Jets News 11-28

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Jets Q&A: With Leonhard out, Cro muffs punt

Originally published: November 27, 2011 7:53 PM

Updated: November 27, 2011 9:58 PM

By RODERICK BOONE roderick.boone@newsday.com

Photo credit: Jim McIsaac | Leodis McKelvin of the Buffalo Bills recovers a fumble on a kick off by Antonio Cromartie of the New York Jets in the third quarter. (Nov. 27, 2011)

Why was Antonio Cromartie back fielding that third-quarter punt he muffed, rather than Jim Leonhard?

Rex Ryan said Leonhard got the wind knocked out of him a few plays earlier while making a tackle.

So with Mike Westhoff having very little confidence in Joe McKnight after his fumble on a punt return against the Broncos, the Jets went with Cromartie. "He was a little sore," Cromartie said. "So I was like, 'If you're sore, I'll go back there.' He was like, 'Go ahead.' "

What was Cromartie's explanation for not handling the punt?

"I got too far underneath it," the cornerback said. "I went up for the fair catch, I felt like I was going to catch it. And for us, it's all about field position. So I didn't want the ball to bounce on the ground and have it bounce for another 15, 20 yards. Now you are looking at us at the 20 to almost the 15-yard line. So I felt like it was field position. I tried to get up underneath the ball and got too far underneath it, it came and hit the top of my shoulder pad and it bounced out. It's always something Rex is harping on. That's our fifth turnover on special teams and I'm the cause of two of them."

Speaking of Cromartie, what happened on former Jet Brad Smith's 36-yard TD catch on the next play?

"I went up and put my hands up and actually got my hands on it and just punched it out," Cromartie said. "The ball just hung in the air and I actually fell down to the ground. As I'm falling down to the ground, I can see him going back up and get the ball. So I was just trying to get up as quick as possible. I was laughing. I had to. I had to laugh that off because I was like, 'How in the hell did he catch the ball?' I said, 'Only Brad and only [Tim] Tebow.' "

Was Smith trying to catch it or was he playing defense?

"On the pass, Cromartie was in great position," Smith said. "I tried to use a double move on him and he stayed back. [Ryan] Fitzpatrick put it up and I was actually reaching to knock it down. Somehow the ball was tipped and I saw it floating."

What did Aaron Maybin think about his two sacks against his former team, the first multi-sack outing of his career?

"It means a lot," the linebacker said. "Obviously, this game is one that we needed. So we all felt like we need to step our games up in order to make sure that this was a game that we played our caliber of football. So for me to go out and have a pretty good game, it feels good. It's awesome.

"After the last time we played Buffalo, people asked me is this the best feeling you could have? The only thing that could have made it better was for me to go out and get a couple of sacks, and for me to have a bigger role in that win. So it feels good, just for how far I've come from last year to this year, and everything that's transpired between then, I'm just grateful."

Trailing by three points with less than two minutes left, why did the Jets run the quarterback sneak that resulted in a first down at the Buffalo 18?

Because they wanted to guard against a replay review of Plaxico Burress' circus catch for 18 yards on the third-and-11 play that preceded it. Mark Sanchez ran for 2 yards, then found Santonio Holmes for the winning 16-yard touchdown. "We were just being careful, making sure they didn't get a chance to replay it," Sanchez said. "It looked like an awesome catch to me, but I'm also 20-plus yards away, so we wanted to be sure and not lose that opportunity."

Any notable injuries?

Defensive tackle Mike DeVito left the game in the third quarter and never returned after injuring his right knee on a third-down completion to C.J. Spiller that went for minus-3 yards. "I'm not real sure," Ryan said about the severity of the injury.

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Sanchez delivers at the right time

November 27, 2011 9:50 PM By NEIL BEST neil.best@newsday.com

Photo credit: Jim McIsaac | Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets looks on in the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium. (Nov. 27, 2011)

Neil Best

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, then returned

He had been bruised by his coach, booed by his fans and bamboozled by the Bills. But when it mattered most, Mark Sanchez did Sunday what he often does in such circumstances: He won.

Booyah!

Not that the Jets quarterback's performance in a 28-24 victory over the Bills settled nagging questions about his long-term prospects.

It was about as uninspiring as a four-touchdown outing capped by a dramatic, game-winning drive can be, complete with a crushing interception that set up a Buffalo touchdown and assorted other misdeeds.

But Sanchez is nothing if not resilient, and he persevered long enough to make his final two throws count.

On third-and-11 from the Buffalo 36, he found Plaxico Burress, who made a circus catch for a pivotal first down. Two plays later from the 16, he patiently drifted to his right long enough for Santonio Holmes to get open in the end zone for the go-ahead score with 1:01 left.

"Mark [sanchez] was so poised back there and made some huge plays,'' said coach Rex Ryan, who in practice last week tweaked the starter by giving some of his reps to 41-year-old Mark Brunell, who presumably will remain the backup for now. "We always say that he's at his best in big moments, and you certainly can't get a bigger moment than the one we had today . . . That's who he is. He's a stud. Sanchize.''

Sanchez wasn't as gushy about his coach as his coach was about him, pointedly declining to credit the practice ploy for lighting a fire under him.

"This is a lot bigger than that,'' he said. "That's a motivational tool that Rex used, and you take it all in stride, but this game and this season is a lot bigger than that.''

Does he think that Ryan believes the tactic worked? "I have no idea; you'll have to ask him,'' Sanchez said, unsmiling.

The quarterback seemed equally unamused by the booing he and his teammates were subjected to by the paying customers at MetLife Stadium.

"That's the last thing on my mind,'' he said. "Just like talking about Rex taking [away] reps, there are bigger things on our plate than that.''

But does he hear the boos? "Of course you hear them,'' he said. "You hear a lot of stuff.''

The stuff will continue every time Sanchez stumbles until he wins over skeptics for good by doing something really big, like winning in February.

For now, there only are the ups and downs of an erratic quarterback heading an erratic offense.

The first half in particular was messy. Drayton Florence, who earlier had dropped a potential interception, came underneath Holmes, caught the ball and returned it to the Jets' 20 to set up Buffalo's second score.

Holmes thought Florence had interfered with his route, driving him off course and causing Sanchez's throw to look worse than it was.

Sanchez was better in the second half, finishing 9-for-15 for 114 yards and two TDs, but even then there were miscues, such as a crucial third down on which Holmes went one way and Sanchez threw the other. "He adjusted his route when I didn't think he would,'' Sanchez said.

After all that, Sanchez went 7-for-9 for 66 yards on the last drive, giving him eight comebacks in the fourth quarter or overtime since Week 6 of 2010, the most in the NFL, according to the Jets. The four touchdowns were a career first.

It was that kind of day, with Ryan and Sanchez acknowledging both the ugliness of the path and the loveliness of the bottom line.

Nothing was resolved about Sanchez or the 2011 Jets. But it beat the alternative. Right?

Sanchez's demeanor was so glum a reporter asked whether the victory was not fully satisfying.

"It's huge, especially when you need to win six in a row,'' he said. "I'm thrilled about the win. Don't get me wrong. It's just that I know we can play better than that.''

Someone asked Ryan whether Sanchez still makes him nervous. "The only time I get nervous,'' the coach said, "is when he doesn't get up.''

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Grading the Jets vs. Bills

Published: November 27, 2011 11:38 PM

By RODERICK BOONE roderick.boone@newsday.com

Photo credit: Getty Images | New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan looks at the scoreboard during a game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium. (Nov. 27, 2011)

OFFENSE: B-

Mark Sanchez threw a career-high four touchdowns, three going to different receivers. He was especially hot in the second half, completing 9 of 15 passes for 114 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and posting a QB rating of 123.3. He was 7-for-9 for 66 yards on the game-winning drive, which includes the 16-yard TD to Santonio Holmes. But Sanchez was lucky that Drayton Florence didn’t pick off an ill-advised pass to Plaxico Burress in the first quarter. The Jets’ 138 rushing yards was the second-highest total of the season. The offensive line didn’t allow a sack for the first time this season.

DEFENSE: C

On the bright side, they got that stop at the end of the game that they weren’t able to get 10 days prior against Tim Tebow. But they surrendered 336 yards and 21 points to an offense that had scored 11, seven and eight points in the previous three games, all losses. They let Ryan Fitzpatrick throw three TDs and compile a 111.5 rating. Stevie Johnson had a lot of success, surprisingly, against Darrelle Revis, grabbing eight passes for 75 yards and a TD. They did sack Fitzpatrick three times; Buffalo entered the game having allowed a league-low 12 sacks.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C-

Antonio Cromartie’s muffing of a punt in the third quarter nearly cost the Jets. T.J. Conley hasn’t exactly been consistent with his punting this season, but he dropped two of his five inside the 20 and managed 41.6 yards per punt. Emmanuel Cook is an unheralded player on Mike Westhoff’s unit, but made an extremely heady play by pouncing on the Bills’ botched squib kick.

COACHING: B-

No one is going to draw a parallel to Rex Ryan deciding to give Brunell a few extra snaps in practice as the reason why Sanchez threw four TDs. But Ryan continues to find a way to get a rise out of a player when necessary, something that can’t be ignored.

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so I take it this johnson guy had a celebration ?

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Sanchez's four TD passes top Bills, 28-24

Originally published: November 27, 2011 4:27 PM

Updated: November 27, 2011 10:31 PM

By RODERICK BOONE roderick.boone@newsday.com

Photo credit: Getty Images | Mark Sanchez #6 of the New York Jets passes against the Buffalo Bills. (Nov. 27, 2011)

With 5:44 remaining and their team trailing by three, Dustin Keller turned to Santonio Holmes as they waited for referee Carl Cheffers to blow his whistle and signal the start of the Jets' most important drive of the season.

"I kind of tapped Santonio on the shoulder and let him know that you are making this play," Keller said. "You are going to be in the end zone on this one. Lead us down there."

Technically, Mark Sanchez led the Jets down the field, but it was Holmes' grab that saved the Jets from a potentially devastating defeat and kept their playoff hopes alive.

Sanchez's 16-yard toss to Holmes with 1:01 left gave the Jets a thrilling 28-24 win over the Bills at

MetLife Stadium Sunday, a victory that wasn't secured until Ryan Fitzpatrick's fourth-down pass from the Jets' 24, intended for Stevie Johnson in the end zone, sailed incomplete as time expired.

"We'll take it. Wow," coach Rex Ryan said. "You have to give our guys a lot of credit. That wasn't an easy game by any stretch of the imagination."

Sanchez's pass to Holmes was his fourth touchdown toss of the game, a career high. He threw TD passes of 3 and 18 yards to Keller and a 14-yarder to Plaxico Burress and finished 17-for-35 for 180 yards and one interception.

Fitzpatrick completed 26 of 39 attempts and threw three touchdown passes for the Bills (5-6).

Sanchez really picked it up in the second half, completing 9 of 15 passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns and recording a 123.3 passer rating. He was especially on point in the fourth quarter and was a huge reason the Jets (6-5) snapped their two-game losing streak.

Sanchez went 7-for-9 for 66 yards on the game-winning 12-play, 82-yard drive. Perhaps no hookup was bigger than the one he had with Burress just after the two-minute warning.

With the Jets trailing 24-21 and facing a third-and-11 at Buffalo's 36-yard line, Sanchez lofted a pass toward the left sideline that a spinning Burress pulled in with his right hand, an amazing reception that gave the Jets a first down at the 18.

"Mark just did a great job hanging in there," Burress said. "They brought an all-out blitz, and they faked one blitz and went to another. He gave me the look, gave me the signal or whatever, and just put it in my hands, told me to go out and make a play. That's what I did."

Two plays later, Holmes made his. On second-and-8, Sanchez rolled right and pointed to Holmes before uncorking a pass that the wide receiver caught for a 16-yard touchdown just before reaching the sideline.

Nick Folk's kick made it 28-24, giving the Jets a four-point lead that left the Bills needing more than a field goal.

"The quarterback got flushed out of the pocket," Holmes said. "We know what we're taught in practice is to just keep the play alive until it's completed, thrown away, whatever. The guy had his back turned to the quarterback and I was watching his every move, relaxed until I knew it was my turn to turn around and do what I'm supposed to do for Mark."

But the Bills responded, driving to the Jets' 24. On the fourth play of the drive, Stevie Johnson dropped a potential 47-yard touchdown pass after getting in the middle of the defense, splitting Brodney Pool and Jim Leonhard before letting the ball slip through his hands at the 25.

Buffalo also had three cracks at the end zone from the 24 but Fitzpatrick couldn't connect with anyone, overthrowing Johnson at the goal line as the clock hit triple zeroes.

That ended a wild game that seemed to take a turn for the worse for the Jets when Antonio Cromartie muffed a third-quarter punt that Buffalo cashed into seven points. One play after the muff, Fitzpatrick threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to former Jet Brad Smith, defended by Cromartie, that tied the score at 21 with 2:11 left in the third quarter. Dave Rayner's 53-yard field goal with 9:46 left in the fourth quarter gave the Bills a 24-21 lead.

Despite facing a banged-up Bills team, the Jets basically had to pull a Houdini, knowing they likely have to win their final six games to make the postseason for a third straight year.

"We just don't need to put ourselves in that position the way we did," Sanchez said. "It's a great job winning the game. It's huge. Any time you win in this league, it's huge, especially when you need to win six in a row. So I'm thrilled about the win. Don't get me wrong. It's just that I know we can play better than that.

"We don't need to fight it at the end and grind it out and bite our nails at the end of the game. That's not the way we need to play. We won't win every game like that."

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Sione Pouha calls Stevie Johnson's touchdown celebration a 'dagger' to New York area

Published: Monday, November 28, 2011, 4:14 PM Updated: Monday, November 28, 2011, 5:11 PM

By Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger

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William Perlman/The Star-LedgerBills WR Stevie Johnson also mimicked a plane crashing during his touchdown celebration.

Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has drawn much criticism for his touchdown celebration in Sunday's 28-24 loss to the Jets, specifically for pretending to shoot himself in the leg, a reference to Plaxico Burress' self-shooting incident that drew a 20-month prison sentence.

But nose tackle Sione Pouha found Johnson's behavior inappropriate for another reason, too. Johnson then went on to mimic Santonio Holmes' "Flight Boys" airplane wings, and crashed the mock plane into the turf.

"Us being from New York, we like to hold ourselves to integrity, and that airplane thing, in my opinion, was kind of a dagger a little bit," Pouha said. "Considering the circumstances that we just celebrated -- not celebrated, but in remembrance of what we just had on Sept 11. Unprofessional, but that’s just my opinion."

The nation just observed the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, in which thousands of Americans were killed when terrorists hijacked four airplanes.

"We all stand for pride around here," Pouha said. "All of us are from this region, so we know that’s a sacred moment for a lot of people, and it’s a very sobering moment."

Pouha said he watched Johnson's celebration, after catching a 5-yard touchdown pass on cornerback Darrelle Revis, on the stadium jumbotron. He was also bothered by Johnson's mocking of Burress' situation, calling it "unprofessional."

Burress first saw the celebration, which drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, when he returned home after the game. Speaking on ESPN 1050 radio today, Burress said that in the past, he probably would have met Johnson in the parking lot after the game. Instead, the two receivers exchanged a few text messages, then Johnson called Burress to apologize.

"He's young, and he made a mistake," Burress said on ESPN 1050. "I don't look at him as any less than I did before. And I don't want everybody just saying he's a bad guy because he made a mistake. I've made a few in my life."

Burress added: "I don’t think he took consideration for everything that happened to me when he did it. And I think a day later he’s realized what he did and how he made himself look, he embarrassed his team, his organization, his players, his coaches and everything like that. But those are things you learn; it's being young and being immature at times."

Rex Ryan said he was glad Johnson called Burress, because it was the right thing to do. After watching Johnson's celebration, he called it "ridiculous."

Revis, who also saw the celebration at home, wondered why Johnson went after Burress.

"It was a young guy, him being a young guy, just young and immature a little bit," Revis said.

"Because I felt it had nothing to do with the situation. If anything, you scored on me, so come at me if anything. But that’s just wrong. To me, it wasn’t smart on his part."

The Jets came out on top at the end. The penalty, combined with a failed Bills squib kick, gave the Jets excellent field position, and they capitalized with a 14-yard touchdown to Burress. At the end of the game, Johnson had the chance to possibly score a game-winning 47-yard touchdown, but he dropped the pass.

"Well, he shot himself at the end of the game, he didn’t win it," Pouha said. "I don’t know what shot’s worse."