Jets News 10-10

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Kerley takes advantage of increased action

October, 9, 2011

Oct 9

10:33

PM ET

By Matt Ehalt

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.--Derrick Mason's loss was Jeremy Kerley's gain.

The Jets acted on their plan to get the rookie receiver more involved in the action Sunday against the Patriots and Kerley ran with his opportunity, catching three passes for 35 yards and hauling in his first career touchdown. The catches were also the first of his career.

"It was something I was ready for and something I had been preparing myself for all camp, for a big game like this," Kerley said.

Mason, who usually is one of the team's top three receivers, saw a decline in his snaps this weekend because the team wanted to give Kerley "a few more shots," according to Jets head coach Rex Ryan. Kerley said he had been working toward seeing more playing time on the field this week and he was ready for the increased action.

On his touchdown, he found space in the back of the endzone and hauled in a nine-yard catch to cut the Patriots lead to 17-14 early in the third quarter.

"Obviously it brought us back a little closer so I was in the moment, first touchdown, first catch for a touchdown, I was ecstatic," Kerley said.

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Welker still makes big plays against Jets

October, 9, 2011

Oct 9

10:28

PM ET

By Matt Ehalt

FOXBOROUGH, Mas.--All eyes on the Jets' defense focused on the league's leading receiver Wes Welker on Sunday and finding ways to keep him from burning Gang Green. That strategy brought some success -- and as to be expected -- some failures in Sunday's 30-21 loss.

"One thing is we didn't want Wes to beat us this week but he did come out with some big plays," said cornerback Darrelle Revis, who matched up with Welker for most of the day.

While the Jets for the most part did a good job containing Welker on Sunday, they did yield some big plays to the speedy receiver, notably a 73-yard pass in the second half. Welker beat a zone coverage when he ran by Revis and Eric Smith for the 73-yard catch that lead to an eventual Patriots touchdown.

Welker finished with five catches for 124 yards but did not score. That marked his fewest catches this season and his second-lowest yardage total through the first five games of the year.

In the matchup between Revis and Welker, Revis did an admirable job against the slot receiver. According to ESPNBoston.com, Revis covered Welker on 42 plays and held him to two catches for 77 yards, with 73 of those yards coming in a reception against a zone scheme. Welker was targeted three times against Revis and beat him once in man-to-man coverage.

David Butler II/US PresswireWes Welker's 124 yards on five catches went a long way as the Patriots beat Gang Green 30-21.

"We tried to switch it up on him a little bit," Revis said of the coverage against Welker. "I was on him a couple of times, in zone a couple other people were on him, Kyle (Wilson), Donald Strickland. We tried to give him a mixture of things. He made a couple great plays today, especially the big one."

Said Revis with a laugh: "Overall, it didn't look like he had a 216-yard game as he usually does."

For most receivers, a five-catch, 124-yard game would be a great day of work, but for Welker, it didn't meet his season average. Coming into the game, he averaged 10 catches per contest to go with 154 yards per game. To put into context, that's more than the trio of Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason is averaging combined.

Welker acknowledged the challenge of facing off against Revis, who has been known to shutdown some of the top receivers in the league.

"He's always a factor. He's a great player," Welker said. "You definitely have to make sure you're very crisp with all your routes and really set him up with stuff and be smart about it. Every play is go-time when he's across from you. He does a great job with all that. It's a little game of cat and mouse sometimes with him. You just have to keep lugging away and hopefully and hopefully get some big plays every once in a while."

While Welker ultimately did not score in the game, he still helped his team get the win in the big divisional showdown. The Jets and Revis might have limited Welker as much as any team this season but he still had his moments.

"Right now with as hot as Welker is you have to do what you can to take care of him," safety Jim Leonhard said. "He really had two big plays and we made mistakes on both of them and outside of that I thought we did a decent job and you look at the numbers at the end of the day and he has a huge day. It's frustrating, you have to execute for 60 minutes against them, they are tough. They give you a lot of different looks, they do a lot of different things offensively and a lot of matchups you have to make adjustments too and point blank we didn't do a good enough job to win."

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Jets can't make stop when they need it

October, 9, 2011

Oct 9

10:50

PM ET

By Matt Ehalt

When it came time to make a stop, the Jets defense couldn't make a stand.

Trailing by just six with 7:14 left, the Jets defense let the Patriots march 69 yards on 13 plays spanning 6:12 to go up nine and all but seal the game on Sunday. Perhaps even more stunning, the Patriots ran the ball on 11 of those 13 plays and the Jets couldn't figure out how to stop New England.

"It's something we take pride in but they did a great job of spreading us out and trying to run the ball so for us we have to make sure we correct things we need to do," cornerback Antonio Cromartie.

After the Jets sliced the score to 27-21 late in the fourth quarter, the Patriots took over at their own-22 yard line. One stop and the Jets could have had the momentum but they couldn't find a way to get the Patriots off the field.

The key play was a 3rd-and-4 at the Jets 46-yard line with 3:43 remaining. The Patriots used a shotgun snap directly to BenJarvus Green-Ellis and he scampered 14 yards to put the Patriots in field goal position. By the time the Patriots kicked a field goal to make it 30-21, there was just 1:06 left in the game.

"They earned it," Jets coach Rex Ryan said. "The guy ran the ball kind of hard at the end. Kind of surprised me, I thought (Tom) Brady would throw it there. We did have a loaded zone over there, but he found a way to get through and get the first down."

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Mangold returns

October, 9, 2011

Oct 9

11:06

PM ET

By Jane McManus

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Nick Mangold was dressed, backup center Colin Baxter was inactive, and just like that the Jets running game reappeared and Mark Sanchez enjoyed more time in the pocket. So is Mangold really make that much of a difference to the Jets offense?

“He does,” running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. “He’s a guy that’s been around, played a lot of football, he makes all our calls and he’s a heck of a football player. I mean he dominates the guys that he faces every week, so he does make a difference.”

Mangold said the right ankle, which sustained a high sprain in the last game the Jets won in Week 2, said the ankle felt pretty good.

“I wasn’t going to go out there if it wasn’t going to be able to do everything I wanted to,” Mangold said, “so it worked out well.”

His linemates LG Matt Slauson and RG Brandon Moore were happy to see him back.

“Nick is Nick, he’s the best in the league so having him is a big advantage for us,” Slauson said.

“Nick being in there of course helped, guys just rose to the occasion and played pretty well,” Moore said.

Moore noted that it was impossible to be too pleased with Mangold’s return in light of the fact that the Jets lost a winnable game. Mangold admitted that it leaves the 2-3 Jets with ground to make up.

“

It’s a tough spot but there’s still a lot of football to be played.”

Although the running game improved with the return of the all-pro center, the Jets only converted 3 of 11 third downs.

“

You don’t convert on third down it’s going to be very difficult to keep drives going,” Mangold said, “and we struggled there for a little bit.”

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Jets playing-time breakdown

October, 9, 2011

Oct 9

11:23

PM ET

By Rich Cimini

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- A breakdown of the Jets' playing time at the skill positions (press-box view, allow small margin for error):

RUNNING BACKS

Shonn Greene ... 31/53 snaps

LaDainian Tomlinson ... 20

John Conner ... 20

Joe McKnight ... 2

TIGHT ENDS

Dustin Keller ... 44/53 snaps

Matt Mulligan ... 21

Caleb Schlauderaff ... 3

WIDE RECEIVERS

Santonio Holmes .... 52/53 snaps

Plaxico Burress ... 43

Jeremy Kerley ... 18

Derrick Mason ... 5

Patrick Turner ... 1

Analysis: The Jets wanted to get back to Ground & Pound, which explains why Conner played so much. They used a lot of two-back sets ... Mason was benched for the first half, replaced by Kerley in three-receiver sets ... Keller was on the field an awful lot of a guy targeted only twice ... Schlauderaff, a rookie guard, was used as an extra tight end.

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Jets are losing their much-needed bluster, not just important games

Story Highlights

After the Jets' third loss in a row, the team surprisingly looked on the bright side

The Jets wanted to establish the run, but saw the Pats run all over them instead

The team needs to feel a sense of urgency as its season quickly slips away

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Strange and curious vibe in the Jets' locker room after Sunday's deflating 30-21 loss to the Patriots, a team New York beat here at Gillette Stadium in the AFC playoffs not quite nine months ago. To be sure, you could tell the Jets lost this game, but there was a lot of energy spent on finding silver linings in the defeat, and that just doesn't mesh very well with the image of the bold and brash New Yorkers of the three-year Rex Ryan coaching era.

The Jets (2-3) are on a three-game losing streak, they're already two full games behind the co-leading Patriots and Bills (both 4-1) in the AFC East, and their oft-stated preseason goal of winning the division and entering the postseason with a top seed and home playoff games to look forward to seems in jeopardy before mid-October has arrived. So what gives with the glass-half-full approach? This is a franchise that sets the bar extremely high and never backs away from the big talk, and it sounds almost hollow when its players attempt to do so.

"Knowing how good this [Patriots] team is playing here, I think you get some encouragement by making some plays, as far as in the running game and offensively,'' Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson offered. "I don't think we turned the ball over, so that's something to be encouraged by.''

Then came cornerback Darrelle Revis, trying his hand at some optimism: "We did do some great things, but also we did things to hurt us. We've got to correct some things, but [Ryan] did like some of the consistency we had.''

And Plaxico Burress too was reading from the same piece of choir music: "We wanted to come out and run the football at them, which we did,'' Burress pointed out. "Shonn [Greene] did a really good job of running the football and hitting the holes, and the offensive line did a great job of opening up the holes for him. But at the end of the day, we just didn't execute the plays that we needed to execute. You have to be encouraged, and have to take away some of the good things we did today. But at the end of the day, we didn't score enough points.''

Which is another way of putting it when you lose. As in defeat. As in losing streak continues. As in a season that continues to get away from the Jets, Super Bowl predictions notwithstanding.

On one level, I get it. Though disappointed in his slumping club, Ryan decided Sunday evening was not the time to bury it, or read it the riot act. After playing horribly in consecutive losses at Oakland and Baltimore the past two weeks, the Jets played better losing football against New England, but that passed as progress on their sliding scale, and Ryan seized on anything positive he could get his hands on.

But losing by nine points to the team New York has targeted as the biggest obstacle to where it wants to go this season is no reason for even the mildest form of back-slapping. The big, bad Jets aren't being the Jets right now, and talking like they're at the first night of a support-group meeting -- "Hi, I'm Mark Sanchez, and I have a problem'' -- struck me as a form of tone deafness.

"Well, obviously they are the better team right now,'' said Ryan, in opening yet another postgame press conference without any of his trademark bravado. "The score obviously indicated that. I was encouraged though, [by] our team. We did some good things. I thought we got back to some runs and completions. I thought we did a good job offensively there.''

Yeah, but your Jets didn't do such a good job of converting third downs (just 3 of 11, for 27 percent), controlling the clock (just 26:05 of possession), or making the most of its drives (seven of New York's 11 drives were 3-and-outs). And the running game Ryan and his Jets were satisfied enough with? It gained all of 97 yards on 25 carries, for a 3.9 yard average and a long gain of 9.

In reality, it was the pass-happy Patriots who out ground-and-pound(ed) the Jets, rushing for 152 yards on 35 attempts behind BenJarvus Green-Ellis's career-best 136-yard rushing day -- the most productive game for a New England runner in three years.

But Ryan and Co. were determined to stay hopeful and on message in Sunday's postgame, and it was akin to whistling past the graveyard. As if they were trying to talk themselves into a mindset for this season suddenly on the brink, the Jets almost all repeated the notion that it's a long season, there's plenty of football remaining, and that they would stick together through this adversity. You've heard plenty of that before from other struggling clubs, but not the straight-shooting, tell-it-like-it-is Jets.

"I've seen enough football to know this is too early to start panicking and throw in the towel,'' Tomlinson said. "There are times you can't believe something that may be happening, like us losing three games, but we've got a lot of football games left to play. We've got five games in our division left. We don't need to be separating right now on this team. This is the time we need to stick together. I think we've got a good locker room. I think we've got guys who have been around long enough to not panic.''

Trust me, I've covered enough NFL locker rooms to know this: When players start repeating the mantra that it's too early to start panicking, they are almost always in the process of starting to panic. It's as if their hearts are already there, and their heads are trying to talk themselves out of the notion.

Nevermind any of the postgame talking points, the Jets are making things very difficult on themselves. True, a brutal three-game road trip is over, and maybe the rebound is bound to begin because of that happy piece of news. After all, as Tomlinson took pains to point out, New York is 2-0 at home, and 0-3 on the road this season. Next Monday night's home game against winless Miami (0-4) means the schedule is about to turn softer, then comes a visit from San Diego and a revitalizing bye week awaits in Week 8.

But getting in the habit of sugar-coating things can be dangerous for any losing team, especially one that seemingly feeds off its own confidence level as much as Ryan's club. At 2-3, the Jets can't afford to fall much further behind Buffalo and New England and still harbor dreams of hitting the playoffs with one of the AFC's top two or three seeds, if they make the dance at all. That's what a three-game losing streak can do to a contender, and maybe New York could use a little of that cold reality splashed in its face about now.

"I never thought I would be here, losing three straight,'' Ryan said. "But that's where we are right now. We've earned it, and we've got to get better. I have seen this team, and it's a resilient team. I think we'll be right there and I think we'll get better. You know, we are the only NFL team in history to go to the playoffs having overcome two three-game losing streaks (as a No. 6 seed wild card in 2009). We've been down that road before, but to get back to winning, you have to roll your sleeves up and get after it. Start working and preparing and believing in each other and we can turn the tide.''

If anyone got the tone right in the wake of this latest Jets loss, to me it was Sanchez, the team's third-year quarterback and an emerging team leader. When a reporter asked Sanchez if this New York team now needs to change its mentality, forgetting about the goal of securing a home playoff game and a division title, and just grind away for the next 11 games, Sanchez dropped into a modified Jim Mora-like mode with his answer.

"Forget about the postseason right now,'' said Sanchez (think Mora's "Playoffs?!! Playoffs?!!''). "It's not like we're out of this thing, but we need to just win. Just win [and] get back to our winning ways and be better on third down -- that's what got us beat tonight. It's got to start against Miami. But forget where we're going to be seeded and all that. It doesn't matter. We just need to win. This is a little different territory, so we're going to see what a lot of guys are made of on this team.''

That's the mentality Ryan and his reeling Jets need right now. Nothing matters but winning. Not the improvement in the running game. Not the better balance on offense that still ended up producing an L. Not the lack of turnovers, or better pass protection afforded Sanchez, or increased red-zone execution. Taking a page from the late, great Al Davis, whose death loomed over this NFL weekend like a sad coda, the Jets need to just win, Baby. Victory has a way of taking care of everything.

And while they're at it, the Jets need to all start talking like the Jets again. Seeking out silver linings may be fine for some, but they don't play all that well in New York. I'm guessing Ryan and his players know that already, but if they don't, it's something they should soon learn.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/10/09/jets.patriots/index.html#ixzz1aNtwsZSD

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Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis brings game to halt with career performance against Jets

Published: Sunday, October 09, 2011, 10:41 PM Updated: Monday, October 10, 2011, 2:32 AM

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

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — As the New England Patriots' offense melted nearly half of the fourth quarter away today with one jabbing run after another, a sinking realization blanketed a Jets offense that was waiting on the sidelines for an opportunity to win the game.

“You lose sometimes, but there’s not a lot of losses where you felt like you probably should have won the game with another possession,” Jets guard Brandon Moore said. “And that’s the unfortunate part.”

Unfortunate for the Jets because the Patriots’ game plan on their final offensive drive was almost too straightforward: To preserve a 30-21 victory, the Pats would pound the ball with BenJarvus Green-Ellis.

Over six minutes in the fourth quarter, from 7:07 to 1:06, the Patriots ran 12 offensive plays.

One was a pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski. One was a quarterback sneak by Tom Brady over the middle.

The remaining plays — five to the right side of the defense and five to the left — were Green-Ellis tucking the ball in his arms, chewing up valuable time.

Green-Ellis’ 136 yards on the ground were a career high, and the most for a Patriots back in a single game in three years. He became the fifth running back to rush for more than 100 yards in a game against Rex Ryan’s Jets defense.

“It’s disappointing because if we get off the field and get the ball to the offense, we have a chance to win the game,” linebacker David Harris said. “We didn’t execute, they ran the ball effectively against us and they made more plays than we did.”

Harris echoed what defensive coordinator Mike Pettine had said earlier in the week. With all the weapons the Patriots offense presented, it made finding the right personnel balance difficult.

“They do a good job of keeping you off balance,” Harris said.

“You have to prepare for the passing game and the wide receivers, tight ends, and sometimes the running backs get lost in the shuffle. But they’re one of the most balanced offenses in the league.”

Green-Ellis started the drive with an 8-yard run up to the Patriots’ 30-yard line and the Brady sneak followed for a first down.

From there Green-Ellis carried the ball on six consecutive plays — a 15-yard run to the left, a 6-yard run to the right, no gain on the right side and then a 14-yard direct snap to the left — that pushed the Patriots well into Jets territory.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick credited Brady with checking down to so many of those run plays based on how the Jets defense lined up.

Jets defensive tackle Sione Pouha said it was a lapse in communication, an inability to make the right calls.

However the drive worked, it was enough to paint a concrete realization.

“If we just pick up on a couple of those plays,” Pouha said, “I’m sure we’re in it.”

Conor Orr: corr@starledger.com

[Maxman]

Kerley takes advantage of increased action

October, 9, 2011

Oct 9

10:33

PM ET

By Matt Ehalt

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.--Derrick Mason's loss was Jeremy Kerley's gain.

The Jets acted on their plan to get the rookie receiver more involved in the action Sunday against the Patriots and Kerley ran with his opportunity, catching three passes for 35 yards and hauling in his first career touchdown. The catches were also the first of his career.

"It was something I was ready for and something I had been preparing myself for all camp, for a big game like this," Kerley said.

Mason, who usually is one of the team's top three receivers, saw a decline in his snaps this weekend because the team wanted to give Kerley "a few more shots," according to Jets head coach Rex Ryan. Kerley said he had been working toward seeing more playing time on the field this week and he was ready for the increased action.

On his touchdown, he found space in the back of the endzone and hauled in a nine-yard catch to cut the Patriots lead to 17-14 early in the third quarter.

"Obviously it brought us back a little closer so I was in the moment, first touchdown, first catch for a touchdown, I was ecstatic," Kerley said.

In other words: Mason did complain about the offense and got to watch it from the sidelines.

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Politi: Jets coach Rex Ryan needs answers, not bravado, after third straight loss

Published: Sunday, October 09, 2011, 10:56 PM Updated: Monday, October 10, 2011, 2:47 AM

Steve Politi/Star-Ledger Columnist By Steve Politi/Star-Ledger

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Rex Ryan was right about one thing: To win the AFC East and finally get a home game in the playoffs this winter, the Jets need other teams to beat the New England Patriots.

Like, six or seven of them.

That’s the way this season is going, at least, if the head coach can’t figure out something to turn it around. Ryan was outcoached today in the Jets’ biggest game of the season, stubbornly trying to ground-and-pound his way to a victory against a Patriots defense ranked 32nd in the league against the pass.

But that’s not nearly the biggest crisis facing Ryan now. The Jets’ third straight regular-season loss in Foxborough, a 30-21 defeat, has shattered the confidence of his team and left you wondering if you were watching a playoff team at all.

Forget all that Super Bowl talk. What, besides returning kicks, does this team do well?

It couldn’t stop the run. That was evident on the Patriots’ 13-play, 69-yard, game-icing drive in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Tom Brady kept tucking the ball in the arms of running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis and letting him grind 6:12 off the clock before a field goal made it a two-score game.

It couldn’t stop the pass. Brady had a typical prolific day, completing 24 of 33 passes for 321 yards — including a 73-yarder on the first play of the second half to receiver Wes Welker that Ryan described as an “I got him, you take him” coverage breakdown.

And the offense has no idea what it wants to be. Sanchez attempted 26 passes and threw for 166 yards against a pass defense giving up 368 yards a game. Everyone was tickled about an improved run game, but the Ground and Pound is still more like Shonn and Yawn — Shonn Greene gained just 83 yards on 21 carries.

Most damning: The Jets went three-and-out on seven of their 11 possessions. The Jets categorically denied a report that their three top receivers went to see Ryan to complain about offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and the play-calling, but could anyone blame them if they did?

“Obviously, they’re the better team right now,” Ryan said. “The score obviously indicates that.”

There was no bluster from Ryan, no promises or guarantees, and, most troubling, no answers. He looked furious as he walked through the tunnel after leaving the field, his lips tight and his fists clenched, but in the news conference, he was almost subdued.

Sanchez even patted him on the rear as he left the room, as if he were an oversized Little Leaguer who just struck out. “I hate seeing Rex like that at one of his press conferences,” Sanchez said.

This is the first three-game losing streak since his first year as a head coach, but it comes with the expectations raised. It was Ryan, after all, who pleaded in the offseason, “I think we need to find somebody out there to beat New England besides us,” so the Jets could finally have that home playoff game.

Now they are 2-3 in a division with two 4-1 teams. (Discount the Bills all you want, but they just keep winning.) The Jets must beat the struggling Dolphins next Monday night, because after that, they face three teams that are 4-1 … including this one again.

“You have to be concerned,” safety Jim Leonhard said. “We’ve dug ourselves a hole. It’s not a huge hole, but it is one.”

They will find out in a hurry not only if they’re a title contender, but if they’re a playoff team. They don’t look the part of one now. Ryan said he was “encouraged we did some good things” on offense, praising that improved running game — a theme his players ran with as they talked to reporters.

But this team isn’t supposed to be about getting better in Week 5. It’s supposed to build on those back-to-back AFC Championship Games. The fan base isn’t going to accept that nonsense, not when Ryan has spent the past three years promising them the world.

It’s up to Ryan to find the answers. Big talk and bluster isn’t going to sell with anyone now. His best strength since joining the Jets was convincing his players that they were good enough to win that championship, but with three straight losses, that confidence is cracking.

More coverage:• Complete Jets coverage on NJ.com

The Jets know they’re not a very good football team now. They were supposed to challenge the Patriots for the AFC East title, but here they are again in a familiar spot: other teams can beat them.

A

nd, the way things look, maybe a lot of teams.

Steve Politi: spoliti@starledger.com; Twitter.com/StevePoliti

[Maxman]

Reading the Jets news after a tough loss is like listening to WFAN...just not a lot of fun.

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Jets wide receiver Derrick Mason mostly sits as Jeremy Kerley moves up

Published: Sunday, October 09, 2011, 11:19 PM Updated: Monday, October 10, 2011, 2:39 AM

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

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — In one week, receiver Derrick Mason went from playing more than half the team’s offensive snaps to being supplanted by a rookie as the Jets’ No. 3 receiver.

Mason saw scant playing time in today’s 30-21 loss to the New England Patriots, unofficially on the field for only six of the Jets’ 53 offensive plays. The Jets used three-receiver sets less often in today’s game, but Jeremy Kerley often joined Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress, unofficially playing 18 snaps.

Coach Rex Ryan said the team wanted to give Kerley “a few more shots.” The fifth-round pick caught three passes for 35 yards and a touchdown. Mason was coy on the reason he played less, deferring to the coaching staff when asked if they had a conversation about it.

It appears as though this was the team’s plan all week as it prepared for the Patriots. All of Mason’s reps were taken on the scout team last week, and none with quarterback Mark Sanchez, according to a person who was at practice.

One potential reason is that Mason has been slow to pick up the Jets offense, according to another person with knowledge of Mason’s standing with the team. This is surprising because Mason came from the Ravens, and their offensive system under Cam Cameron is very similar to Brian Schottenheimer’s with the Jets. These people requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak for the team or Mason.

Jets at Patriots, 10-09-11.

“There are some things that are a little different that I’ve had to pick up on, some calls here and there,” said Mason, who had one catch for 7 yards. “But I’m picking up on the offense fairly well, and I think I’m picking up on it well enough to go out there and play fast football.”

A report by the New York Daily News today also drew attention to the receiver position, alleging that Burress, Holmes and Mason individually went to Ryan in the past few weeks to question Schottenheimer’s system. The team issued a statement before the game denying the report, and Ryan said he had no recollection of such meetings, calling it “Ripley’s” — as in “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!”

Each of the receivers also gave strong denials. Burress said he has never met with Ryan one-on-one, and Holmes said he has “no issue” with Schottenheimer.

“I’ve been in this league 15 years, and I’ve never criticized an offensive coordinator to a head coach,” Mason said.

Sanchez said his throwing hand was “dinged up” after getting hit in the fourth quarter. He was seen shaking out his hand after the play. He said it hurt for a series or two but he is “fine.”

CBs Isaiah Trufant (hamstring) and Donald Strickland (head) left the game.

Ryan did not agree with a third-quarter call to overturn a fumble by Patriots receiver Deion Branch at the Jets’ 7-yard line. Bill Belichick challenged, and the call was overturned, leading to Branch’s 2-yard touchdown. “I thought he was kind of getting up and the ball was moving, but again, that’s not why we lost the game,” Ryan said.

Inactive for the Jets were QB Kevin O’Connell, WR Logan Payne, RB Bilal Powell, TE Josh Baker, OLB Garrett McIntyre, C Colin Baxter and NT Kenrick Ellis.

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

Jenny Vrentas: jvrentas@starledger.com

[Integrity28]

Mason was made an example of this week for talking to the press about "cracks" last week. Obviously Santonio talked too, but we've already learned Rex won't punish the guys he thinks he needs to make a diference... like DUI Braylon.

Funny thing is, he refused to make an example of Schotty.

[Integrity28]

In other words: Mason did complain about the offense and got to watch it from the sidelines.

Yep. Exactly, you ninja'd me!

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Jets' improved running game is bright spot in bad defeat

Published: Sunday, October 09, 2011, 11:29 PM Updated: Monday, October 10, 2011, 2:41 AM

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

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — From Dustin Keller’s vantage point this afternoon at Gillette Stadium, he saw all the things from the New England Patriots that have become commonplace in opposing defenses this year.

A linebacker sat over the top and pinned him down, trying to force him off his routes. Patriots coach Bill Belichick varied coverages on Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes in an effort to keep them from breaking loose.

But before long, a sense of continuity resurfaced as the Jets’ running game opened things up. The balance — the Jets called 25 running plays and 26 passes in their 30-21 loss to the Patriots — provided a feeling that they were emerging from an offensive stalemate that had clouded them for a few weeks now.

“We always knew the run game was going to come, it was just a matter of fixing the small things and getting it established,” Keller said. “I think we did that a little bit today.”

Call it a bittersweet realization that Shonn Greene’s 83 yards on the ground were the most by the Jets’ now-primary back in a regular-season game since Oct. 3, 2010. In all, the Jets rushed for 97 yards and, more importantly, saw the offense broaden for the first time since a victory against Jacksonville in Week 2.

That was the Jets’ most recent victory. And ever since a loss at Oakland the next week, Jets coach Rex Ryan has tried to explain why the run-pass ratio was so dramatically skewed — they were playing from behind or defenses were flooding the box. But one of the few silver linings from today was the understated but intentional rediscovery of the run game.

“We had flashes tonight of the team we’re supposed to be,” left guard Matt Slauson said. “The team we are. Unfortunately, we didn’t do it the entire game and against a team like them we can’t afford not to play an entire game.”

LaDainian Tomlinson said a large part of the success was the return of Nick Mangold to the starting lineup after a high ankle sprain forced

him out for the Oakland and Baltimore losses. The healing of his high ankle sprain coincided with conversations the offense had during the week about returning to a play-calling set that wouldn’t have to rely solely on the pass, contributing to predictability.

“We talked about it earlier in the week,” Tomlinson said. “Trying to be more balanced and I think people saw that. Shonn Greene had one heck of a game, he ran the ball hard and he really wore that defense out.”

“They did a great job today, every last one of them,” Greene added of the offensive line. “They are the reason we were able to do what we did today.”

There was, of course, the prevailing feeling that, regardless of how well the team ran the ball, they were still in the midst of a three-game losing streak.

But something about the box score provided hope that things were getting better.

“Yeah,” Joe McKnight said, “we can build on this.”

Conor Orr: corr@starledger.com

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Jets vs. Patriots: Jets fall to rivals, 30-21, sent spiraling to third straight loss

Published: Sunday, October 09, 2011, 11:36 PM Updated: Monday, October 10, 2011, 3:12 AM

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

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Mark Sanchez ripped off his helmet, a four-letter expletive bursting out of his mouth and directed at no one but himself.

The Jets quarterback filed among the mass of frustrated teammates exiting the Gillette Stadium field this evening, showered by fans’ heckling and flabbergasted by a three-game losing streak.

Still searching for identity and authority and a signature victory, the Jets instead claimed a 2-3 record — their worst start under coach Rex Ryan — and third-place standing in the AFC East with a 30-21 loss to the rival New England Patriots.

“Gosh, it’s just frustrating,” Sanchez said, adding later: “We’re used to winning. We haven’t been on a skid like this in a while.”

Not since Sanchez’s rookie year, in fact, when the Jets were a team with a new quarterback and a new coach and a new approach. But this year’s team has much of the same core as the one that, on this same field, delivered one of the franchise’s most triumphant wins to advance to the AFC Championship Game not nine months ago.

Sanchez said it pained him to watch Ryan at the podium, acknowledging this is one of the toughest stretches of his head coaching career and doling out credit to the opponent like he has done so often this season.

The Jets’ proud defense couldn’t stop Tom Brady and the Patriots when it mattered most, letting them take 13 plays and 6:12 to drive to a 28-yard field goal that sealed New England’s victory. And while the Jets’ offense got its ground game going as promised — 25 carries for 97 yards — the unit had seven three-and-outs against the league’s worst-ranked defense.

“We’re a work in progress right now,” receiver Santonio Holmes said. “We didn’t have a long enough offseason to put together a great game plan and do the core things that we know how to do. We’re still searching for it, and once we find it, I think everything will work out in our favor.”

But time is ticking. The Jets’ positive spin was that they saw improvements today — but not enough to win. The offense has had an identity crisis, passing 63 percent of the time in the first four games, before Ryan’s decree last week to use the ground-and-pound that has buoyed them in years past.

The Jets struck a nearly 50-50 balance between the run and pass today, and Sanchez completed 16 of 26 passes for a 105.6 passer rating. But they were plagued by mistakes like drops (two by Plaxico Burress and one by John Conner) and a woeful third-down conversion rate of 27 percent.

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hey had just two good drives: 13 plays for a Shonn Greene 3-yard touchdown run, and 11 plays for Holmes’ 21-yard touchdown catch. The Jets’ only other score, on a 9-yard catch by Jeremy Kerley, was set up by Joe McKnight’s 88-yard kickoff return.

That was simply not enough against the league’s most explosive offense, especially when the defense was not as suffocating as it prides itself to be. The Jets did pressure Brady, recording four sacks, and were the first team to hold New England scoreless on its opening drive.

But there were too many breakdowns. The Jets caught a break when a sure Patriots touchdown right before the half bounced off tight end Aaron Hernandez’s hands and into Antonio Cromartie’s. After halftime, though, New England’s very first play was a 73-yard pass to Wes Welker on which the Jets had no deep safety. Deion Branch scored on a 2-yard catch three plays later, standing all alone in the end zone after Cromartie got badly turned around.

“I don’t think it’s a lack of confidence,” cornerback Darrelle Revis said. “Rex gave us a great speech about sticking together, and just getting ready for Monday night. I think that’s the best thing we can do, go back to the drawing board and correct some things.”

The Jets pulled as close as a field goal — 17-14 — with Kerley’s touchdown early in the third quarter. But the Patriots uncharacteristically leaned on their run game late, riding BenJarvus Green-Ellis for 5.0 yards a carry and 136 rushing yards, the second 100-yard rusher against the Jets this season.

In the process, New England bled time off the clock. When the Jets got the ball back for the final time, they trailed by two scores with just 1:02 left on the clock. Game over.

Ryan said he “never thought I would be here, losing three straight.” The Jets have rallied before, in 2009 becoming the first team to reach the conference championship after posting a pair of three-game losing streaks in the regular season. But to do so, these Jets have answers to find first.

“This is a little different territory,” Sanchez said. “We’re going to see what a lot of guys are made of on this team.”

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

Jenny Vrentas: jvrentas@starledger.com

[Larz]

Mason was made an example of this week for talking to the press about "cracks" last week. Obviously Santonio talked too, but we've already learned Rex won't punish the guys he thinks he needs to make a diference... like DUI Braylon.

Funny thing is, he refused to make an example of Schotty.

fwiw

One potential reason is that Mason has been slow to pick up the Jets offense, according to another person with knowledge of Mason’s standing with the team. This is surprising because Mason came from the Ravens, and their offensive system under Cam Cameron is very similar to Brian Schottenheimer’s with the Jets. These people requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak for the team or Mason.

Jets at Patriots, 10-09-11.

“There are some things that are a little different that I’ve had to pick up on, some calls here and there,” said Mason, who had one catch for 7 yards. “But I’m picking up on the offense fairly well, and I think I’m picking up on it well enough to go out there and play fast football.”

A report by the New York Daily News today also drew attention to the receiver position, alleging that Burress, Holmes and Mason individually went to Ryan in the past few weeks to question Schottenheimer’s system. The team issued a statement before the game denying the report, and Ryan said he had no recollection of such meetings, calling it “Ripley’s” — as in “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!”

Each of the receivers also gave strong denials. Burress said he has never met with Ryan one-on-one, and Holmes said he has “no issue” with Schottenheimer.

“I’ve been in this league 15 years, and I’ve never criticized an offensive coordinator to a head coach,” Mason said.

[Integrity28]

fwiw

One potential reason is that Mason has been slow to pick up the Jets offense, according to another person with knowledge of Mason’s standing with the team. This is surprising because Mason came from the Ravens, and their offensive system under Cam Cameron is very similar to Brian Schottenheimer’s with the Jets. These people requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak for the team or Mason.

Jets at Patriots, 10-09-11.

“There are some things that are a little different that I’ve had to pick up on, some calls here and there,” said Mason, who had one catch for 7 yards. “But I’m picking up on the offense fairly well, and I think I’m picking up on it well enough to go out there and play fast football.”

A report by the New York Daily News today also drew attention to the receiver position, alleging that Burress, Holmes and Mason individually went to Ryan in the past few weeks to question Schottenheimer’s system. The team issued a statement before the game denying the report, and Ryan said he had no recollection of such meetings, calling it “Ripley’s” — as in “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!”

Each of the receivers also gave strong denials. Burress said he has never met with Ryan one-on-one, and Holmes said he has “no issue” with Schottenheimer.

“I’ve been in this league 15 years, and I’ve never criticized an offensive coordinator to a head coach,” Mason said.

Mmm... but Kerley is a rookie, do we really believe he's picking up the offense quicker than a 15 year veteran? I don't.

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Jets put up a fight, but beaten by Patriots, 30-21

Sunday, October 9, 2011 Last updated: Monday October 10, 2011, 7:20 AM

BY J.P. PELZMAN

STAFF WRITER

The Record

FOXBORO, Mass. – On Wednesday, Rex Ryan bragged about how he will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame of his alma mater, Southwest Oklahoma State.

New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez hangs on to the ball as Jets inside linebacker David Harris takes off his helmet on a hit during the first half in Foxborough, Mass. on Sunday

New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez hangs on to the ball as Jets inside linebacker David Harris takes off his helmet on a hit during the first half in Foxborough, Mass. on Sunday

On Sunday, he was hoping to school likely future NFL Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick, much the way the Jets outcoached and outplayed New England in a shocking playoff victory nine months ago.

Instead, all the Jets left here with was yet another learning experience.

Tara Sullivan's take

The Jets' off-season words nothing but bombast

Yes, they played better than they had in road losses to Oakland and Baltimore in the last two weeks, but the result was the same as New England outlasted the Jets for a 30-21 victory at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots’ 19th straight regular-season win at home and their 30th in a row here in the regular season with Tom Brady starting at quarterback.

The Jets (2-3) have lost three straight and are two games behind New England (4-1) and Buffalo in the AFC East.

“I was encouraged,” coach Rex Ryan said. “We did some good things.”

Just not enough of them. Unlike that postseason surprise, the Jets never led, betrayed by an offense that started too slowly and a defense that couldn’t quite finish, allowing the Patriots to score on their last three possessions, including a clock-draining, 13-play, 69-yard march to Stephen Gostkowski’s 28-yard field goal with 1:02 remaining for a 30-21 New England lead. During the drive to that kick, the Pats were 2-for-3 on third-down conversions, including BenJarvus Green-Ellis’ 14-yard run with a direct snap to the Jets’ 32 on third-and-4.

“If we got off the field on defense,” Ryan said, “we would have had a few more opportunities on offense.”

However, they didn’t do enough with the ones they had. Entering the game, New England had forced only eight three-and-outs this season. The Jets offense had seven, including four straight to open the game.

“I don’t know the reason we came out so slowly,” said quarterback Mark Sanchez, who did have his first turnover-free game of 2011 but threw for only 166 yards against the Patriots’ 32nd-ranked pass defense.

“There was no doubt we were going to go down and win the game” at the end, he said, “and it never happened.”

He did lead the Jets on an 85-yard fourth-quarter drive to cut their deficit to 27-21, capping it with one of his prettiest passes of the season, a 21-yarder to Santonio Holmes with 7:14 to go. But the Pats were able to play keep-away and make it a two-score game.

“I actually thought we played pretty good,” running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. “[That’s] a heck of a team to beat at home. … I certainly think we could have helped [the Jets’ defense out] and sustained some drives. Obviously, we didn’t want our defense running back out on the field after some of the drives [the Patriots] had.”

T

he Jets running game did look somewhat healthier with the return of center Nick Mangold, who had missed the last two games with a high ankle sprain. He had a terrific block of linebacker Brandon Spikes to help open the hole for Shonn Greene’s 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Greene finished with 83 yards on 21 carries.

“We did some good things and we did some things that we have to get better at,” Greene said, “but we’ve got to stay confident no matter what.”

Even though, to a man, these road-warrior Jets never thought they would go winless on this three-game road trip.

“We’re used to winning,” Sanchez said, “and we haven’t been on a three-game skid like this in awhile, since my rookie year, I’m guessing.”

Correct, Mark, the Jets lost three straight twice in 2009 yet made the playoffs, but didn’t lose more than two consecutive last season.

“This is a little different territory,” Sanchez admitted, “so we’re going to see what a lot of guys are made of on this team, and it’s my job to get guys ready to play this next week against Miami.”

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Northjersey.com : Sports : Pro Sports : Pro Football : Jets

Sullivan: The Jets' off-season words nothing but bombast

Sunday, October 9, 2011 Last updated: Monday October 10, 2011, 7:21 AM

By TARA SULLIVAN

RECORD COLUMNIST

FOXBORO, Mass. – The purposeful stride that carried Rex Ryan through the exit tunnel of Gillette Stadium barely slowed as he turned a corner toward the losing locker room. But the second the Jets’ coach was clear of the overhanging Patriots fans jeering and leering his departure from the field, his expression clouded over, his face scrunching an angry grimace to match the balled fists at his side.

On the wrong end of a 30-21 score, and even worse, the wrong end of three-game losing streak, Ryan was only beginning to digest his new reality, that his team is “right there” in facing the direst circumstance of his three-year reign. Under .500, under siege and underachieving, the Jets look nothing like the Super Bowl favorite Ryan has been touting since last year’s AFC title loss.

“I never thought I’d be here losing three straight, but that’s where we’re at right now,” he said. “We’ve earned it.”

This season was never supposed to be like this, was never supposed to be reduced to incremental improvement, about building toward a strong finish, about finding encouragement in small forward steps. This was supposed to be a continuation to coronation, an immediate restart from last year’s near-miss all the way to the Super Bowl. This was supposed to be about winning more home games to secure home-field advantage, not losing three straight road games while getting gashed on defense and struggling for consistency on offense.

“Forget about the postseason right now,” quarterback Mark Sanchez said. “It’s not like we’re out of this. But we need to just win, get back to our winning ways. Forget where we’re going to be seeded and all that. Just win.”

Sanchez nearly pulled out another fourth-quarter miracle, but rather than remembering his perfectly timed, 21-yard lofting touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes for getting the Jets within six points, it stands out as a reminder of his maddening inconsistency. Through three quarters, the Jets’ QB was 9-for-16 for 70 yards with a passer rating of 88. By the end of the game, he had out-rated Patriots Pro Bowler Tom Brady (100.7), completing 16 of 26 passes for 166 yards, two touchdowns and a 105.6 rating.

You can’t ever write him off, because he plays his best when the situation is at its worst. The Jets believe the same is true for the team. Now they have to prove it. They don’t have to eat their off-season words just yet, but asking the rest of us to swallow their hopeful promises of improvement isn’t an easy sell.

This season was never supposed to be like this.

While the offense showed some slight improvement against a porous Patriots defense, there still were seven three-and-outs on 11 possessions. And even though the Jets’ defense managed at times to slow a prolific New England offense, hitting Brady more than he’d been hit all year, it couldn’t do anything about the Patriots’ final, clock-eating, run-driven drive.

“Some encouraging signs,” Ryan said. “Not enough of them.”

Good? The Jets rediscovered some of their ground-and-pound persona with 97 rushing yards. Bad? For the fifth time in the Ryan era and the second time this season, they gave up at least 100 yards to an opposing back. BenJarvus Green-Ellis gained 136 yards on 27 carries and scored twice.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Ryan said. “Nobody said it would be easy. We’ve got to start playing better and better. And I thought we played better today than we obviously did last week. Hopefully we will play better next week than we did this week, and hopefully we just keep building and building and building. The team that plays best at the end of the year is usually the one that walks away with the championship.”

Ryan repeated the same postgame speech he gave to his players, a group he insists will remain unified despite a published report Sunday that the three veteran wide receivers — Plaxico Burress, Derrick Mason and Santonio Holmes — had gone to the coach to complain about offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s play-calling. The players flatly denied the assertion, insisting that the Jets’ chemistry is not fraying at its seams.

“I didn’t sign back here with the New York Jets and not believe or doubt coach Ryan that we can get the job done,” Holmes said. “Having Mark Sanchez as our quarterback, I believe in him. Having defensive captain Darrelle Revis, I believe in him. The things we’re doing on special teams, I believe in them. Yes, I do believe.”

This season was never supposed to be like this, with players backed into their verbal corners, spewing out optimism in place of success. Three weeks of an NFL losing life is like an eternity, a “dirty taste in your mouth” that linebacker Jamaal Westerman said can only be removed by the taste of victory.

“Every day is long,” is how center Nick Mangold described the losing streak. Mangold’s return from an ankle injury was a small consolation prize, allowing the running game to get some traction and giving Sanchez some valuable time to roam the pocket.

“It’s a tough spot,” he said, “but there’s still a lot of football to be played.”

That’s the Jets’ mantra now. Small steps. Slight improvement. In other words, hold the Super Bowl talk.

“We’re used to winning,” Sanchez said. “We’re going to see what guys are made of.”

The Jets lost their third game of the season Sunday, Oct. 9. They didn’t lose their third game last season until Dec. 6, a memorable Monday night mauling in Foxboro. No, the season was never supposed to be like this.

But here it is. What do the Jets do now?

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Jets notes: Receivers deny report

Monday, October 10, 2011

The Record

Receivers deny report

Jets wide receivers Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason each denied a New York Daily News report that they had gone individually to coach Rex Ryan to complain about the play-calling of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

Burress said, "Whoever wrote it is making up stories to make themselves look good."

Mason said, "I’ve been in the league 15 years and I’ve never complained about an offensive coordinator." But oddly, Mason was on the field for his least amount of snaps this season, as rookie Jeremy Kerley played in most three-wideout sets and snagged his first career touchdown catch, a 9-yarder from Mark Sanchez in the third quarter.

"It is coincidence," said Mason, who had a 7-yard catch for a first down in the Jets’ fourth-quarter touchdown drive.

Ryan, who also denied the story, said, "We’ve been trying to give Kerley a few more shots."

Kerley said, "This was something we had been working on all week, so I was prepared."

Revenge for ‘Dig’

Former Jets safety James Ihedigbo, a free agent whom the team chose not to re-sign after the lockout ended, made his first start in the Patriots’ banged-up secondary and had six tackles, including four solos, against his old teammates.

"James did a great job for us," New England coach Bill Belichick said, "in his overall communication and, of course, he was pretty familiar with the team we were playing."

"Personally, I cannot ask for anything better [than] to show a team who had let you go. … It’s nothing personal individually, just that you are part of an organization and a part of something and then you’re not good enough to be a part of it anymore," said Ihedigbo, who is called "Dig’’ by his former Jets teammates.

Briefs

Sanchez appeared to hit a helmet on a follow-through and was seen shaking his throwing hand. He said, "It just kind of hurt for a series or two, but it’s fine." … CB Donald Strickland (head) and CB Isaiah Trufant (hamstring) left the game.

— J.P. Pelzman

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Jets' Pace seething over refs' reversal

Jets Blog

By MARK CANNIZZARO

Last Updated: 8:29 AM, October 10, 2011

Posted: 2:17 AM, October 10, 2011

More Print

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- There was little question when yesterday's 30-21 loss to the Patriots turned bad for the Jets.

It came in the devastating form of a three-punch knockout flurry that included a controversial ruling from the officials' replay booth -- which Jets linebacker Calvin Pace told The Post was just the capper on a day of questionable calls.

On the Patriots' first offensive snap of the second half, Tom Brady connected with Wes Welker on a 73-yard catch-and-run play that stunned the Jets defense.

BRANCHING OUT: Patriots receiver Deion Branch, who was ruled down by contact, tries to get off the turf and is hit by Jets linebacker Calvin Pace, jarring the ball loose. Pace says the officials should have stuck to their original ruling of a fumble, though they changed that after a replay review.

Photos: Patriots hand Jets third straight loss

Welker, who had been kept relatively quiet in the first half (three catches, 47 yards), split cornerback Darrelle Revis and safety Eric Smith, who were in a rare zone coverage, and rambled to the Jets' 7-yard line.

That was the left hook that staggered the Jets.

The right cross that left them dazed came two plays later, when Brady scrambled away from rookie Muhammad Wilkerson and found Deion Branch inside the 5-yard line.

As Branch tried to regain his feet and get into the end zone, Pace poked the ball away and the apparent fumble was recovered by Jets defensive tackle Mike DeVito.

Bill Belichick challenged the play and it was overturned when the officials ruled that when Pace touched Branch he was down by contact at the Jets' 3-yard line.

The ruling left Pace seething after the game.

"It was a fumble," Pace told The Post. "And again, the referees missed another one. You know what they're going to do? They're going to write us a letter about how they missed another call and what does that do? Nothing.

"I guess it's human error, so what can you do? We got a call that just ain't right. If it wasn't a fumble [branch] wouldn't have gotten up and tried to run."

Pace then suggested that the Jets were playing against more than the Patriots' prolific offense.

"It's very disheartening, man," Pace said. "Guys were playing their hearts out against a very talented team and when people [the referees] make mistakes it costs you. What can you do, man It's terrible.

"Did that cost us the game? I don't know. Probably not. But there was a lot of questionable stuff that I thought wasn't right."

Asked what else he considered questionable, Pace said, "Some of the so-called pass interference stuff," referring to calls against Donald Strickland and Brodney Pool.

Branch conceded the Patriots caught a break on the reversal.

"It was one of those bang-bang plays," Branch said. "The thing that saved is was the replay. If my knee wouldn't have been down, it would have been a fumble."

One play after the reversal, the Patriots went up 17-7, delivering the unofficial knockout blow when Brady threw a 3-yard scoring pass to Branch, who so badly twisted Antonio Cromartie with a wiggle move in the back of the end zone it's surprising the cornerback still had his cleats on after the play.

mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/pace_upsetter_1lX5xNyGkysAO5VsXNqhlK#ixzz1aO5NWn99

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Patriots QB shows Jets he's in charge

Jets Blog

By BART HUBBUCH

Last Updated: 8:29 AM, October 10, 2011

Posted: 2:15 AM, October 10, 2011

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Lesser mortals would have folded after the breathtaking, momentum-swinging play that ended the first half between the Jets and Patriots yesterday.

Tom Brady treated it like a piece of gum stuck to his shoe.

Intercepted in the end zone by name-calling nemesis Antonio Cromartie on the final snap, the Patriots quarterback couldn't have shrugged off the shocking miscue any faster if his UGGs endorsement depended on it en route to an eventual 30-21 win at Gillette Stadium.

Brady showed the calm you would expect of a three-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl winner, driving the Patriots 80 yards in just four plays after the second-half kickoff to take a 17-7 lead and let the Jets know there would be no repeat of last January's playoff upset on the same field.

That drive was just the start of a masterful third-quarter by Brady, who overcame the interception and a season-high four sacks in typically methodical fashion to produce his 30th consecutive regular-season home victory.

And also in typical Brady fashion, he was ridiculously modest about it afterward.

"I thought we did a decent job at times, but I thought we left a lot of points out there, too," said Brady, who had testily cut short his weekly news conference this week when asked one too many times about Cromartie.

That home win streak is an NFL record, but Brady owns a lot of those. What was more remarkable was how he responded to the end of one of those incredible streaks yesterday -- interceptions in the red zone.

It's hard to believe, but until Cromartie caught Brady's deflected pass in the end zone on the final play of the second quarter, the New England passer had not been intercepted inside the opponent's 20-yard line at Gillette Stadium in his entire career.

Yes, Brady's red-zone line at home was 325 passes and 91 touchdowns without suffering a pick in the regular season until tight end Aaron Hernandez's deflection ended up in Cromartie's hands.

"Tom's always positive," Hernandez said. "He just told me, 'Don't worry about it, let it go.' When you know he's not going to panic, that makes just makes everybody more confident."

Considering Cromartie's play kept the Patriots from taking a 10-point lead into halftime and was by a player who appeared to get in Brady's head with taunting comments before last year's playoff game, it seemed like a potential turning point for the Jets.

But Brady is a likely first-ballot Hall of Famer for a reason, and he bounced back in impressive fashion despite constant pressure and a repeat of Rex Ryan's strategy last January of flooding the field with defensive backs to confuse him.

No such luck.

Brady finished with 321 yards on 24-of-33 completions, which was below his record-setting yardage pace through the first four games, but there was little doubt who was in command in the decisive second half.

"Brady's Brady, man," said wideout Deion Branch, who caught Brady's lone TD pass. "You know he's never going to panic, and you know he's always going to make sure everybody's in the right place. He's the best. That's all you can say."

bhubbuch@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/brady_shows_gang_he_in_charge_Rr1mL7f5LAIPhgaZge1qOI#ixzz1aO6cqxC0

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Jets' game plan on offense isn't working

Jets Blog

Last Updated: 8:36 AM, October 10, 2011

Posted: 2:42 AM, October 10, 2011

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- In the end, it really doesn't matter what the Jets are saying or who they're saying it to, or the volume with which the messages are transmitted. What matters is what we see on Sunday afternoons. What matters is the disconnect that has started to permeate their discourse.

And the pathology in the play. That is what matters most this morning, the Jets awaking to a 2-3 record and their toes curling over the edge of the abyss. You don't hear much talk about the Super Bowl right now. Survival is the more urgent issue.

"I've seen enough football to know that it's too early to start panicking," running back LaDainian Tomlinson said after the Patriots were done toying with the Jets, 30-21, yesterday at Gillette Stadium. "It's not time to throw in the towel."

The Aging Amigos all insist they haven't complained about offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's game plans, haven't gone over his head in search of more receptions and more relevance? Fine. Give the three reticent receivers the benefit of the doubt on that. But then take a look at what you see on game day. Take a look at how much they're really buying into the program.

Take a look at the quarterback, who in five weeks has been told this is his team (and was then given game plans that seemed like they were co-authored by the opposing team's defensive coordinators) and has now been neutered to the point at which the Jets' brain trust seems hysterically hell-bent to run the ball through imaginary holes and eight-man boxes, all in the name of reclaiming some moral highground-and-pound.

Football players aren't required to like what's asked of them week to week, whether it's reps or role or playing time. Coaches and coordinators don't consult with their people; in that way it is one of the last bastions where coaches truly hold the power, and the successful ones aren't afraid to brandish it.

But at some point, the Xs and Os in a brain and in a playbook have to translate. And the truth is that the Jets' offense should be further along than this right now. It should be more productive. It should score more points. There are times -- a lot of times, actually -- when it fees like the most dangerous weapon in the Jets' arsenal is the kickoff return. That's not a good thing.

"I feel like as much as anything we're talking about a slow start on our side of the ball," said tight end Dustin Keller, who is supposed to be Mark Sanchez's favorite target and caught exactly one ball for 7 yards yesterday. "As the game gets going, we start playing better. We've got to be more consistent throughout the whole game."

The players all dutifully talked about liking the game plan Schottenheimer drew up yesterday, though you have to wonder how that could be when they were facing the 32nd-ranked defense against the pass and decided to rip a few pages out of the 1990 Giants playbook, feeding the crowded middle of the Pats' defense again and again.

How bad was it? This bad: The Jets had the ball 11 times yesterday. Seven of those possessions resulted in three-and-out. How bad was it? Those seven three-and-outs came against a defense that had produced exactly eight three-and-outs in its first four games.

There was a time when the Jets could get away with this kind of maddening mediocrity from that side of the ball -- but that was when they were clearly in possession of an elite defense. That isn't the case any more. And so something has to change. Quick.

All through August we were told that the training wheels were coming off, that Sanchez would be expected to act like a franchise quarterback and not just be paid like one. At 2-3, there will be packs of wolves baying at Sanchez, and he does deserve to take a few hits.

But he isn't a lone assassin here. The other members of this offense can all pledge unity and act publicly like frat brothers, but what we see on Sundays is something else entirely. By next Monday, we'd better see something different against the Dolphins, because the coordinator and his workers are officially on the clock.

They've reached the crossroads already. You would have thought that might have come around Christmas Day. Not Columbus Day.

michael.vaccaro@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/offensive_not_super_JHxu6YqVEEfI8tMM1xxnKP#ixzz1aO7UER2h

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Patriots' Branch takes out Jets' trash talk

Jets Blog

By BART HUBBUCH

Last Updated: 8:47 AM, October 10, 2011

Posted: 2:40 AM, October 10, 2011

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Even in a game they never led, the Jets weren't going to go quietly yesterday.

Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch, who had blasted the Jets as "classless" for their constant chatter and on-field antics after a playoff win here last January, said they lived up to their reputation again during a 30-21 New England win.

"They were the same, as usual," Branch said with a laugh. "Guys [on the Jets] were out there talking. It's a competitive game, and guys were going at it."

Branch wouldn't offer any specific details of the verbal fireworks coming from the Jets, but the veteran wasn't critical -- at all -- of Rex Ryan's team this time, either.

"It was just all football," said Branch, who had seven catches for 74 yards and a touchdown. "Nobody was talking anything crazy. They were just out there having fun and competing. They tried to do everything they could to get the victory, but we were steadfast this time. They have a great team."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/branch_takes_out_jets_trash_talk_Z3NS09KvKk4ODmByAf59cM#ixzz1aO8g1cVt

[Larz]

Mmm... but Kerley is a rookie, do we really believe he's picking up the offense quicker than a 15 year veteran? I don't.

it all is probably smoke and mirrors, I think mason is just too slow and old

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Patriots' Welker effective despite matchup with Jets' Revis

Jets Blog

By BART HUBBUCH

Last Updated: 8:43 AM, October 10, 2011

Posted: 2:38 AM, October 10, 2011

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Jets kept Wes Welker out of the end zone yesterday.

With how out of this world the Patriots wide receiver has been playing this season, holding Welker scoreless qualified as a moral victory for Rex Ryan's defense after the Jets' 30-21 loss at Gillette Stadium.

he Jets pulled out every stop against Welker, including the unusual move of having All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis move inside and cover him out of the slot, but Tom Brady's favorite target still burned them.

Welker caught five passes for 124 yards, including a 73-yarder on the first play of the third quarter to set up a key touchdown after he found a seam in the zone between safety Eric Smith and Revis.

Welker, who was benched for the opening series of last January's playoff loss to the Jets for sly comments about Ryan's alleged foot fetish, wasn't joking this time when he lavished praise on Revis.

According to one unofficial tally, Revis was assigned to cover the smaller Welker on 42 of the Patriots' 72 offensive snaps. Brady threw Welker's way on three of those plays, but Welker caught two of them for 77 yards.

"He's always a factor," Welker said of Revis. "He's a great player. You definitely have to make sure you're very crisp with all your routes and really set him up with stuff and be smart about it.

"Basically, every play is go time when he's across from you. It's a little game of cat-and-mouse with him, and you just have to keep on plugging away and hopefully get some big plays every once in a while."

Revis was just as complimentary, though the Jets star tried to downplay the number of snaps he got against Welker.

We tried to switch it up on them a little bit," Revis said. "I was on him a couple of times, and a couple of other people were also on him. We were just trying to give them a mixture of things. He made a couple of great plays, especially the big one."

Welker's day gave him 45 catches for 740 yards and five touchdowns in five games, numbers so outlandish they don't even seem real. The Jaguars as a team have 31 more passing yards than Welker on his own.

"What more can you say about the guy?" teammate Deion Branch said. "He's having an amazing year."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets/island_hopper_3y5Ru9ZtPJE4uuTWMKv9KK#ixzz1aO9Hbrc6

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it all is probably smoke and mirrors, I think mason is just too slow and old

This

Mason hasn't done anything all season

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Big play costly for Jets

By Julian Benbow

Globe Staff / October 10, 2011

FOXBOROUGH - It was the first play after halftime yesterday and Jets shutdown cornerback Darrelle Revis had every reason to believe Wes Welker was going to run 40 yards across the field, not 73 yards down it.

Revis was lined up about 10 yards off the line of scrimmage and when the ball was snapped, he watched Welker run about 2 yards, then hook in, and assumed he was going to run a route he had seen Welker run a million times.

Fooled him.

“We know he runs those speedos all the time,’’ Revis said. “He starts on one side of the field and then goes all the way across to the other. He kind of was doing that, slowed down, and then took off straight up the middle of the field.’’

Before Revis could blink, Welker was racing upfield, between him and safety Eric Smith. Tom Brady found Welker with the perfect deep ball. If Revis hadn’t chased him down at the 7-yard line and grabbed him by the ankles, Welker would have had his sixth touchdown of the season.

Still, the play set up a 2-yard pass from Brady to Deion Branch that made it 17-7, and after the Jets felt like they had contained Welker, he still caught five balls for 124 yards in New England’s 30-21 win.

Before that play, Welker had three catches for 47 yards, modest numbers compared with the gaudy ones he had put up over the first four games. He had five touchdowns and 616 receiving yards coming in, and the Jets wanted to make sure that if anyone beat them, it wasn’t Welker.

For the just the second time this season, Welker didn’t find the end zone, but his fingerprints were everywhere in the win. It was the fourth time this season he’s put up 100 receiving yards and the 19th time he’s done it in his career.

On top of that long ball, Welker caught a 32-yarder on the Patriots’ first scoring drive, helping to set up one of BenJarvus Green-Ellis’s two touchdowns.

“Right now, with as hot as Welker is, you have to do what you can to take care of him,’’ said Jets safety Jim Leonhard. “He had two big plays and we made mistakes on both of them. Outside of that, I thought we did a decent job, but you look at his numbers at the end of the day and he has a huge day. So, it’s frustrating.’’

From Kyle Wilson and Donald Strickland, the Jets had a handful of defensive backs shadow Welker.

The Jets were in zone coverage when Welker broke free for the 73-yarder. In Jets coach Rex Ryan’s view, it looked as if Welker knew he had an opening from the time the Jets lined up.

“It kind of looked like one of those, ‘I got ’em, you take ’em’s,’ ’’ Ryan said. “Obviously in that defense, we expect a run or take a shot. But we never had anybody deep.’’

Leonhard said the secondary got caught peeking into the backfield, and while they were looking the other way Welker was speeding by.

“It’s unfortunate,’’ Leonhard said. “We did a decent job on him up to that point and he ended up getting behind us.’’

All week, the thought was that as hot as Welker was, Revis could be the cooler. Of the few times that Revis lined up across from Welker, he remembered one play when he felt like he gave Welker no wiggle room, only to have Brady zip-line a ball to a spot where only Welker could haul it in.

“I remember the one out that Welker did on me,’’ said Revis. “I had him covered like a blanket and it’s like he shot-putted it up and it fell straight into his hands.’’

The Jets defense (ranked eighth in the league coming in) gave up 446 yards, 294 through the air. Welker accounted for a good portion of the passing yards, and the Jets left Gillette Stadium feeling like they were struck by a silent assassin.

“It didn’t look like he had a 260-yard game today, as he usually does,’’ Revis said. “One thing we didn’t want was we didn’t want Wes to beat us this week, but he did come up with some big plays.’’

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.

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Actions spoke loudly

By Dan Shaughnessy

Globe Columnist / October 10, 2011

FOXBOROUGH - It had to feel good.

Bill Belichick’s never going to admit this, but there is a healthy obsession with the Jets at Gillette Stadium and it’s a great day any time you can pin a loss on the donkeys from New York.

You saw a little of this truth when NFL Films wired Bill throughout the 2009 season. The friendly folks from the house network somehow managed to come away with nothing on the Richard Seymour trade or the infamous Late Gate episode, but they did catch Bill gloating a little when he walked out of the office and said it was a “good day’’ because the Patriots beat the Titans and the Jets lost to the Bills .

There hasn’t been a lot of self-satisfaction inside the walls of Patriot Place since Rex Ryan and the Jets exited Gillette with a 28-21 (not as close as it looked) playoff win last January. New York’s shocking postseason win totally negated all the good feeling from a 14-2 season, including New England’s 45-3 victory over the Jets a few weeks earlier.

Patriots fans are sick of Ryan and the Jets. Tom Brady and Wes Welker are sick of Ryan and the Jets. The Krafts are sick of Ryan and the Jets.

But no one hates hearing about the Jets more than Belichick. When you are the new Lombardi, the greatest coach of the modern era, it’s no fun hearing that Rex Ryan has beaten you three times in five (now six) meetings. It no fun reading that while you have failed to win a playoff game since the 2007 AFC Championship Game, the Jets under Ryan have won four playoff games, all on the road.

So it was satisfying to spank the Jets, 30-21, yesterday at Gillette. There was none of the dominance of December, and the Patriots still look like a flawed 4-1 team, but losing to the Jets would have made things unbearable around here. Lord knows the local baseball team last month supplied us with enough unbearable for the rest of the decade.

Belichick had the hot hand all afternoon/evening against the Jets. When he challenged a Deion Branch fumble, he won the protest and the Patriots got the ball back and scored a touchdown.

When he challenged a Plaxico Burress catch, he won again, and a 22-yard gain was negated.

With 3:43 left and the Patriots clinging to a 6-point lead, Belichick called a timeout, then ordered a direct snap to BenJarvis Green-Ellis on third and 4 from the Jets 46. Benny went for 14 yards and the game was effectively over.

Just win, baby. It was an homage to the late, great Al Davis, who died on Saturday. Let’s never forget that Davis was on the losing end of the tuck rule call that changed NFL history here 10 years ago. The Adam Vinatieri Snow Bowl turned out to be the last game in the history of old Foxboro Stadium and it launched the legacies of Belichick and Brady.

On most given Sundays when the Patriots win, Belichick is tempered and Brady is Mr. Sunshine. Not yesterday. Belichick seemed oddly satisfied, while Brady was Mr. Grump.

“It’s good to come in here after a win against the Jets, it always is,’’ began the coach. “I’m really proud of our team.’’

This may not qualify as Pat O’Brien reciting the Knute Rockne speech, or Al Pacino frothing at the mouth in “Any Given Sunday,’’ but it’s a lot for Coach Bill.

He was positively verbose. He spoke of “one of our good weeks of practice’’ (a good week of practice beats a royal flush with an NFL coach), and “a good solid job all the way around.’’ He said, “It’s always physical against the Jets. This is a good team win. I think everybody feels good about it.’’

And then he dropped the summa cum laude of coachspeak.

“Everybody did their job.’’

Wow. In a world in which Do Your Job is more important than Honor Thy Father, Teach Your Children, or Brush Your Teeth, Belichick was handing out the shiniest of gold stars.

The Patriots beat the Jets. Belichick beat Rex Ryan. And everybody did their jobs.

There was less satisfaction from the quarterback. Brady clearly was upset with points left on the field.

“I thought we could have done better offensively,’’ he said repeatedly.

He even did a nifty impersonation of the typical Belichick when he was asked about other teams raising their game to play the Patriots.

“Whoever we play, we’re expecting to go out there and rise up to them also. Every opponent is dangerous. We’re going to go out there to play our best every week.’’

Yeesh. Can’t a guy just admit that it’s fun to beat the Jets? Any time? Every time? Even Bill gave us that one yesterday.

Sort of.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com.

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Jets making weak excuses after loss to Patriots; Rex Ryan needs to keep locker room together

Gary Myers

Monday, October 10th 2011, 4:00 AM

FOXBOROUGH - Just nine months ago, the Jets thought they had won the Super Bowl when they beat Bill Belichick and Tom Brady in the playoffs. It was just one big party in their locker room as they celebrated the second most important victory in their history.

Sunday night in the same locker room after a 30-21 loss to New England, the back-slapping and bravado and Super Bowl guarantees were replaced by long faces, rare humility and the somber words of a desperate team in a free fall they don't know how to stop.

The Jets have played only five games, but their demoralizing three-game losing streak on their treacherous road trip to Oakland, Baltimore and New England forced Rex Ryan to break out a speech coaches usually save for December to keep their teams from packing their bags.

"Rex gave us a great speech about sticking together. Just to make sure that we stick together as a team," Darrelle Revis said. "He was proud of the effort we put together and there was positive things that we did."

Ryan has gone from guaranteeing the Super Bowl in the offseason to pleading with his team to hang in there one month into the season. That is a drastic adjustment in attitude.

"It's a three-game losing streak," Revis said. "You try to keep it positive around here. I think that's what Rex is trying to do - to keep it positive and not let guys go in the tank."

Is Revis really concerned about players going into the tank already?

"It can be a concern of any team, but we got to turn this around as quick as possible," he said.

The Jets catch a break because they play the winless Dolphins next Monday night at MetLife Stadium. But two very bad Dolphins teams have defeated the Jets in the Meadowlands the last two years.

So far, this is not a pretty picture for the Jets. They are just are 2-3 and not only trail the Patriots by two games in the AFC East, but the Bills are also 4-1.

This season was all about winning the division and getting at least one home playoff game. But the Jets aren't talking about that anymore.

"Forget about the postseason right now," Mark Sanchez said. "It's not like we're out of this thing, but we need to just win. Forget about where we're going to be seeded and all that. It doesn't matter. We just need to win."

In honor of Al Davis: Just win, baby.

Ryan must rely on his people skills this week to keep his team from fracturing. Losing always brings about dissension, even in the strongest locker rooms. The Jets are a team with grand expectations and there is a lot of pressure on the entire organization to win big this year. But they are a team without an identity, especially on offense.

After last week's disaster in Baltimore left Ryan humiliated, he was determined to return to his Ground and Pound roots against the Patriots' No. 32 overall defense that was dragged down by the No. 32 pass defense. The rush defense was No. 18. The Pats gave up an average of 368.8 yards per game passing in their first four games. So, Sanchez threw for only 166 yards.

The Jets had only 255 yards of total offense - New England had been giving up 477.5 per game. The Jets went three-and-out on seven of their 11 possessions.

Ground and Pound?

An unimpressive 97 yards on 25 carries, with Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson tying for the longest run - nine yards. The Jets were 50-50 in the pass-run calls after throwing 62% in their first four games. This was the game in which Ryan and embattled offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer should have had Sanchez throwing a party against the Patriots secondary. But Sanchez never went deep on the Patriots.

Still, Sanchez's 21-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes with 7:14 remaining brought the Jets within 27-21. The defense, Ryan's pride and joy, needed to make a stop and give the offense a chance. What happens? Brady picks up four first downs and holds the ball for 6:12, setting up Stephen Gostkowski's 28-yard field goal with 1:02 left to put the game away.

The Daily News reported Sunday that Holmes, Plaxico Burress (three catches, two drops) and Derrick Mason (who lost most of his playing time to rookie Jeremy Kerley) have individually gone to Ryan in the last few weeks to complain about Schottenheimer's system.

Ryan and the receivers denied it after the game, but clearly there are issues.

The Jets changed three of Sanchez's top four wideouts. Just Holmes is back from last year. And Sunday, the Jets trotted out the lockout excuse for the first time, courtesy of Holmes, who was asked if it's taken time for Sanchez to develop chemistry with the receivers.

"You still got to fault the lockout," Holmes said. "Not enough time to get a feel for all the players. He's a professional quarterback. We can't make any excuses for ourselves and even for him. You got to find a way to win ballgames."

Of course, that's a weak excuse.

"I never thought I would be here, losing three straight, but that's where we are right now," Ryan said. "We've earned it."

Sanchez was listening to Ryan speak about how this is about as tough as he's had it as a coach, and later the QB said, "I hate seeing Rex like that."

The Jets need to do more than stick together.

Just win, baby - or this will soon turn into a lost season.

gmyers@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/2011/10/10/2011-10-10_jets_have_no_pat_answers.html#ixzz1aOGR4q92

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Patriots' Wes Welker shows NY Jets, Darrelle Revis why he's NFL's leading receiver this season

BY Kevin Armstrong

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Monday, October 10th 2011, 4:00 AM

FOXBOROUGH - The route, called on third-and-2 from the Jets' 15-yard-line late in the second quarter, required a short, quick maneuver by Patriots wideout Wes Welker and provided a small window into the precision of the Patriots' passing game.

Matched against Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, Welker, the league's leading receiver, sprinted left and out into the flat. As Welker created space, Tom Brady, in the shotgun, released the ball to where only Welker could come within receiving range.

"I had (Welker) covered like a blanket," Revis said. "It was like (Brady) shot-putted the ball straight up and it came back down in his hands."

Even Revis, considered to be the NFL's most feared cornerback, could not curtail every route run by Welker. Part of a three-man rotation that included defensive back Donald Strickland and Kyle Wilson, Revis played Welker the most physically, jamming him at the line with two hands and shadowing him.

Welker, meanwhile, broke free both short and long, opening the second half with a 73-yard reception that put the Patriots on the 7-yard-line after Revis tracked him down for a score-saving tackle.

"I love it," said Welker, who finished with five catches for 125 yards. "Anytime you can get the ball deep and make some plays like that, it's huge for our offense. Hopefully, next time I can just finish that out."

Welker recognized the over-aggressive approach by Jets safety Eric Smith on an earlier run play. He pretended to settle in for a block the next time, then broke free down the middle of the field, devastating a defense in search of a stop.

"Anytime you can run the ball, it's going to set up some play-action type deals like that," Welker said.

The Patriots established the run early. In the first half, tailback BenJarvus Green-Ellis racked up 51 yards, averaging 6.4 per carry and extending one for 13 yards. Brady and the receiving corps capitalized on openings thereafter, exploiting the Jets' secondary for 157 yards by halftime and finishing with 321 passing yards for the game.

"I thought we were balanced," Brady said. "Ran the clock out at the end, that was important."

Welker proved the most opportunistic Patriot. No matter the matchup, he accepted the challenge, respecting Revis but refusing to shy from his shadow.

"It's a little game of cat and mouse sometimes with him," Welker said. "Every play is go-time when he's across from you."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/2011/10/10/2011-10-10_welker_ne_not_afraid_to_tread_on_revis_island.html#ixzz1aOHOlX4D

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Not Perfect, But Offense Makes Some Strides

By Andrew LeRay

Posted 3 hours ago

It was another tough day on the road for the New York Jets. Sunday’s 30-21 loss at the hands of the New England Patriots was their third consecutive, dropping them to 2-3 on the season and two full games out of first place in the AFC East.

While the offensive numbers were not overwhelming, there is reason to believe it’s on the right track. A clear commitment to the run resulted in 97 yards on the ground.

“We wanted to establish the run today,” said QB Mark Sanchez. “I thought we did that in spurts. I thought our run game was pretty effective. I really did like the game plan.”

That game plan called for a more balanced attack of run to pass, something the Jets did not do in the first quarter of the season. Coming into Week 5, they had thrown the ball on 63 percent of their offensive snaps.

On Sunday, there were 53 plays called: 25 rushes, 28 passes.

Although the Jets succeeded in balancing their offensive play calls, they most certainly did not expect to have a third-down conversion rate of only 27 percent (3-for-11) and seven three-and-out possessions.

“We have to do a better job on third down,” said head coach Rex Ryan. “I thought we were productive on first and second, but when you’re 27 percent on third, you’ve got to do a better job.”

Conversely, the Patriots converted half of their 14 third-down opportunities, a key in their victory.

“Against New England, you’ve got to get off the field,” said Ryan. “They did a great job sustaining drives. You’ve got to give them credit. You make mistakes against them, they burn you. They absolutely kill you.”

Apart from any mistakes the Jets may have made, they never turned the ball over to the Patriots, who came into Week 5 as the AFC’s second-leading team in takeaways. Sanchez finished with a clean stat sheet, completing 16 of 26 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns.

Despite the Patriots’ propensity for takeaways, they were ranked dead last in the league in pass defense, surrendering an average of 368.8 yards per game. Sanchez and the Jets never threatened to reach that number, but that wasn’t the plan.

“I thought we passed it effectively,” said Sanchez. “We ran the ball well, too. It’s easy to say these guys are last in the league, but we’re not built like that. This team can run the ball. I know we can. We can get even better than today.”

The return of C Nick Mangold was certainly a welcome sight for the offense. RB Shonn Greene had his best output of the season, averaging 4.0 yards per carry on 21 attempts, including a 3-yard TD run.

“We did some things that were positive, and there are some things that we still need to get cleaned up,” said Mangold, who said his ankle came out of the game "fine." “It’s a tough spot, but there’s still a lot of football to be played. The sun will come up tomorrow.”

Sunday’s loss is a difficult one to swallow. However, if the Jets continue to protect the football and move it with a balanced attack, they should soon return to the win column.

“We need to start fast,” said TE Dustin Keller, who was held to one catch by the Patriots. “In the middle of the game, we need to keep going fast, and end the game fast. We’re going to get it right. We’re going to get it fixed.”

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October 10, 2011, 7:00 am

Final Dagger on 0-3 Road Trip for Jets

By GEORGE BRETHERTON

New York Jets

If the Jets knew before Sunday’s game that they would hold Wes Welker in check for the most part while limiting Tom Brady to one touchdown pass and intercepting him once, they probably would have signed up for it.

What they wouldn’t have signed up for was what happened after the Jets cut their deficit to 27-21 with 7 minutes 7 seconds left.

The Patriots put the finishing touches on the Jets’ miserable road swing by running the ball and daring the Jets to stop them. They couldn’t. Here is the sequence of New England offensive plays — the knockout punch delivered by Bill Belichick to Rex Ryan — that burned nearly five minutes off the clock until right before the two-minute warning.

1) 1st and 10 at Patriots 22 BenJarvis Green-Ellis right end for 8 yards (David Harris).

2) 2nd and 2 at Patriots 30 Brady up the middle for 3 yards (Jamaal Westerman).

3) 1st and 10 at Patriots 33 Green-Ellis left end for 15 yards (Darrelle Revis, Brodney Pool).

4) 1st and 10 at Patriots 48 Green-Ellis right guard for 6 yards (Marquice Cole).

5) 2nd and 4 at Jets 46 Green-Ellis right end for no gain (Mike Devito; Sione Pouha).

6) 3rd and 4 at Jets 46 direct snap to Green-Ellis left end for 14 yards (David Harris).

7) 1st and 10 at Jets 32 Green-Ellis left end for 5 yards (Harris).

8) 2nd and 5 at Jets 27 Green-Ellis left tackle for 3 yards (Jim Leonhard; Harris).

The Jets used their first timeout with 2:13 remaining, but by then the damage was done. In moving from their 22 to the Jets’ 24, the Patriots did not attempt a pass. The Patriots ran Green-Ellis 7 times for 54 yards, with Brady picking up 3 yards on the other play, before Brady finally attempted and completed a pass, to Rob Gronkowski for 7 yards. By the time the Jets finally held on third down at their 8, there was only 1:06 left, and the game was essentially over.

Stephen Gotskowski’s 28-yard field goal provided the final points in the Patriots’ 30-21 victory.

Extra Point Can the Jets count on their home field in the next two weeks against Miami and San Diego to help get them back on track?

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Winners & losers from the Jets loss to the Patriots

| More Print

9:24 AM, October 10, 2011 ι By JUSTIN TERRANOVA

The Jets lost their third straight game Sunday, falling 30-21 to the Patriots. Here is a look at the winners and losers from that game:

WINNERS

1. Darrelle Revis – He really could be on this list every week. But he showed resolve that his teammates have not shown lately by chasing down Wes Welker on that 73-yard pass to open the second half. Last week in Baltimore, Jets players stood and watched as the Ravens made big plays. Revis showed heart (not to mention unreal speed) chasing Welker down. He also did a good job covering him, giving up one short pass.

2. Shonn Greene – The third-year back showed he can gain yards when the holes are there. He finished with 83 yards on 21 carries, an average of 4.0. The Jets need more from him, but this was a start, and might quiet the calls for Joe McKnight.

3. Joe McKnight – If the Jets had pulled out this game, the turning point would have been McKnight's 88-yard kickoff return in the third quarter. The Patriots had just gone up 17-7 after Welker's long catch and Deion Branch's fumble that was then overturned. All the momentum was going New England's way until McKnight busted the kickoff to the Pats' 20. McKnight averaged 39.6 per return on five returns. He has proven to be a more than capable replacement for Antonio Cromartie as their return man.

LOSERS

1. Rex Ryan – Where's the anger? Where's the swagger? Everything we've gotten used to in Ryan seems to be missing right now. The Jets seemed to just accept this loss. They talked about how they improved in certain areas and things they should be encouraged about. Huh? This team is 2-3 and on the edge of a crisis. It's time for the head coach to wake this team up. Eight penalties also falls on the coaching staff.

2. Derrick Mason – It seems like one of the Jets' big three receivers is no longer in the club. Mason did not play at all in the first half, and was thrown to just once in the second half. Ryan said it was because the team wanted to get rookie Jeremy Kerley into the game. ESPN reported Mason was benched because of his critical postgame comments a week ago. Either way, it's not good for the 37-year-old. He surely isn't happy, and why would the Jets want to keep around a 37-year-old bench player who will probably grumble about his role? Mason could be on his way out.

3. The entire defense – This unit is supposed to be the backbone of the Jets, but it broke when the team needed it most. After the Jets drew to within six points in the fourth quarter, the Patriots ran six minutes off the clock and then kicked the game-icing field goal. All day long, the Jets missed tackles and committed stupid penalties that gave the Patriots extra plays, something you can't do against Tom Brady

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/jetsblog/winners_losers_from_the_jets_loss_viPP0ArJZ7SHLOVD9NIu0H#ixzz1aOKqfc4S

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Schwartz: Which Way Are The Jets Heading?

October 10, 2011 10:07 AM, Tom Brady, Wes Welker

By Peter Schwartz

When the Jets, then 2-0, embarked on their three game road swing, the goal was simple. Come back from Foxboro at 4-1, but no worse than 3-2. They had to play two games without Nick Mangold, but the Jets couldn’t afford three straight losses.

Oops!

After a 30-21 loss to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, the Jets now find themselves at a crossroads in their season. A team with pre-season Super Bowl aspirations has now lost three in a row and they are on the cusp of their season spiraling out of control.

The finger pointing has started. The losses are mounting. The offense continues to struggle. And, the guarantees have stopped.

The only guarantee right now is that the Jets have some serious soul searching to do as they get set to welcome the 0-4 Miami Dolphins to the Meadowlands next Monday.

Offensively, things have to change in a New York minute after the Jets cornered the market in three and outs on Sunday. If you thought the heat was already on offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, just wait. It’s only going to get turned up this week.

Defensively, things were a little better on Sunday as the Jets put some pressure on Tom Brady. But a huge blemish came when Eric Smith bit on a Brady play fake and Darrelle Revis had to tackle Wes Welker from behind to save a touchdown.

That is until BenJarvus Green-Ellis found the end zone.

The Jets Green-Ellis look like Jim Brown as he sliced his way through the Gang Green defense for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

What happened to the vaunted Jets run defense?

Monday will bring another unhappy film session in Florham Park. They won’t be massacres like the two weeks before but more like a drama.

Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall in that meeting room?

When something goes wrong, who is going to snicker and say, “Psst, that was his fault!”

Stay tuned!

MUTINY OR NOT?

When the Jets re-signed Santonio Holmes, signed Plaxico Burress, and signed Derrick Mason, they created a receiver trio that shared a couple of common traits.

First, they are highly skilled NFL receivers that gave Mark Sanchez a nice array of weapons to throw to.

Second, they are three players who are also known for their strong personalities.

So, it was not a surprise to me that a report surfaced indicating that the inmates were trying to take over the asylum. According to the Daily News on Sunday, Holmes, Burress and Mason all went to head coach Rex Ryan on separate occasions to question the system of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

It was also not a surprise that the Jets denied the report in a statement issued Sunday morning. The story also came up in Ryan’s post-game press conference when he was asked if the report from true.

“That’s Ripley’s to me,” said Ryan. “If it is, then maybe I got hit the head or something. I don’t remember that.”

When asked if any players had come to him to complain about the offense, Rex offered a very quick and short answer.

“No,” said Ryan.

I

f it’s true that the players went to Rex about Schotty, that’s one thing. But the fact that it leaked out is of greater concern, especially after Mark Sanchez made it clear this week, following critical comments by Santonio Holmes, that these kinds of things should be kept in-house.

When you assemble players that have had issues in the past, its not so bad when you win. But when the losing starts, those kinds of players tend to start mouthing off. They all chose to re-sign or sign with the Jets because the team was considered to be Super Bowl contenders.

They are also all players who are used to catching lots of passes, something that is not happening right now.

Say what you want about what kind of coach that Ryan is, but he has a chance here to put his foot down (no pun intended). He has to get his team together and keep internal affairs internal. Having more leaks than Watergate will not help the Jets get to where they want to be .

It’s about 700 miles between the Jets complex in Florham Park, New Jersey and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Suddenly, the road to Super Bowl XLVI for the Jets seems so much longer.

DON’T PANIC JUST YET!

After three straight losses, members of Jets Nation might be ready to push the panic button. But let’s just relax and take a chill pill. With eleven games to go, the Jets do have some time to fix what is broken and get their season turned around.

Let’s remember that the 0-4 Dolphins come to Met Life Stadium next Monday night and that is followed by a home game a week from Sunday against the Chargers. In fact, let’s do the old “Win/Loss” routine just to make all of you feel better…

Miami at home: that’s a win.

San Diego at home: I’m going to give them a win.

BYE Week

At Buffalo: I’ll give them a loss.

New England at home: A fired up crown on a Sunday night lifts the Jets to a win.

At Denver: That’s a win over Tebow and company… well I think that Tebow will be the starter by that point!

Buffalo at home: maybe the Bills come back to earth by that point…Jets win.

At Washington:hmmmmmmm….let’s give the Jets a loss.

Kansas City at home: there’s another win.

At Philadelphia: The dream team has been a nightmare but let’s give the Jets a loss there.

Giants at home: at Met Life Stadium…home of both teams….The Jets have a merry time on Christmas Even with a win.

At Miami: another Jets win.

There you go. The Jets will finish the season winning 8 of their last 11 games and they finish 10-6 for an AFC Wild Card spot.

Do you feel better now?

Let’s just see how things play out!

That’s all for now! Check back later in the week for a preview of Monday night’s game against the Dolphins and a look at the 2012 Ring of Honor Class.