is to blame for failing to protect him.

But he is to blame for failing to protect the football.

Rex Ryan needed him to stare into Ray Lewis’ manic linebacker eyes and refuse to blink, to avoid the bonehead mistakes that Ed Reed and any of his ravenous friends more often than not return for touchdowns, to silence the deafening crowd and be the Road Warrior quarterback, to be the admiral who steadies The Good Ship Rex and keeps it from morphing into the football Titanic before the seas get real angry this Sunday around Foxborough.

He blinked.

He is the jittery admiral of what alarmingly looks like the football Titanic.

Joe Namath will be livid, I guarantee ya. And has every right to be.

Sanchez had dug the Jets into a 27-7 hole that had suddenly become a 27-17 deficit, thanks to a 35-yard pick six by David Harris. Sanchez had coughed up 17 of those points on his own. He still had 30 minutes to atone for a first half that conjured up painful memories of his skittish rookie season.

And then here came another.

Aaron Maybin, with a relentless motor, grabbed Flacco’s right arm and forced a fumble with his first career sack that Marcus Dixon recovered.

So Sanchez stood 27 yards from bringing the Jets to within 27-24.

In a matter of seconds, he was trudging off the field down 34-17.

He had taken a savage beating in the first half, from angry Raven defenders abusing an overmatched Jets offensive line that was a sieve without Nick Mangold.

Now Terrell Suggs came barreling in on the panic-stricken Sanchez, who frantically lobbed a pitch toward the right sidelines that A.J. Burnett would have wanted back, a pitch that didn’t have enough mustard on it to get to Santonio Holmes, a pitch that Lardarius Webb picked off and returned 73 yards for the killer touchdown.

“That just can’t happen,” Sanchez said. “That ended up kinda being the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Holmes agreed. “He threw it late,” he said. “You can’t throw it late in the flat.”

Sanchez was the Can’tchise right from the start. He looked right, cocked his arm, pulled it down and had the ball swatted out of his hand by Reed, blitzing untouched from the quarterback’s left side. Jameel McClain’s six-yard fumble return made it 7-0.

The next time he had it, Sanchez fumbled the center snap but Shonn Greene recovered. Three-and-out.

Then, down 17-7 early in the second quarter, third-and-8, Sanchez seemed to muff a shotgun snap and Paul Kruger recovered the fumble, and soon it was 20-7.

“It was a little high,” Sanchez said.

But shouldn’t you have caught it?

“I’m back there, I should catch the ball,” he conceded.

It became a feeding frenzy as the Ravenous sharks smelled Sanchez’ blood in the water. Overmatched Vladimir Ducasse, installed as left guard when Matt Slauson temporarily replaced Colin Baxter at center, allowed Haloti Ngata a bone-crunching, backbreaking hit on Sanchez, who was too busy checking for body parts on the ground to notice Jarrett Johnson rumbling 26 yards to make it 27-7.

Joe Flacco was terrible. And the better quarterback anyway.

“It needs to get better from my position first,” Sanchez said.

He has a sieve for an offensive line and the ground & pound is a distant memory. Alone on Sanchez Island.

“It’s tough not having an offseason to put the game plan together,” Holmes said. “It starts upfront with our big guys. They gotta do a better job of protecting Mark and Mark’s gotta do a better job of making his reads and getting the ball where he needs to so the playmakers can make plays.”

Crisis in Florham Park. Can’t be a playoff team if your quarterback is the Can’tchise.

“He struggled mightily,” Ryan said. “It wasn’t his best day, that’s for sure. But he’s our quarterback and I believe in him.”

He has no choice.

steve.serby@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/sanchise_turns_into_can_tchise_vMKi7WjSn2DQ6XAW3xUPNP#ixzz1Zj142JZi

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Jets blitz

Jets Blog

By BART HUBBUCH

Last Updated: 9:05 AM, October 3, 2011

Posted: 3:06 AM, October 3, 2011

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HERO

Ed Reed set the tone for the Ravens’ defensive suffocation, blitzing untouched on the game’s first play to force a Mark Sanchez fumble that was recovered for a Baltimore touchdown. The Ravens took their cue from Reed, setting a franchise record with three defensive TDs overall.

UNSUNG HERO

There was nothing heroic about the Jets’ loss, but backup RB Joe McKnight was a star in defeat with a 107-yard kickoff return for a TD and a blitz pressure from the cornerback spot on defense — yes, you read that right — led to David Harris’ interception return for a score.

Is there any question? Mark Sanchez was breathtakingly horrible from the very first snap, and all three of his turnovers (two fumbles, one interception) were returned for TDs by the relentless Ravens defense.

KEY MOMENT

The Jets had just forced a Joe Flacco fumble and were poised to cut further into a 27-17 deficit when Sanchez’s awful “timing” throw to Santonio Holmes along the right sideline was picked off by Lardarius Webb and returned 73 yards untouched for a back-breaking TD.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/jets_blitz_1Nzhksu9vD6XlUPXQ92biI#ixzz1Zj1RE23Z

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Gang Green misses Mangold

October, 3, 2011

Oct 3

3:34

AM ET

By Jane McManus

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Colin Baxter looked lost in the Jets locker room as he searched for a place to put the playbook. It was the same look he had on the field, bewildered amid missed signals and botched snaps. The rookie filling in for Nick Mangold -- who coach Rex Ryan said should be back next week -- was taken out after one shotgun snap in the second quarter.

“I rocketed it back there,” Baxter said. “It was in the vicinity, but it was hot.”

In order to mitigate the damage, the Jets moved Matt Slauson to center and inserted Vlad Ducasse at left guard. But, if possible, the second year player out of UMass fared even worse -- standing nearly still on one Baltimore blitz as Ravens defenders shot through the gaps. Baxter was back in at center by the start of the third quarter.

The Jets offensive line was bad yet again, allowing a quarterback who had a broken nose, a badly bruised elbow on his throwing arm and underwent cognitive tests for a possible concussion to be repeatedly knocked to the ground again.

“I think things have to start more up front,” said wide receiver Santonio Holmes, one of the few to explicitly target the line. “We have to get a better job from our guys up front. They’re focused on it, and that’s going to be a big key. Getting Mangold back, he has been a big part that has been missing.”

Mangold, who sustained a high sprain of his right ankle in a win over Jacksonville, was on the field in Baltimore before the game testing his agility in front of a crowd including trainers, offensive lineman Bill Callahan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum. He didn’t get the nod to play, but the team expects him to go next week when the Jets travel to New England to face the Patriots.

Ryan referenced the loss in New England last season, said Slauson, showing that even when things look bleak they can still be turned around.

“It was tough, it was just one of those days you don’t want to talk about you don’t want to think about,” Slauson said. “It was just tough, it was bad, we’ve got to bounce back.”

Wayne Hunter is still struggling as the new starter at right tackle as the Jets expedited the process of getting the new center up to speed. Baxter fared well in the remainder of the Jacksonville game after Mangold went down, but he struggled in the loss to Oakland as well and his discomfort was evident after the loss to the Ravens.

“There’s the communication issue and then, another snap,” Baxter said.

The Jets running game didn’t even get started. Shonn Green was the leading rusher with 23 yards on 10 attempts. The only other back to average more than a yard a carry was fullback John Conner with 15 yards on three carries.

Ray Rice made it sound easy on the other side. “I just followed the big men, the O line, got it done,” said the Ravens running back.”

As Baxter stood trying to find a place to put his playbook, backup quarterback Mark Brunell sought him out. With some sensitivity for a rookie put in a difficult spot to begin with, he offered some words.

“Good job stepping back in there tonight,” Brunell said to Baxter. “Way to fight, way to compete.”

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Ravens rock Sanchez in loss

October, 3, 2011

Oct 3

3:31

AM ET

By Jane McManus

BALTIMORE, Md. -- As a rookie, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez was taught how to slide from no less as expert than Yankees manager Joe Girardi. This season, the Jets might want to bring in Floyd Mayweather Jr. to show him how to take a beating.

Sanchez was hit 10 times in the 34-17 loss to the Ravens on Sunday night. The relentless pressure from the likes of Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs forced Sanchez to get rid of the ball as soon as he got the snap, at times looking frustrated as he picked himself up from the field.

“You don’t want your QB on the ground like that. It’s a reflection of all of us on off when the quarterback is on the ground like that,” LaDainian Tomlinson said. “So it’s not fun, it’s not a good night, nobody’s happy about it.”

It should be noted that Tomlinson had a swollen right eye and puffy lower lip from contact during the play in which he lost his helmet.

The Ravens sent at least one defensive back in for blitzes on 13 of Sanchez’s 38 dropbacks. On those plays, Sanchez had four overthrows, three completions and two turnovers for 14 points according to ESPN Stats and Information.

“I didn’t feel rattled at all,” Sanchez said. “Just needed to get the ball out quicker. We couldn’t get the running game going. When that happened, we became predictable.”

If this were the only game where Sanchez saw contact, it wouldn’t be as notable. But Sanchez has had a litany of injuries, though none severe enough to make him miss a practice. After the opener Dallas, the quarterback underwent tests to see if he had a concussion. During a win over the Jaguars he was hit on his throwing arm as Jets coach Rex Ryan called plays designed to get Plaxico Burress a touchdown. Last week in the loss to Oakland, the GQ quarterback had a broken nose. He was careful not to complain last night.

“I took some good shots,” Sanchez said. “I just got up and I just kept playing. Nothing major. I’ll be fine.”

His own statistics reflect a bad night. There were no offensive touchdowns for the Jets, who only had 38 rushing yards and 119 passing yards -- Sanchez was 11-of-35. Sanchez fumbled the ball four times and the Jets lost three of them.

Even so, Sanchez wouldn’t call out his offensive line or the fact that he has yet to find consistency in the passing game with receivers Burress, Santonio Holmes and Derrick Mason.

“I’m trying not to get down about that,” Sanchez said. “It has to get better. But this is one of the best defenses we’ll face all year. I know we have a very capable offense, and we’re a lot better than we showed tonight.

“I just need to play better.”

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Sounds from the locker room

October, 3, 2011

Oct 3

3:11

AM ET

By Rich Cimini

BALTIMORE -- Here's what the Jets had to say after their embarrassing 34-17 loss Sunday night to the Ravens:

• Rex Ryan: "I've been around a long time, but I've never seen anything like that before -- one offensive touchdown."

• LG Matt Slauson: "It was incrediblt disappointing. It was embarrassing, but the season isn't over by any means. All these things are easy fixes ... A team like us should never put on a show like that. It was terrible."

• TE Dustin Keller: "It was one of the worst games we've played in a few years. It was definitely a low ... We have so much ability. To go out and be flat like we were today is unacceptable."

• CB Darrelle Revis: "(Ryan) wasn't too upset. He wasn't angry at all. We never know how Coach is going to react. Some people in this room might be shocked, but we know we got outplayed tonight. We've just got to bounce back."

• WR Santonio Holmes: "I think things have to start more up front. We have to get a better job from our guys up front. They're focused on it, and that's going to be a big key. Getting (Nick) Mangold back, he has been a big part that has been missing. Once we get him back, I'm pretty sure things will turn around."

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Playing-time breakdown

October, 3, 2011

Oct 3

3:03

AM ET

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By Rich Cimini

BALTIMORE -- The Jets had only 56 offensive snaps Sunday night, which is what happens when you convert only 4-for-15 on third down and manage only 150 total yards. Here's an unofficial breakdown of the snaps (based on press-box view, allow small margin of error):

RUNNING BACKS

LaDainian Tomlinson ... 38 snaps

Shonn Greene ... 27

John Conner ... 16

Joe McKnight ... 1

TIGHT ENDS

Dustin Keller ... 51 snaps

Matt Mulligan ... 15

Vladimir Ducasse ... 1

WIDE RECEIVERS

Santonio Holmes .... 53 snaps

Plaxico Burress ... 47

Derrick Mason ... 30

Jeremy Kerley ... 4

Patrick Turner ... 2

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Ravens unload on Sanchez -- again

October, 3, 2011

Oct 3

2:52

AM ET

By Rich Cimini

BALTIMORE -- The Ravens feasted on Mark Sanchez all night, forcing four turnovers and returning three for touchdowns -- and they enjoyed talking about it after their 34-17 victory.

Some of the Ravens' defensive players felt they rattled Sanchez, whom they believe holds the ball too long.

"I think we wanted to get him to try to beat us in this game," said DT Haloli Ngata, who had one of two strip sacks. "Once we knew they were going to start passing, we just pinned our ears back, and tried to get to him as fast as we could. I think we rattled him and got him off his mark."

S Ed Reed recorded the first strip sack, and it came on the Jets' first play.

"We know that we could get to him, and we know that he's going to hold the ball a little more and think," Reed said.

Here's a breakdown on Sanchez's four turnovers:

1. The Reed strip sack. The Jets came out with three receivers, passing. They ran play-action to the right. Sanchez took a quick drop and before he could deliver the pass, he was blindsided by Reed, who wasn't blocked at all. Jameel McClain returned the fumble six yards for a TD.

Blame game: Put this on the offensive line. "We missed a protection call," Rex Ryan said. Sanchez should've seen Reed -- he didn't even try to disguise the blitz -- but Sanchez said he was reading the other side of the field.

2. Sanchez's fumble snap. Sanchez, in shotgun formation, mishandled a snap by rookie C Colin Baxter. The snap was high and hard, about shoulder length. Baxter took the blame, saying he "rocketed" the snap. Baxter was benched for three series after that.

Blame game: A split between Baxter and Sanchez. It wasn't an ideal snap, but it was catchable.

3. The Ngata strip sack. Sanchez was drilled in the back by Ngata, who blew past LG Vladimir Ducasse and by LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson. Ducasse went to block Ngata, but pulled away, directing his attention to the middle. He apparently thought he was getting help. Said Ngata: "I felt Ferguson leaning hard to the inside, and I gave him a quick swim move. I was able to get around him."

Blame game: A split between Ducasse and Ferguson.

4. The Lardarius Webb 73-yard interception return for a TD. Sanchez ran a play-action fake and took a three-step drop. He was feeling backside heat from OLB Terrell Suggs, who beat TE Matt Mulligan with an outside rush, but Sanchez misread the coverage and made a poor throw to WR Santonio Holmes in the right flat. Holmes said, "He threw it too late." Webb said it was a simple Cover-2 defense.

Blame game: Sanchez. Unacceptable mistake, and it changed the momentum. The Jets had just forced a turnover, and had a chance to cut into the Ravens' 10-point lead. The interception, essentially, ended all hope.

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Jets brutal defeat lands squarely at the feet of Mark Sanchez, who hasn't played like a franchise QB

Gary Myers

Monday, October 3rd 2011, 4:00 AM

BALTIMORE - The Jets' locker room was very quiet Sunday night as the players quickly dressed and headed out the door for the train ride home. It was fitting for a team that is now in crisis and trying to prevent the season from falling apart next weekend in New England.

When a team is going bad, it's up to the quarterback to get things turned around. But Mark Sanchez is the reason the Jets lost to the Ravens, 34-17. He was really dreadful, with three of his four turnovers returned for touchdowns and the other setting up a field goal.

"Well, I mean, he struggled mightily," Rex Ryan said. "There's no question about it. He had a 30.5 rating. It wasn't his best day, that's for sure, but he's our quarterback and I believe in him. We've had some ups and downs before. We've had one worse than this one, believe it or not. We're just the men for the job. We'll get this thing fixed."

This was the worst game Sanchez played since his five-interception meltdown against Buffalo in his rookie year. But he's now in his third year and these kind of awful performances were supposed to be in the past, especially for a team that has been predicting the Super Bowl.

"We believe in Mark," Darrelle Revis said. "It was a great defense over there we were going up against. We can't get panicky. It's a long season."

Sure, Sanchez continues to get no help from the running game - 38 yards on 19 carries Sunday night - and the offensive line is not anywhere near as good as it was the last two years when the Jets went to the AFC title game. He rarely had time to throw against a relentless defense.

But Sanchez was pathetic, sloppy and looked intimidated at times. He had two fumbles returned for touchdowns, he had a pick-six early in the third quarter that destroyed any chance of the Jets coming back and he had an earlier fumble that set up a field goal.

That allowed the Ravens to overcome their own quarterback mess. Joe Flacco went a little over 35 minutes during one stretch without completing a pass. He was only 10-for-31 with a quarterback rating of 37.4. He also had a pick-six and tried to give the Jets a chance when they trailed 27-17.

When Aaron Maybin stripped Flacco of the ball with Marcus Dixon recovering at the Ravens' 27 just six minutes into the second half, the Jets had their best chance to make the Ravens nervous. A nice little Ground and Pound drive - remember when the Jets were a Ground and Pound team? - was what they needed.

Instead, Sanchez looked to his right on first down for Santonio Holmes just as Terrell Suggs was closing in and getting in the QB's face. Cornerback Lardarius Webb jumped the route, cut in front of Holmes, picked off Sanchez and went 73 yards untouched for a touchdown.

"The straw that broke camel's back," Sanchez said.

You almost need a calculator to add up all the points Sanchez provided for the Ravens: 24. The Jets' two touchdowns came on Joe McKnight's 107-yard kickoff return, the longest play in team history, and David Harris' 35-yard interception return. The Jets' deepest penetration was the Ravens' 22 - a possession that started at the Ravens' 47.

Sanchez's night: 11-of-35 for 119 yards, one interception, three fumbles and two sacks.

"It's just frustrating as quarterback of an offense that can't get going," Sanchez said. "These teams are going to test you. We didn't pass the test tonight."

Sanchez has been to two AFC Championship Games, but there are times he still looks like he's never played football. And from the very first offensive snap, when Ed Reed blitzed and hit Sanchez from the blind side, forcing a fumble with Jameel McClain running it in from the 6, the Jets' quarterback was completely flustered. The Jets said the breakdown was due to miscommunication on the offensive line. But how can they not block Reed on the first play of the game?

Sanchez was banged around the first three weeks, getting tested for a concussion following the opener against Dallas, banging his forearm in the one-sided victory over the Jaguars and then breaking his nose against the Raiders.

He took a lot of hits from the Ravens, but the only thing that got beaten up was his ego. He didn't receive much help from his offensive line, which once again was without Nick Mangold, the best center in the league.

When it was 17-7, Sanchez fumbled a shotgun snap from backup center Colin Baxter. The Ravens recovered at the Jets' 23 and turned that into a field goal.

The snap was a little high but was certainly catchable. It went right through Sanchez's hands. The Jets will try to avoid losing all three games on this road trip when they go to Foxborough next week with the Patriots out for revenge after the Jets KO'd them from the playoffs in January.

Are the Jets in crisis? "Next question," Holmes said.

The first crisis has arrived.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/2011/10/03/2011-10-03_brutal_defeat_reveals_sanchise_in_disarray.html#ixzz1Zj6ruDwd

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Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes says Mark Sanchez, Gang Green offensive line must improve

BY Kevin Armstrong

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Monday, October 3rd 2011, 4:00 AM

BALTIMORE - Targeted 12 times, wideout Santonio Holmes saw three balls reach his hands. He hauled them in for gains totaling 33 yards, the longest going for 22. One pass intended for him was thrown into the flat as he swung out wide, but defensive back Lardarius Webb stepped in front and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown.

"Too late," Holmes said. "Can't throw it out too late. He made a great play on it."

Opposing defenses disrupted the Jets' offense the last two weeks, limiting the touches for the receivers and swallowing the entire run game. Holmes identified layers to the unit's issues, starting up front and continuing into the pocket.

"It starts up front with our big guys, they need to do a better job protecting Mark (Sanchez) and Mark has to do a better job making his reads and getting the ball to playmakers," Holmes said.

Holmes focused on the need to establish the running game as the key to jumpstarting the offense. He called the penalties (nine for 69 yards) and miscues "unacceptable."

"We need to come out firing on all cylinders," he said. "We need to all be on the same page."

MASON GOES LONG

Derrick Mason darted through his route, caught the pass and ducked under an attempted arm-tackle by Ravens cornerback Cary Williams. Then he turned upfield and finished off a 30-yard reception against his former team. It was his longest catch of the year.

Mason, 37, was released by the Ravens in the offseason after six years in Baltimore. He expected to return but decided to sign with the Jets when his services were no longer wanted. Since signing in New York, his productivity has slipped. Last season, he caught 61 passes for 802 yards. This year, he has 12 catches for 108 yards.

WALKING WOUNDED

WR Plaxico Burress (hamstring), CB Antonio Cromartie (ribs), DL Mike Devito (shoulder) and LB David Harris (toe) all played.

THOMAS HURT

Linebacker Bryan Thomas applied pressure early, but came up limping with an ankle injury midway through the first quarter. He was carted off to the locker room and never returned.

MCKNIGHT DOES IT ALL

The Jets' most productive special teams player, Joe McKnight, knocked the ball loose from Ravens wideout LaQuan Williams on the opening kickoff, then reversed roles and ran back a kick return 107 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest play in Jets' history and the longest surrendered by the Ravens.

The running back by trade who has been working out at cornerback added a quarterback pressure to his stat sheet by flustering Baltimore's Joe Flacco into a short pass attempt over the middle that linebacker David Harris stepped in front of for a touchdown return.

MAYBIN PRESENCE FELT

Signed last week after being released in early September, linebacker Aaron Maybin was active in his first game as a Jet. He blitzed on his first action, flushing Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco from the pocket and forcing an early incompletion. He failed to take down Flacco, but rushed with unbridled energy.

He broke through with his first career sack in the third quarter and forced a fumble by Flacco. Marcus Dixon recovered.

FLAG DAY

CB Antonio Cromartie added to his growing flag collection when he was called for defensive holding in the opening quarter.

IN THE BLACK

The Ravens wore all-black uniforms for the first time this season.

They are now 5-2 all-time in the look and last won wearing them in Week 15 last December against the New Orleans Saints.

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS

To help kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month, players on both teams wore pink cleats, gloves and towels. The Ravens also lined seats on the west end with pink sheets and handed out pink ribbons with the league's shield pinned onto them.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/2011/10/03/2011-10-03_says_line_qb_must_improve.html#ixzz1Zj7Cj8FE

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Mark Sanchez has four turnovers in Jets' loss to Ravens as Super season starting to come off rails

BY Manish Mehta

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Originally Published:Monday, October 3rd 2011, 12:01 AM

Updated: Monday, October 3rd 2011, 2:00 AM

RAVENS 34, JETS 17

BALTIMORE - The preseason Super Bowl talk, the annual rite of summer that has stamped the Rex Ryan era, has been reduced to a whisper now. At the quarter pole, the Jets look like shadows of the team that was on the doorstep of the NFL's biggest game the past two seasons.

A week after Ryan's defense was embarrassed by the Raiders, the offense had an epic meltdown in a 34-17 loss to the Ravens Sunday night. The Jets dropped their second consecutive road game thanks, in part, to Mark Sanchez's four turnovers.

Next up for the reeling Jets (2-2): another road test, against the AFC East nemesis Patriots. Ryan, the former Ravens' defensive coordinator, was victimized by the same defense that he helped to build. Baltimore (3-1) scored a franchise-record three defensive touchdowns.

Sanchez committed three first-half turnovers as the Jets dug an early hole they couldn't overcome. In all, Baltimore scored 24 points off Sanchez's four turnovers.

"He struggled mightily. There's no question about it," Ryan said of Sanchez.

It didn't get much better for the Jets' third-year quarterback in the second half. After Aaron Maybin gave Gang Green great field position midway through the third quarter with his first career sack and forced fumble, Sanchez threw a pick-six on the first play of the ensuing drive. Ladarius Webb intercepted Sanchez's pass intended for Santonio Holmes for a 73-yard touchdown that gave the Ravens a 34-17 lead.

Sanchez, who finished just 11-of-35 for 119 yards, called the interception "the straw that broke the camel's back."

"He threw it late into the flat," Holmes said of his QB.

The Ravens scored 17 points off Sanchez's three first-half turnovers to take a 27-17 halftime lead. It could have been much worse for Gang Green, which fell behind by 20 points before its defense helped keep it close at intermission.

Sanchez was only part of the problem for an offense that managed only a field goal before the break. He fumbled a shotgun snap and coughed the ball up twice on blind-side hits that led to a pair of Ravens defensive touchdowns. Gang Green also had plenty of protection issues.

Ravens safety Ed Reed made an impact on the Jets' first play from scrimmage. He came free off the left edge for a blind-side sack and forced fumble. Jameel McClain scooped it up and rumbled in for a 6-yard touchdown to jolt the Jets and give Baltimore a quick 7-0 lead. "We just had a miscue," said Sanchez, "but I'm not pointing fingers at anybody."

The Jets roared back when Joe McKnight took the ensuing kickoff back 107 yards for the game-tying touchdown - the longest play in Jets' history. On the ensuing Ravens drive, Joe Flacco found Ray Rice for a 52-yard catch and run that set up Billy Cundiff's 38-yard field goal to give Baltimore a 10-7 lead.

Rice's 3-yard TD run made it 17-7 with 1:14 to go in the first quarter before the Jets coughed it up again. Sanchez mishandled and fumbled Colin Baxter's third-down snap before Ravens LB Paul Kruger fell on it. Baltimore capitalized when Cundiff drilled another 38-yard field goal to make it 20-7 early in the second. "It was a little high," Sanchez said of the fumbled snap, but he admitted he should have caught it.

Ryan then replaced Baxter - who was in for the injured Nick Mangold - at center with Matt Slauson. But after that line shakeup, new left guard Vladimir Ducasse was beaten by tackle Haloti Ngata on a sack and forced fumble that blew the game open. Ngata drilled Sanchez before Jarret Johnson scooped the ball up and took it in for a 26-yard score to make it 27-7. "I think we rattled him and got him off his mark," Ngata said of Sanchez. "We were able to make plays off of him."

David Harris' pick-six and Nick Folk's 40-yard field goal cut the deficit to 10 points by halftime, but the Jets would get no closer. "Somebody's gotta man up and say, 'We gotta get this done," said Jets wideout Derrick Mason. "---- the dumb stuff. We gotta get this done."

Now Ryan and the Jets have to brace for the Patriots, who beat the Raiders Sunday and moved into a first-place tie with the Bills in the AFC East. "Our message is this is a long road and we've got to get better in a hurry," Ryan said. "Adversity is a part of this business. But you've got to face it."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/2011/10/02/2011-10-02_mark_sanchez_has_four_turnovers_in_jets_loss_to_ravens_as_super_season_starting_.html#ixzz1Zj7ccQzr

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D'Alessandro: Jets' Mark Sanchez had a tough time staying on his feet, staying alive behind O-line

Published: Monday, October 03, 2011, 6:00 AM

Dave D'Alessandro/Star-Ledger Columnist By Dave D'Alessandro/Star-Ledger Columnist

BALTIMORE — It isn’t often that you sense how a game might go after one play, but think about it: The Jets' offense spent the entire week thinking about how they must be aware of where Ed Reed lines up every time they broke huddle.

So how is it that their offensive line managed to lose track of arguably the game’s greatest destroyer on their very first play from scrimmage?

This was a fait accompli from the moment Reed blindsided Mark Sanchez — leading to a loose ball, leading to a gimme for Jameel McClain, leading to endless rounds of dunk-the-clown that the Baltimore Ravens enjoyed for 60 excruciating minutes.

It also led to a 34-17 Ravens rout on national TV, and from the first moment Sanchez was clobbered, his offensive line looked dizzier than the quarterback himself.

And it upheld an immutable NFL truth: If you can’t protect, you can’t do anything.

This once-proud group was overwhelmed Sunday night, both physically and tactically, and when that happens, your quarterback gets his lights turned out early. Let’s review the carnage:

Three false starts, two holding penalties.

Two sacks that led to Sanchez losing the football for return scores.

One big hit on Sanchez that led to an interception for another return score.

And more pressure than Sanchez will ever be able to relate to his psychoanalyst.

Perhaps you saw it coming. The Jets O-line has been, to put it delicately, a work in progress. It is missing its anchor, Nick Mangold, who probably should think about a renegotiation today, because it is clear that the O-Line’s Command and Control Center has gone black.

But there has been trouble all over the place. Brandon Moore is coming off hip surgery. Wayne Hunter has had a rough time all year. Their best backup, Robert Turner, has been out all season. The second-round pick, Vladimir Ducasse, obviously isn’t up to speed yet.

The shuffle Rex Ryan attempted Sunday night smacked of desperation. He tried Colin Baxter at center, and then benched him for three series and gave the job to Matt Slauson — to let Baxter “get his composure back,” the coach explained. All that did was weaken two positions, because Ducasse looked lost when he was plugged into Slauson’s spot at left guard. Add it up, and you have a ground game that now averages a league-low 3.1 yards per carry, and a quarterback that has a bullseye on his back.

But Mangold is the big one, because the center often calls the protection, or at least changes it. Either way, whoever was making the line calls on protection Sunday didn’t seem to know what he was watching.

Not during the pre-snap read, anyway.

Once they saw Haloti Ngata treating Sanchez like a toddler treats his Legos, yeah, they had a pretty good idea of what Baltimore was doing.

They had protection issues before this game, of course. It was only Wednesday when Sanchez, in a moment of unintentional humor, said, “We pride ourselves in protecting the quarterback,” before adding, “the onus is on me” to get rid of the ball faster.

Correction: The onus is on him to not get killed. He’ll need some help in that regard, because from that first kamikaze move by Reed, Sanchez was fresh meat.

Keep in mind that the offensive line might be the hardest unit to keep in sync. The average NFL team probably has 15 to 20 pass protections, with options off each. But generally speaking, you spend a week looking at a way to counter defensive coverages — it’s all about coaching, systems, and matchups, a game of three-dimensional chess, and if your OL doesn’t have a high IQ, you have guys who are flatfooted, confused, and useless.

“We’re not getting dominated physically — we’re getting confused,” Slauson admitted. “All the things that need to be fixed are easy to be fixed. It’s identification problems, it’s communication problems. It’s all easy stuff. And as soon as we get ’em fixed, we’ll be fine.”

More coverage:

• Jets photos

It was clear this wasn’t going to be fixed in one night, even when it was a manageable 27-17 at halftime. This is, after all, a wacky league in the midst of its most schizophrenic weekend: Earlier in the day, the Eagles blew a 20-point lead in the third period, and the Cowboys blew a 24-point lead in the third quarter.

So despite the ongoing bedlam up front, the Jets were in business in the third period, after Aaron Maybin refused to give up on an outside rush and poked the ball away from Flacco on a third-and-9 at the Baltimore 25. Marcus Dixon recovered the fumble, and the Jets were suddenly 27 yards away from a score that could have made this a three-point game.

And then, pow: Sanchez took a quick drop, Terrell Suggs turned his lights out as he released the ball, and Lardarius Webb stepped in front of Santonio Holmes for an easy pick that he took up the sideline for a 73-yard score.

Were all the turnovers the fault of the offensive line? No. But if you want to question Sanchez’s performance, Ryan was quick to say that “it starts with the protection first.”

Now you know why they say offensive line coaches are worth their weight in gold. That won’t bring much solace to Bill Callahan, whose voice mailbox was set on fire Sunday night. And if they don’t get this corrected very soon, there’s not much gold in this team’s future.

Dave D’Alessandro: ddalessandro@starledger.com

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Jets vs. Ravens: Joe McKnight's record run is lone bright spot

Published: Monday, October 03, 2011, 1:25 AM Updated: Monday, October 03, 2011, 2:22 AM

Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger By Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger

BALTIMORE — When Joe McKnight received the kickoff from the Ravens early in the first quarter, he was determined to get to the end zone. Baltimore had just scored a touchdown off Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez’s fumble, and McKnight had a chance to even the score.

“I had my mind made up all week I was going to run one back,” McKnight said after the Jets’ 34-17 loss.

He did run the kickoff back, 107 yards for a touchdown — the Jets’ longest play in franchise history, and the longest the Ravens have ever given up.

McKnight credited Patrick Turner and Josh Mauga for a double-team block, as well as Marcus Dixon and Matthew Mulligan. Safety Brodney Pool made the block that broke it open, he said.

But it came on a day when it didn’t help the Jets to a win.

“You never want to lose,” he said. “Right now we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do next week and get ready for next week.”

McKnight was one player who did perform well for the Jets. On the game’s opening kickoff, he forced a fumble, though the Ravens did recover. McKnight also came in on one play on defense, at cornerback, though he said that was planned all week and not performance-based.

“It was a play we’ve been working on,” McKnight said. “They asked me to force him out of the pocket and that’s what I did.”

Jets OLB Bryan Thomas suffered an ankle injury midway through the first quarter and did not return. He was helped off by the training staff and was then carted to the locker room. Coach Rex Ryan did not have an update on his condition after the game.

Bart Scott and Eric Smith rotated out during the first-quarter Ravens drive that ended in a Ray Rice 3-yard touchdown. But Ryan said they were not benched for a few plays, instead the Jets were using a specific package they had planned to keep guys fresh. Mauga and Pool came into the game.

v first-round pick Aaron Maybin, who signed with the Jets on Wednesday, recorded his first career sack when he forced a fumble by Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco in the third quarter.

More coverage:

Jets center Nick Mangold missed his second straight game with a high ankle sprain. Mangold went through a pregame workout on the M&T Bank Stadium field, jogging and doing movement drills, but the team ultimately decided he was not ready to play. Rookie Colin Baxter again started in Mangold’s place. Ryan said he expects Mangold to play Sunday at New England.

Also inactive for the Jets were QB Kevin O’Connell, WR Logan Payne (wrist), S Emanuel Cook, RB Bilal Powell, TE Josh Baker, and NT Kenrick Ellis. Ellis, the Jets’ third-round pick, has not been active yet this season.

For more Jets coverage, follow Jenny Vrentas on Twitter at twitter.com/Jennyvrentas

Jenny Vrentas: jvrentas@starledger.com

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Jets vs. Ravens: Mark Sanchez spent the night getting knocked around

Published: Monday, October 03, 2011, 12:28 AM Updated: Monday, October 03, 2011, 2:19 AM

Conor Orr/The Star-Ledger By Conor Orr/The Star-Ledger

BALTIMORE — After Baltimore Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb grabbed Mark Sanchez’s errant pass out of the air in the third quarter tonight, bolting 73 yards untouched to the end zone, the Jets quarterback and his intended wide receiver halted in a moment of frustration.

Sanchez hunched over on his knees, recovering from another hard hit — this time from Terrell Suggs. The receiver on the play, Santonio Holmes, hands on hips, remained almost exactly where he was standing when Webb stole the pass from in front of him, not bothering to chase.

On a night when the Ravens defense poured through the cracks of a patchwork Jets offensive line, scrambling their lines of communication and eliminating any time to get things right, that moment adequately summed it all up for a passing offense still in search of an identity.

Even 15 yards apart from one another on the empty half of the field, they were frozen, unable to relay the issues that had been dogging them all night.

In a 34-17 loss to the Ravens in front of 71,247 fans at M&T Bank Stadium, Sanchez finished the night 11-for-35 for 119 yards and no touchdowns.

“Plenty of miscues, but I’m not pointing fingers at anybody,” Sanchez said. “We all had our share in this loss.”

Holmes had three catches for 33 yards. Plaxico Burress had three catches for 33 and Derrick Mason, making his return to Baltimore, had two catches for 37 yards.

Tight end Dustin Keller, who has proved to be a comfortable option for Sanchez had just two catches for 12 yards.

Sanchez saw his poise tested and rattled on nearly every possession as Baltimore unfurled an arsenal of blitzes from the linebackers and safeties and a nonstop barrage of twists and stunts from the defensive line.

“I didn’t feel rattled, I just felt like we needed to get the ball out quick,” Sanchez said. “We didn’t have chances to keep them off balance.”

And worse, on the precious few plays when the pressure wasn’t there, the ball was hastily let go just in case another blitzer was charging at his blindside.

“I know I need to get rid of the ball, but we gotta fix it, we gotta get better,” Sanchez said.

On a third down with time winding down in the first half — the drive following David Harris’ interception return touchdown — the Jets offense looked to have its best opportunity to slice into the lead after a 22-yard catch by Holmes.

As the crowd rocked, Sanchez addressed the line, desperately trying to audible.

More coverage:

Brandon Moore swung his hands to help with a shift in protection. But a long pass to Holmes ended up a few feet out of bounds.

With 9:51 to go in the fourth quarter, Sanchez had almost six seconds to himself in the pocket on first down in Baltimore territory.

He pointed with his off hand in Burress’ direction, crow-hopped and pointed again. He fired a pass, only to see the ball fly over his 6-5 receiver’s head.

Conor Orr: corr@starledger.com

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Jets vs. Ravens: Turnovers, desperation plague Jets in 34-17 loss at Baltimore

Published: Monday, October 03, 2011, 12:05 AM Updated: Monday, October 03, 2011, 2:30 AM

Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger By Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger

BALTIMORE — Black, capital letters in the home locker room at M&T Bank Stadium script the motto “Play Like A Raven.”

Rex Ryan brought the rally cry with him when he became head coach of the Jets three years ago, translating it to “Play Like A Jet.” He did not envision that in his first regular-season return to the city where he spent a decade, playing like a Jet would instead be defined by devastating turnovers, desperation lineup changes and — at least at one point — Ryan airing his frustrations on national television.

The result tonight was a 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the second consecutive defeat for Ryan’s team. Their three-game road stretch has so far knocked the Jets to 2-2, and looming next week is a trip to Foxborough, Mass.

Once boldly confident, these Jets looked confused, worn down and overmatched, all before halftime tonight. The Ravens defense battered Mark Sanchez — literally and figuratively — returning three of his turnovers for touchdowns, and turning a fourth into a field goal. The quarterback completed just 11 of 35 passes and had a 30.5 passer rating.

Last week, Ryan said he and the defense lost the game at Oakland, but this egg laid with the offense.

“If we don’t identify the cracks, we’re going to keep on having the same problems,” receiver Derrick Mason said. “I don’t know who’s going to fix it, but somebody’s got to man up and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get this done. (Cut) the dumb stuff.’ ”

The defense rebounded well from last week, yielding only one touchdown — Ray Rice’s 3-yard run in the first quarter — and holding the running back to 66 rushing yards. The Jets had two return touchdowns of their own — a 107-yard kick return by Joe McKnight, the longest play in franchise history, and a 35-yard interception return by David Harris — but the offense’s performance ensured these did not matter toward the outcome.

The early depth concerns with the offensive line snowballed, as protection breakdowns led to Sanchez frequently on the turf and a brief line-up change in the second quarter. The Jets dug themselves into a hole early, with their first five offensive series amounting to 18 plays, two first downs, three turnovers and two defensive touchdowns by the Ravens (3-1).

“Things are going wrong because defenses are getting in the backfield,” receiver Santonio Holmes said. “That’s why the timing is off.”

On the Jets’ first play of the game, safety Ed Reed blitzed from Sanchez’s blind side. A communication error on the line left him unblocked, and Reed knocked the football out of his throwing hand. Linebacker Jameel McClain returned the fumble for a 9-yard touchdown.

McKnight — one player who did perform well, enough for the Jets to try him for a play on defense — responded with his kick return, nearly untouched to the end zone. But the Ravens were back in the lead before long.

With back-to-back drives of nine plays and eight plays, Baltimore scored on a 38-yard field goal and Rice’s touchdown, for a 17-7 lead.

The Jets’ offensive error reel dug their hole even deeper. Their second fumble came on a botched shotgun snap from rookie center Colin Baxter — filling in for the injured Nick Mangold — and was recovered by the Ravens’ Paul Kruger to set up a 38-yard field goal.

On the Jets’ next series, Baxter was replaced at center by Matt Slauson, and Vlad Ducasse took Slauson’s spot at left guard — before the team realized those changes didn’t help, either.

After the line-up switch, massive tackle Haloti Ngata came through the left side of the offensive line and drilled Sanchez. Jarret Johnson recovered the fumble — which Ryan hotly contested — and punched in a 26-yard score, to lead 27-7.

Harris’ interception return — with 6:17 left in the first half — was the Jets’ first good play since McKnight’s kick-off return touchdown. The Jets’ only offensive score came before the half, on a 40-yard field goal.

But any hope of a comeback dissolved in the third quarter. With the Jets at Baltimore’s 27-yard-line after a forced fumble, Sanchez threw to Holmes late in the flat. Lardarius Webb snared the pass and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown.

More coverage:

Tight end Dustin Keller said the offense has too much ability for just 150 net yards and seven first downs. Cornerback Darrelle Revis said it isn’t much fun around the Jets right now, and running back LaDainian Tomlinson admitted he is not sure how to fix this — but just one win would help.

“This is a long run, and we’ve got to get better in a hurry,” Ryan said. “You’re not going to be perfect, but we’ve got to be good enough.”

For more Jets coverage, follow Jenny Vrentas on Twitter at twitter.com/Jennyvrentas

Jenny Vrentas: jvrentas@starledger.com

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M(cKnight) & M(aybin) Provide Some Highlights

By Andrew LeRay

Posted 2 hours ago

For the most part, it was a game the Jets would like to soon forget. The 34-17 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore was devoid of offensive highlights for both teams. Quarterbacks combined for 21 completions on 66 attempts, and of the 51 combined points, there was just one offensive touchdown.

Despite the offensive struggles, there were two Jets whose performances stood out. Second-year RB Joe McKnight and third-year LB Aaron Maybin both refused to lie down in the face of the hungry Ravens.

With the Jets in a quick 7-0 hole, they needed a quick rebuttal. Enter McKnight.

On the kickoff after Baltimore's early score, Billy Cundiff sent a booming kickoff 7 yards deep into the Jets’ end zone and McKnight ran it out. One hundred seven yards later, McKnight was in the opposite end zone — and in the record books as he completing the longest play in New York Jets history.

Although having only returned two kicks this season coming into the game, McKnight was not at all surprised by his record-setting run.

“I was saying all week that I was going to try to run one back,” he said. “I was telling everyone on the kickoff return team to hold their blocks and we would break one out.”

The banner night continued for McKnight in the second quarter as he found himself in a strange situation: on defense. With the Jets down, 27-7, and the Ravens in third-and-long at their 34, McKnight applied enough pressure on QB Joe Flacco to force an errant pass that fell into the waiting arms of LB David Harris, who then returned the interception for his first career touchdown.

“I’ve been working on defense every day for the last couple of weeks,” said McKnight. “I just have to wait for them to call my play and I’ll go in there and do my job.

While McKnight was active and effective on special teams and on defense, Maybin reintroduced himself to Jets Nation.

On a third-and-9 play in the third quarter, Ravens QB Joe Flacco dropped back, tried to scramble but was chased down by a frenetic Maybin. The diving pursuit resulted in the ball getting punched out for a fumble by Flacco and represented Maybin’s first career sack.

The sack comes three seasons after being drafted in the first round by the Buffalo Bills, but wasn’t enough to remove the entire sour taste left behind after the loss.

“It’s kind of an empty feeling,” said Maybin. “I’m a guy who personal statistics never mean anything to unless we win. It was just another day.”

Maybin downplayed the importance of the sack and forced fumble as the ensuing offensive play resulted in an interception return for a touchdown by Ravens’ CB Lardarius Webb. However, the chance to take the field and play a meaningful role in the Jets’ defense was a thrill for the young linebacker.

“That part felt great,” he said. “Obviously, it’s been a rough few years, constantly being in different systems. It does feel good. It finally feels like I’m somewhere where I belong.”

In a night that was clouded by sloppy play, McKnight and Maybin both shined for the Green & White. Now 2-2, the Jets must travel to New England for their next game Sunday in hopes of rebounding after two consecutive road losses.

After the game, McKnight stressed the importance for his teammates to remain positive and have a short memory after suffering such a lopsided loss.

“Everybody has that mentality," he said. "Unfortunately, things happen and we have to move on. We can’t just sit here and dwell on it. We’ve got to move on to the next week.”

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Winners & losers from Jets loss to Ravens

| More Print

9:35 AM, October 3, 2011 ι By BRIAN COSTELLO

The Jets delivered a dud Sunday night in Baltimore, losing 34-17. The Ravens defense had its way with the Jets, scoring three touchdowns. Here's a look at the Jets winners and losers in last night's game:

WINNERS

Joe McKnight – The second-year running back showed a variety of skills. He revived the Jets – albeit temporarily – with a 107-yard kickoff return in the first quarter. The return was the longest play in Jets history. McKnight returned kicks because normal return man Antonio Cromartie is nursing bruised ribs and a bruised lung. McKnight later lined up on defense at cornerback. He blitzed Joe Flacco, causing the Ravens quarterback to throw a bad pass that David Harris intercepted for a touchdown. McKnight was a popular target of critics as a rookie, but he showed his value Sunday night.

Aaron Maybin – OK, I admit it. I scratched my head when the Jets brought this Bills castoff back last week. Now, I see what the Jets were thinking. He showed great speed off the ball, sacking Flacco and forcing a fumble, which the Jets recovered. He came close on another play. Maybin played only a few snaps but he had an impact. He had more impact in one game than "designated pass rusher" Jamaal Westerman has had all season.

Darrelle Revis – It's easy to lose sight of how great Revis is because quarterbacks so rarely test him. Ravens receivers had zero impact in this game. Revis moved around, covering different receivers. Anquan Boldin had one catch, and it wasn't against Revis. Torrey Smith had one catch for one yard.

LOSERS

Mark Sanchez – The Jets quarterback must still be picking pieces of M&T Bank Stadium grass out of his teeth. The Ravens beat Sanchez up, and he made some terrible decisions. He said he wasn't rattled by the Ravens D, but he looked like he was. Four turnovers that led to 24 points – it doesn't get much worse than that. The Jets had hope in the third quarter after recovering a fumble down 27-17, then Sanchez threw a brutal pick to Lardarius Webb that he ran back 73 yards for a touchdown. Sanchez never saw Webb and decided where he was going to throw the ball before the snap. Sanchez needs to protect the ball.

The offensive line – As bad as Sanchez was, the offensive line did not help his cause. This group has been one of the strengths of the Jets over the past three years. Now it’s the team's biggest weakness. Backup center Colin Baxter got yanked in the second quarter, but would come back. Vlad Ducasse showed he's not ready to play. Even Pro Bowler D'Brickashaw Ferguson had two terrible plays. He should have picked up Ed Reed's blitz on the first play of the game, and Ducasse released Haloti Ngata to Ferguson, but he did not block him. Both miscues led to sacks and fumbles that were returned for touchdowns.

Mike Tannenbaum – The offensive line problem falls on the general manager. Tannenbaum overestimated how good Wayne Hunter would be when Damien Woody retired. He failed to address the depth on the offensive line when Rob Turner broke his leg in the preseason. All of it is coming back to bite the Jets.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/jetsblog/winners_losers_from_jets_loss_to_d3Q4FTwytgcOU8MTtp15HL#ixzz1ZjIAPxXB

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Blame not Mark Sanchez

by Ted Berg on October 3rd, 2011 at 10:22 am

But Mark Sanchez is the reason the Jets lost to the Ravens, 34-17. He was really dreadful, with three of his four turnovers returned for touchdowns and the other setting up a field goal.

- Gary Myers, N.Y. Daily News.

Sanchez did not play well. That’s true. He fumbled twice and made the terrible, desperate decision to try to force the ball to Santonio Holmes on what wound up a coffin-nailing interception and touchdown by Lardarius Webb.

But there’s just no way “Sanchez is the reason the Jets lost to the Ravens.” His gaffes all came thanks to awful, awful play from his offensive line. It’s easy to point the blame at the handsome, GQ-model of a quarterback when everything goes wrong, in part because no one was expecting much from Colin Baxter, Wayne Hunter and the Jets’ battered offensive line.

Think about it this way, though: If Sanchez and Joe Flacco changed places yesterday, and Sanchez helmed the Ravens’ offense instead of the Jets’ “offense,” which team would have come out on top? The Ravens, of course. Flacco made his share of bad throws and poor decisions, but had way more time with which to make them. Plus, the Jets’ inability to run the ball inside forced them to throw, which combined with their struggle to slow the Ravens’ pass rush to leave Sanchez looking like a three-legged (but still handsome) deer limping in Haloti Ngata’s crosshairs.

The Ravens have a strong defensive front, no doubt, and a series of schemes that confounded the Jets’ linemen. But none of the Jets’ front five — not even the usually great D’Brickashaw Ferguson — adjusted well enough to keep Sanchez from getting crushed on almost every passing play. And now that the line has been exposed as a glaring weakness, every defensive coordinator in the NFL should be thumping his chest over the opportunity to showcase his front seven and bolster his resume.

The small, personal upside to this is that it seems to have drawn into public consciousness the importance of center Nick Mangold to the Jets’ offense. As a former center, I’ve been barking Maddenisms for years about the value of a great blocker and strong communicator in the middle of a line only to be drowned out fantasy-guru types shouting about this quarterback’s arm strength and that runningback’s elusiveness. Truth is, if your line sucks so does your offense. That’s the story for the Jets right now.

Until Mangold gets healthy or the rest of the line makes some major improvements, Mark Sanchez will continue looking frightened and awful. Then when Mangold returns and the line play improves, we’ll hear all about the Sanchise Redemption and the Return of the Poise. And that will be welcome, because no one should look that bad on the field and this good off of it:

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Schwartz: Is It Time For The Jets To Panic?

October 3, 2011 10:17 AM

Reporting Peter Schwartz

By Peter Schwartz

here’s really not much to say after what we all saw on Sunday night.

Well, some of you might want to say something that I can’t print in this blog but you get my drift. Gang Green turned in an abysmal offensive performance in a 34-17 loss to the Ravens.

Baltimore rattled Mark Sanchez all night long to the tune of three defensive touchdowns and a total of 24 points off of turnovers. It seemed like Sanchez was hit almost every play as the offensive line, once again without Nick Mangold, was about as useful as five mannequins.

It got so bad, at one point, that Rex Ryan actually thought that Vladimir Ducasse could help. Colin Baxter took a couple of series off so Matt Slauson moved over to center and Ducasse came in to play left guard

Not exactly Pro Bowl material there.

So where do the Jets stand right now? Well, they have lost two straight and sit at 2-2, one game back of both the Bills and Patriots with a trip to New England looming this Sunday.

I’m not usually one to press the panic button after four games, but we have reached the quarter pole of the season and its clear that we don’t know what the Jets identity is just yet.

They want to be a “Ground and Pound” offense, but the running game has been basically non-existent. The Jets wanted to take the training wheels off of Sanchez a bit more this year and they surrounded him with the weapons to do it.

Unfortunately for him, the protection has not been there and he’s spent way too much time on his back.

While I think its time to panic, I don’t think for a second that the Jets can’t get things straightened out. I thought the defense played very well Sunday night and you knew at some point that Mike Pettine’s crew would come together.

But the offense has become a very scary concern. Throughout training camp, there were built in excuses that allowed for some time to turn the other way when you saw some problems.

Brandon Moore was coming off of off-season hip surgery.

Plaxico Burress sprained an ankle seemingly five minutes after he showed up at Florham Park.

Derrick Mason was banged up. Same for Nick Mangold and Shonn Greene. And on and on and on.

But the prevailing thought was that things would be just fine when the games began for real.

That hasn’t happened and it’s been a collective failure. Ryan takes a lot of pride in his defense but he has to spend some more time focusing on what was supposed to be another strength on a team that was supposed to contend for a Super Bowl berth.

An offense with plenty of weapons that, right now, is shooting blanks.

It won’t get any easier this Sunday against the arch rival Patriots in New England. The Jets are staring a three game losing streak right in the face if things don’t change.

They should have Nick Mangold back this week and that will help. But there is an overall air of uncertainty clouding this offensive group and that has to change. Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will take some heat this week and he probably deserves it.

But like anything else, everything starts at the top. And Ryan has to spent a little more time being a head coach that runs the whole ship than a former defensive coordinator who is now in charge but thinks of himself only as a defensive guy.

Although it was a brutal night, congrats to Joe McKnight for pulling off the longest play in Jets history with a 107-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Mike Westhoff continues to work his magic and the Jets need this kind of production from special teams while the offense finds itself.

And the Jets also scored a defensive touchdown as David Harris found the end zone after an interception.

Who would have thought that the Jets would have a kickoff return for a touchdown and a defensive touchdown in the same game and lose?

t happened.

ANOTHER FORMER JETS SOUNDS OFF

This probably won’t get as much play as Joe Namath’s comments last week about the team’s preparations, but former Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins had some interesting Facebook posts on Sunday night.

“Jets got rid of the players with the heart. End of story!!!”

“

Ppl getting sensitive. Rex said superbowl. I can be nicer if we accept that might not happen this year.”

“Here is the honest truth. Sanchez is a good quarterback. But the Jets can’t afford good. They need exceptional, and they need exceptional play calling. The money is in the skill positions. So the lines need to be good enough to let the money players get the job done. That takes exceptional coaching. Or just fold the tent and prepare for next year. We can win but the team needs to evolve. Can’t bank on last year.”

“The offensive play calling was horrendous. You play to your strengths, Shotty clearly has some issues with making adjustments in real time. Failure by the offensive coaching staff. Who in their right mind puts Vlad in the game. He doesn’t have a shadow cause he can’t even block the sun man geeeeezzzus.”

Jenkins fired some shots here. It’s interesting because he is not that far removed from his playing career. Jenkins has clearly made the transition from player to broadcaster. However, if he wants to be a member of the media, he can’t refer to the Jets as “we”.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Jets will spend Monday picking up the pieces before taking a day off on Tuesday. Safety Jim Leonhard will join Joe and Evan on Tuesday morning and it will be interesting to hear his comments on what transpired on Sunday night.

On Wednesday, the Jets are back on the practice field to begin preparations for the Patriots. It’s a big week for the Jets. Can they get things turned around? It should be a fascinating week at the Atlantic Health Training Center. When does the finger pointing start and when do things spiral out of control?

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Memo From Ravens ‘D’ To Jets’ Rex: You Made This, Now Live With It

October 3, 2011 12:00 PM

NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — Rex Ryan can’t lament this defeat for long. He and the Jets have another grudge match coming up.

As for the Ravens? They have a week off to savor Sunday’s win over their ex-defensive coordinator.

Baltimore scored three touchdowns off turnovers by Mark Sanchez in a 34-17 victory Sunday night. Baltimore’s three scores on defense were the most in franchise history.

Jameel McClain took a fumble by Sanchez 6 yards for a touchdown on New York’s first offensive play, Jarret Johnson scored on a 26-yard fumble return and Lardarius Webb put the Ravens up by 17 points in the third quarter by taking an interception 73 yards into the end zone.

The Ravens (3-1) held the Jets (2-2) to just 150 yards and seven first downs in taking over sole possession of first place in the AFC North.

“The best defensive effort I thought I had ever seen or the most amazing defensive performance I thought I’d ever seen was the Pittsburgh game with seven turnovers,” coach John Harbaugh said, referring to Baltimore’s season-opening 35-7 rout. “But this topped it. That’s pretty impressive, to say the least.”

What made it even better was that it came against Ryan, who served 10 years with the Ravens until taking the Jets job before the 2009 season.

“He created this and now he has to deal with us,” Johnson said. “It was fun.”

Not so for Ryan.

“I’ve been around football a long time and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Ryan said. “The performance by their defense was spectacular. They were coming after us. That’s a Ravens defense. It reminded me of the 2000 and 2006 defenses.”

Next up for the Jets: A trip to New England for a game against the Patriots.

A week ago, New York gave up 234 yards rushing in a loss to the Oakland Raiders. This defeat can be attributed to Sanchez, who threw an interception and fumbled four times, losing three. He went 11 for 35 for 119 yards, and the only score he produced was a field goal by Nick Folk after a 25-yard drive.

“He struggled mightily, there’s no question about it,” Ryan said. “It wasn’t his best day, that’s for sure, but he’s our quarterback and I believe in him.”

New York has lost seven straight to the Ravens, the last two with Ryan on the Jets sideline. New York’s touchdowns came on a 107-yard kickoff return by Joe McKnight and a 35-yard interception return by David Harris.

The Ravens got 17 points off three fumbles by Sanchez to take a 27-7 lead in the second quarter, and although the Jets cut the gap to 10, they were unable to complete the comeback.

“We all had our share in this loss,” Sanchez said. “I’m fine pointing out my mistakes; as far as my mistakes, I’ll take the blame for it.”

The Jets came out trying to pass. In hindsight, it might not have been a good idea.

“The passing game early in the season has been doing pretty well,” tight end Dustin Keller said. “We’re a run first team and without that, we can’t do what we want to do. So we have to correct that.”

Plaxico Burress, who had three catches for 33 yards, said, “We’ll be fine. I’ve been through this before, where you lose a couple games in a row. We’ll come out Wednesday focused on winning in New England.”

Down 27-17, New York got the ball on the Baltimore 27 after Joe Flacco fumbled when Jets linebacker Aaron Maybin picked up his first career sack.

On the next play, Webb picked off a pass by Sanchez intended for Santonio Holmes on the right sideline and sprinted into the end zone with 8:49 left in the third quarter.

Game over.

“There is no need to panic right now,” Burress said. “There is too much football left.”

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Paul Kruger mixes it up with Derrick Mason

Former and current Ravens trade shoves, words

By Edward Lee

10:00 a.m. EDT, October 3, 2011

Paul Kruger hasn’t lit up the stat sheet in his three years with the Ravens, but the outside linebacker may have made an indelible impression when he exchanged a few pleasantries with New York Jets wide receiver Derrick Mason.

On third down-and-8 from the Jets’ 36-yard line, Mason, a former Raven, caught a pass from quarterback Mark Sanchez, but was wrestled to the turf by Kruger one yard short of a first down.

Afterward, Kruger and Mason traded some shoves, and other players joined in the fray before cooler heads prevailed.

Click here to find out more!

“That just kind of comes with the game,” said Kruger, who recovered a fumble and tipped away a pass. “People are getting intense, and he might not have liked the way I tackled him or whatever it was. That just comes with it, and after the game, everybody forgets about that stuff. It’s just kind of one of those things.”

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Mason said he bore no hard feelings toward Kruger.

“It is what it is – it’s football,” Mason said in quotes distributed by the Ravens. “I wish I had the opportunity to talk to him afterwards and ask him why he did that. I am only 150 pounds, and he is about 300, and he pushed me at the end. But it’s football, and I like it that way. He is a good guy, and I have known him for the six years that I was around. I don’t take it personally. What happens between the lines, stays between the lines. When it is over with, they are back to being buddies again.”

Copyright © 2011, The Baltimore Sun

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Quick hits: Ravens defense deserves all the credit it can get

Moving Ed Reed around the field seemed to make Jets flustered

By Matt Vensel

1:18 a.m. EDT, October 3, 2011

Facing their outspoken former defensive coordinator in primetime, the Ravens defense delivered a dominant performance in a 34-17 victory that, believe it or not, made Rex Ryan sound subdued as he tackled tough questions at his post-game press conference. That his New York Jets defense shut down the Ravens was of no consolation to him as he left M&T Bank Stadium with a loss.

Here are my quick-hit thoughts after the Ravens forced four turnovers and held the Jets to seven first downs and 150 yards of total offense during a showcase game on NBC’s "Sunday Night Football."

1. Much of the talk on Monday will focus on the offense, but let’s first give credit where it is due. The Baltimore defense, one of the NFL’s most formidable units over the past decade and a half, did something it has never done, scoring three touchdowns in a game. Jameel McClain, Jarret Johnson and Lardarius Webb each strutted into the end zone after Mark Sanchez turnovers, and the common denominator was heavy quarterback pressure. Ed Reed and Haloti Ngata forced fumbles that led to touchdowns, and Terrell Suggs crunched Sanchez as he threw a pick-six to Webb.

2. I liked what the Ravens, who were short-handed at cornerback, did with Ed Reed, moving him all over the field like the Steelers do with their own Pro Bowl safety, Troy Polamalu. Reed set the tone for the game when he blitzed Sanchez from his blind side in the first quarter, sacking the Jets quarterback from behind and knocking the ball out of his hands. At other times during the game, Reed lined up near the line of scrimmage and feigned a blitz, only to drop back into coverage. The Ravens were in Sanchez’s face all game, but Reed was clearly in his head, too.

3. Just in case Dustin Keller forgot who Ray Lewis was, the Ravens linebacker reintroduced himself to the Jets tight end with a hard hit in the fourth quarter. That played looked familiar, didn’t it? It would have been a carbon copy of his 2010 tackle of the year had Keller not ducked for cover.

4. OK, let’s talk about that impotent offense. Instead of trying to exploit a New York run defense that was torn apart by Oakland last weekend, Baltimore came out passing in the first half, and it was painful to watch. Joe Flacco completed eight of his 27 first-half pass attempts and threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Meanwhile, the Ravens ran the rock 11 times before halftime. Pass proponents will point out that they averaged 2.6 yards per carry at the half, but Ray Rice and his linemen never got an opportunity to get in a rhythm. Thankfully, offensive coordinator Cam Cameron adjusted his philosophy as the Ravens sucked on orange slices in the locker room. Flacco threw four passes the rest of the way as the Ravens squeezed out the clock.

5. That being said, even though I didn’t agree with the pass-heavy attack, Flacco was unable to execute Cameron’s game plan. This win will go down as one of the worst statistical games of his career, and I’m actually surprised that his passer rating was 37.4; I thought it would be lower (for comparison sake, Sanchez’s was 30.5). Just like the Ravens defense, the Jets deserve props, too, but the inconsistency on offense should now be a legit concern. Flacco and the Ravens offense lit up the scoreboard in two of their first four games, but they stunk up the joint in the other two.

6. I think we can all agree that those swing passes and screen plays to Vonta Leach need to be ripped out of the playbook. They are now officially the Donte’ Stallworth end-arounds of 2011.

7. The Jets showed Torrey Smith a lot of respect. I figured Anquan Boldin would see a steady dose of Darrelle Revis, but the Pro Bowl cornerback was often on Smith’s side of the field in the first half. Smith got behind the defense a couple of times, too, but Flacco couldn’t drop it into him.

8. Fun fact: Flacco targeted Ed Dickson 12 times, but the second-year tight end came up with just four catches for 45 yards. Still, I love the athleticism that Dickson brings to the Ravens offense.

9. One more thing I love: Ray Rice in the slot. The Ravens have toyed with lining Rice up in the slot or out wide in the past. Now they’re actually throwing it to him, giving him an opportunity to get downfield quicker. His 52-yard catch-and-run was the team’s best offensive play of the night.

10. Allow me to look big picture in one small sentence: The 3-1 Ravens are in first place.

Copyright © 2011, The Baltimore Sun

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Sanchez Part of the Problem, But Not the Whole Problem

by Bassett on October 3rd, 2011 at 9:48 am

Gary Myers writes this morning for Daily News that when teams go into a tailspin, it’s supposed to be the quarterback that helps pull them out, but for the Jets, when he’s part of the reason they are there in the first place … what’s to be done?

When a team is going bad, it’s up to the quarterback to get things turned around. But Mark Sanchez is the reason the Jets lost to the Ravens, 34-17. He was really dreadful, with three of his four turnovers returned for touchdowns and the other setting up a field goal.

"Well, I mean, he struggled mightily," Rex Ryan said. "There’s no question about it. He had a 30.5 rating. It wasn’t his best day, that’s for sure, but he’s our quarterback and I believe in him. We’ve had some ups and downs before. We’ve had one worse than this one, believe it or not. We’re just the men for the job. We’ll get this thing fixed."

This was the worst game Sanchez played since his five-interception meltdown against Buffalo in his rookie year. But he’s now in his third year and these kind of awful performances were supposed to be in the past, especially for a team that has been predicting the Super Bowl.

"We believe in Mark," Darrelle Revis said. "It was a great defense over there we were going up against. We can’t get panicky. It’s a long season."

Sanchez had a terrible, terrible game. All day Sunday, I had a dread going into the game and once the game got underway I was not in any way disabused of that notion. It never looked right. Sanchez is a good QB in good conditions, but at this point in his career he’s not yet the type of QB who can rise above the level of play of his offensive line like someone like Roethlisberger can.

If the Jets want to get right, then they need to get Sanchez right. To get Sanchez right, they need to get their line right. Getting Nick Mangold back for the game next week would help, but it’s not the whole answer. Turner is out now for the season, Vlad Ducasse looks like he might never be worthy of his drafting and Wayne Hunter is still a backup masking as a starter playing the third most crucial spot on the line.

Unless the Jets wise up, and use some of their cap room on an available veteran player, it’s not going to be enough.

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Can Mangold Get the Jets Back on Track?

By BEN SHPIGEL

How will the Jets recover from another beating heading into a crucial game in New England?

Above all, their priority is stabilizing the offensive line. The easiest – and most obvious – solution involves someone who didn’t even take a snap Sunday night: Nick Mangold. If he can come back after a two-game absence, as Rex Ryan expects, the Jets would regain the best center in football, the man in charge of making checks and calls at the line.

Mangold’s absence was felt in Oakland, but much more so Sunday night, when the Jets struggled to protect Mark Sanchez, who committed four turnovers and was hit 10 times. Mangold’s replacement, Colin Baxter, fired a snap too hard off Sanchez’s hands that was recovered by Baltimore, and was benched for a time when the Jets, in a move that could be construed as reactionary, rotated Matt Slauson to center and inserted Vlad Ducasse at guard.

It is no guarantee that Mangold would rejuvenate the Jets’ running game, but at this point, it can’t get much worse. Through Sunday’s games, the Jets have rushed for 284 yards, 28th in the N.F.L., and their average of 3.1 yards per carry is better than only Detroit (3.0) and Tennessee (2.8).

“This football team cannot be successful when we’re rushing for 38 yards,” Ryan said. “There’s no chance.”

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Inside Sanchez's dismal performance

October, 3, 2011

Oct 3

3:01

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Comments1

By Rich Cimini

Mark Sanchez was blitzed on the first play, Ed Reed's strip sack for a touchdown, and he was under siege throughout the games by the Ravens' defense. Get this: The Ravens blitzed at least one defensive back on 13 of Sanchez's 38 dropbacks, according to ESPN Stats and Information.

That doesn't happen too often. In fact, only Sam Bradford and Jay Cutler have seen more DB blitzes in a single game this season (both in Week 2). Sanchez and the Jets' offense are having trouble with pressure because, if you recall, the Cowboys (and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan) came after them hard in Week 1.

Mark Sanchez vs Ravens Secondary Pressure

Dropbacks -- 13

Overthrows -- 4

Completions -- 3

Turnovers -- 2 (both TDs)

Sanchez passing: 5 yards or fewer downfield

The Jets' offense was so out of sync that Sanchez struggled to complete the shortest of passes. Do did Ravens QB Joe Flacco, for that matter. Each threw an interception and averaged less than four yards per attempt on throws shorter thsan six yards. Coming into the game, both were among the league leaders in that category.

Category .... Sanchez .... Flacco

Comp pct ..... 33.3 ..... 36.4

Yds per att ..... 1.2 ..... 3.3

NFL Pass rtg .... 7.64 .... 8.14

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Identifying the Cracks: The Offensive Line

by Bassett on October 3rd, 2011 at 11:47 am

Mark Sanchez #6 Of The New York Jets Hands

“If we don’t identify the cracks, we’re going to keep on having the same problems. I don’t know who’s going to fix it, but somebody’s got to man up and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get this done. (Cut) the dumb stuff.’”

– Derrick Mason

So where are all the cracks that Mason is talking about? Let’s talk about it in cause and effect fashion. We’ll start this series with what we think was the most important reason and the first domino to fall, then continue on throughout the day and tomorrow with the other following reasons on why this team can’t get out of their own way.

First off, as currently constituted, the Offensive Line is terrible.

It pains me as much to write it as it does to have you read it, but last year the Jets had a very good offensive line and they had two quality backups that were able to kick in when needed. While the backups were never starter quality for this team, they’d do in a pinch … and with the relative health of the Jets OL unit for the past three years, the Jets OL was rarely, if ever pinched.

Even with the talented skill players the team had, the strength of the offensive unit was undoubtedly the offensive line. They had three former first rounders at the most important spots (Brick, Mangold, Woody) and then two players that were groomed by the organization … one a veteran (Moore) who had been holding his own for years while the other was fresh meat (Slauson) who played for OL Coach Bill Callahan in college and whom was conveniently sandwiched between two of their young cornerstones.

Cimini stumped loudly for Brandon Moore to be considered as one of the best guards in the league, and while we think Moore’s good … we do think that the constant extolling of Moore’s virtues last year was starting to ring a little hollow by January. Moore’s good, but let’s not get carried away … he’s not exactly Steve Hutchinson reborn. In summation, the line was good, but not to be confused with great.

Fast forward to 2011. The Jets OL has a reputation that has carried them through some of their moves early in the year respective to the unit. The Jets cut Right Tackle Damien Woody to make a change at one of their most vital spots. Conventional wisdom was that the Jets would bring back Woody at a reduced salary, but it never happened. Then there was a buzz that Ducasse might be the man for the spot. But that had to be a frightening notion – even to the Jets. There was a thought that maybe cutting Woody was another “cut him a year too early” move like the team made with Alan Faneca … not a bad thought, but at the tackle spot it was riskier. From what I hear, Woody didn’t return because of any hesitance on his part. By every indication, he wanted to come back and play – but the Jets were just not serious about having him do so. Strike one.

And so the Jets chased Nnamdi Asomougha at the start of the free agency period, to the neglect of their offensive line. In what seemed at the time a calculated move, the Jets promoted their career backup Wayne Hunter (who’s already 30) and whom in his limited time as a starter or replacement never overly impressed me to become the new full-time starter at the Right Tackle spot.

Then to make matters worse, the Jets lost Rob Turner in the preseason’s first game. Strike two. If claxon alarms weren’t going off in the Jets front office at that point …

But the Jets continue to ignore the issue. Plowing on with increasing lower level talent in backup spots. The Jets are forced to fully retool their bench from a year ago behind Vlad Ducasse, who’s no an inspiring figure – to anyone. Once Turner was out, that was the sign to many fans that any pretense about this unit’s dominance was eroding … and just an injury away from sheer panic. But the Jets made no major moves despite what appeared to be serious concerns about the unit’s readiness.

What made matters with Turner worse was that they let the string play out for over a month, keeping a roster spot for him, before ultimately shelving him for the season just about a week ago. The Jets should have either fished or cut bait … but they decided to do both … crippling their ability to add a veteran to the roster during the cutdown process only to shelve him for the year just weeks later. The initial diagnosis was that Turner should be coming back to the field in the coming days … over-optimism, I suppose.

Across the field last night, the Ravens took a different approach during the preseason. Veteran Center Matt Birk was injured and the Ravens sought to bolster their line’s depth. While other teams were cutting players like Bryant McKinnie and Andre Gurode, the Ravens snapped up the two talented vets. Both players played last night in the game – both players were instrumental in establishing the Ravens line of scrimmage. While no one is going to send Gurode and McKinnie to the Pro Bowl, the Ravens strategy of shoring up their line sure looked like it’s working out better than whatever the Jets have been doing this year – especially since Turner’s injury.

Once Mangold went out, the roof officially caved in for the Jets.

Strike three.

And yet the Jets are still sitting amongst the debris. Instead of bringing in a veteran to help out, the Jets have entrusted an undrafted rookie at the Center spot who they found off waivers just weeks ago as a player who touches the ball on each and every offensive play of the game. Blame who you want about the missed snaps last night, but remember that Baxter’s just a soldier carrying out orders the best he can. It’s not working, and it hasn’t worked since Baxter was forced to play against the Jaguars, but the Jets just keep inexplicably doing it hoping for better results. Here’s a fact, Baxter has not played well, and beyond poor play, he’s also distracting his other line-mates from their true assignments, putting Mark Sanchez in harm’s way. Sorry, but Sanchez isn’t yet the sort of player to rise above the chaos going on in front of him yet. Maybe someday, but not today.

In desperation, the Jets tried Slauson at Center for a bit last night, and while it wasn’t horrific, Vlad Ducasse sabotaged using Slauson there. Shortly thereafter, Sanchez was doing rocksplosions with Colin Baxter while practicing their snaps on the sideline. After the game Ryan said they were letting Baxter compose himself – but the truth is evident. The Jets would rather play Colin Baxter at Center than have their supposed #1 backup Vlad Ducasse in the game in any capacity. A kick in the balls would feel better than knowing that fact.

It is a painful realization of just how far this unit has fallen from grace. Yet I still wonder if the Jets even get it.

So, what’s to be done now?

How do they fix the cracks, or in this case, the gaping holes? Even if Mangold can play next week, it doesn’t address all the line’s problems. They can’t go back in time and un-IR Turner – which means that they’re still very susceptible to injuries across the line. Given the prospect of having Vlad Ducasse or a healthy Rob Turner play Left Tackle in the event of a Ferguson injury … who would you have rather played there?

I know my answer.

Even when Mangold was playing, the offensive line wasn’t generating a push to run the ball effectively – and so the Jets have been forced to throw it. If they are spending more time pass protection, this then means their linemen are going to take more of a beating over the rest of the season. Most lineman secretly hate pass protection for that very reason. Like it or not, the Jets need to add one or two veteran depth players at the OL spot – even if just as backups to post-pre-emptively stem the tide against further injuries.

Rewind back to the draft for a moment. Remember hearing buzz that the Jets were serious about drafting an offensive lineman? Wayne Hunter is a big part of the reason they must have considered it. Vlad too. Wayne Hunter has gotten off easy in this post, but there’s no mistaking that he is a big part of dragging this unit down. He’s not getting the proper road grading push for a true Right Tackle, and he’s a detriment in pass protection if up against an athletic end. This then means the Jets need to re-deploy more resources (How much time was Mulligan on the right side of the line last night? Like every play?) to his side.

If the Jets can find someone off the free agent wire who they think has a remote chance at challenging Hunter at the Right Tackle spot, then they need to put the players through their paces for the starting spot. I know it’s more chaos and more drama for the team mid-season but if the Jets’ are actually serious about their stated goal of getting to the Super Bowl, then there’s no way this unit as currently constituted can take them there.

The picking might be slim, but are they any worse than what we’ve already seen?

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Run Blocking Gives Shonn Greene No Chance

There are two factors that determine the success of the run game. One is the running back. The other is run blocking. When the run game struggles, it is easy to say both at fault. I really do not think that is the case with the Jets, though.

Some say it is a 50/50 split in importance between the back and his blockers. I think a lot more goes on the blockers, though. A good back certainly needs to have the vision to identify holes, the speed to get through them, and the strength to grind out extra yardage once touched. When the line opens no holes, though, the back has no chance. Greene is getting hit in the backfield consistently. Even if he does not go down,he is slowed down or stopped and forced in a direction where another defender has an easy clean up tackle. Once one guy gets penetration into the backfield, a hole is usually opened for other defenders to follow.

There was one play last night where Greene probably did not read his blocks properly. He needed to cut inside instead of breaking to the outside trying to gain the edge. The rest of the time, he really had no chance. You are not going to gain yardage if you have no opening to get through.

Greene might not be a starting caliber back in this league, but what we have seen in 2011 offers no indication whether this is so. There is not a back in the league who could have success with the run blocking the Jets have provided him.

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Linebacker Bryan Thomas out for the season with torn Achilles

BY Manish Mehta

Outside linebacker Bryan Thomas will miss the rest of the season due to a torn Achilles, the team announced today. Thomas was injured midway through the first quarter of the Jets' 34-17 loss to the Ravens last night. He lined up on the defensive left side as a down lineman and rushed the edge against Ravens' right tackle Michael Oher. Thomas then fell awkwardly to the ground and immediately grabbed his lower left leg.

An MRI this morning confirmed the season-ending Achilles tendon injury.

Thomas, who entered his 10th season with Gang Green, was the longest tenured Jet. He had a team-high six sacks last season.