Love this analysis...

[Steveg]

Not sure if this was posted yet but here it is:

Jets vs. Bills film review: Breaking down a surprising 48-28 win

Each week in this spot we'll be posting a game review, where we look at the good and the bad from the Jets' previous game. In Week 1 the Jets stunned more than their fair share with a 48-28 win over the Buffalo Bills

. Mark Sanchez had three touchdown passes, rookie wide receiver Stephen Hill had two touchdown catches and second-year wideout Jeremy Kerley reached the end zone twice more -- once on a catch from Sanchez and once on a punt return.

The defense looked strong aside from a second half comeback and it gave the team some much-needed momentum following a dismal preseason. Below is a breakdown of what we saw; if you think I missed something, leave it in the comments section.

TROPHY ROOM

Three Jets from Sunday who deserve some recognition

1. Mark Sanchez was 19-of-25 for 266 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday, but there are some other numbers not in the box score that will stick out for the Jets quarterback. According to Pro Football Focus, when Sanchez was blitzed by the Bills, he was 4-of-6 for 70 yards. He had a passer rating of 149.3 when throwing the ball downfield 20 or more yards and he was responsible for nine of the 10 longest offensive plays the Jets registered on Sunday. Coaches have been searching for a way to fuel drives with “chunk” plays or plays of 25 or more yards and on Sunday, Sanchez had three: The touchdown pass to Stephen Hill (33 yards), a third quarter pass to Hill off the flea-flicker (27 yards) and a pass to Santonio Holmes over the middle for a gain of 25 yards in the fourth. This coming on the heels of a season where Sanchez was 20th in the league in 20-plus yard pass plays (39 yards) and last among qualifying quarterbacks in 40-plus yard plays (2).

2. Tony Sparano, the team’s new offensive coordinator, did not have to see the Jets punter until the 14:20 mark in the fourth quarter. The team had 12 offensive possessions and nine of them ended in scores. The Jets had more time of possession in every quarter except for the fourth and converted 10 of 14 (71 percent) third downs. On those third downs, the Jets weren’t afraid to mix it up with the playcalling: The first (third-and-7) was a 7-yard pass on an in-route to Stephen Hill along the marker. The third, another third-and-7, was a 21-yard corner route to Jeremy Kerley. The fourth was another intermediate route to Hill and the fifth was another longer pass to Kerley. The Bills defense was reeling for a majority of the game trying to keep pace with the Jets offense which, at the end of the day was also pretty balanced with 36 running plays – including the Tim Tebow/Wildcat plays – and 27 passes.

3. Austin Howard, in his Jets debut at right tackle, faced off against Mario Williams and allowed just one quarterback hit in 29 passing plays. By an unofficial count, Howard was left 1-on-1 with Williams 15 separate times, as some players hinted after the game that the Jets were comfortable turning off their slide protection once it became evident Howard could handle the $100-million defensive end. And on film, there were a few times where he received help that wasn’t necessary – it was easy to see Williams tame down after attempting to bull rush Howard on the first few passing downs. Williams complained about face mask penalties and, although they’re tough to see on the fly, we counted one that wasn’t called.

FILM ROOM

Three players from Sunday who will need to put the extra work in

1. Leodis McKelvin: He was one of Sanchez’s main targets on Sunday, being thrown at six times – all of which were receptions. He got recognition early on when Kerley put a nice corner move on him for a 21-yard reception that brought the Jets down to the Bills’ 37-yard line in the first quarter. Six plays later, Sanchez went at him again on the Kerley touchdown. Once Dustin Keller draws the Bills safety, it is another one-on-one matchup between Kerley and McKelvin and the Jets slot receiver is able to slip behind him and haul in the perfectly placed ball from Sanchez. McKelvin was also on Hill during his second touchdown, allowing Hill to gain separation on what looked like a drag route across the field, then failing to make the tackle when Hill turned up the sideline toward the end zone. Isolated statistics provided by Pro Football Focus show the Jets averaged 11.8 yards per pass when throwing at McKelvin. On the broadcast, Rich Gannon made an interesting point that McKelvin plays a lot of press coverage for a slot cornerback, which is out of the ordinary and possibly a reason why the matchup against Kerley was so favorable.

2. Shonn Greene: Two fumbles in any game is always concerning, but on the week prior to a Pittsburgh Steelers matchup, it is paramount that those hiccups are fixed before a much better defense takes advantage. Neither were in a spot where you want to see your running back lose the ball, either. One on the drive after the Bills had just scored to make it 21-7 while very near Jets territory (5:56 in the second quarter) and one on the goal line as the Jets tried to bunch in the knockout blow with 2:00 to play in the fourth quarter. On a bad day, the Bills are within seven at halftime and receiving the opening kick. On a worse day, the Jets actually need that touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Both, it should be noted, were recovered by the offense this time. Greene, otherwise, had a strong day – 94 yards on 27 carries (3.5 Y/C).

3. Quinton Coples: He made some nice plays on Sunday, most notably stuffing C.J. Spiller on a second-and-3 with 10:45 to go in the second quarter. The Bills offensive line is clearly trying to ride him left, away from the play, but Coples makes a very athletic move by reversing his angle once he sees Spiller to shut him down a yard in the backfield. But the one thing the Jets cannot have from their rookie is a moment like Sunday’s fourth quarter when he corralled Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick around the neck and helmet area to drag him down a half second after the ball was thrown. Coples is athletic enough to let the sacks come to him naturally and doesn’t need to force it late in games. The penalty also set the Bills up with a first-and-goal on which they later scored.

BY THE NUMBERS

A statistical look at some of the bigger storylines through the week

1. Darrelle Revis’ final numbers against Stevie Johnson? Johnson was targeted seven times when Revis was covering him, by an unofficial count. During those times, Johnson had two receptions for 14 yards. Revis, of course, had the huge momentum-swinging interception that gave the Jets the ball back after Sanchez’s opening drive pick.

2. Bart Scott’s attendance on third-down? The linebacker was unhappy with coming off the field on third downs last year, and, by an unofficial count, played on two of the nine third downs the Bills faced on Sunday. In Scott’s defense (hah), four of those nine were distances of 10 yards or more.

3. Tim Tebow’s efficiency on offense? Tebow ran the ball five times for 11 yards and, with Tebow as the shotgun quarterback, he handed the ball off three times for eleven yards.

4. Replacing Sione Po’uha? With Po’uha out, second-year NT Kenrick Ellis played 30 snaps on Sunday, according to Pro Football Reference. He had one tackle and missed one tackle.

5. Keller in the offense? Rex Ryan said he thinks Keller will be closer to 100 percent against Pittsburgh and that he scaled the tight ends reps down toward the end of the game. He finished with 26, by an unofficial count.

EXTRA POINTS

Sanchez was a wide receiver twice on Sunday, lining up against a Bills cornerback for the first time since last year when he made a very public flinch against Buffalo’s Drayton Florence before being thrown to the turf. This time? Sanchez was thrown to the ground by rookie corner Stephon Gilmore and on a second try, maintained a nice little block, shielding Gilmore from pursuit of the play, a three-yard run by Tebow.

Although it was absent from the “Film Room” section, the whiff by Scott and LaRon Landry on Spiller’s 56-yard touchdown run will not go overlooked by Ryan. Scott attempts the strip from behind while Landry goes low. Also, the defensive line was simply blown off the ball on that one (with a few questionable non-holds in the mix, too). There, Buffalo does a nice job of eliminating Yeremiah Bell from the play on a low block by Donald Jones and the left side of their line creates a natural hole by knocking Bryan Thomas to the ground, then boxing Mike DeVito inside…

Konrad Reuland, who was acquired by the Jets eight days before their season-opener and was immediately plugged in as the their No. 3 tight end, managed to get in on almost a third of the team’s offensive snaps…

Kyle Wilson was not targeted often – twice by an unofficial tally, yielding one reception and one interception – but he made it count with a nice break on the ball during his first-quarter pick. Yes, Fitzpatrick’s throw was completely back-shoulder to David Nelson leaving the door wide open for a turnover, but Wilson does a nice job of two things: a.) Finding Nelson out of the three-wide receiver bunch that Buffalo was in, and b.) making the commitment to the pick. Those are not easy things to do and he looks a lot more prepared to fill in for an injured Revis if need arises on Sunday…

Calvin Pace said after the game that the defense knew not to expect too many sacks given Buffalo’s quick strike offense. But what they wanted to do was rack up the hits, which certainly came in bunches and rattled Fitzpatrick. There were seven, by an unofficial count and one of them that stuck out especially was a third-and-13 hit in the second quarter (13:33) on a 12-yard completion to Johnson. Pace gets to Fitzpatrick in two seconds flat, allowing the QB to really only consider one route out of the five options he had (Buffalo was in an empty shotgun set) and a route that ended before the first down marker. Oh, and by the way, the ensuing play was a 68-yard punt return by Kerley to put the Jets up 21-0…

Speaking of that punt return, Wilson buries Bills wide receiver Ruvell Martin who had as good a shot as any to tackle Kerley after five yards, but because Wilson managed to knock him to the ground, the recovery time was too great for him to make it back toward Kerley for the tackle. Garrett McIntyre, Isaiah Trufant and Ellis Lankster also get helmet stickers for some heads up blocking through the seam Kerley found toward the end zone. As a random aside, the JumboTron at MetLife claims that Kerley reached a top speed of 17.88 mph during the return. Take that as you will.

[nycdan]

where is this from?

[#27TheDominator]

Interesting. Kind of hard to fault Coples for blasting Fitzpatrick when you are praising the team for hitting the guy when you can't get sacks. I think Coples was hit in the back on the play which may have contributed to how/when he made the hit. Also interesting that on the punt return big blocks were cited for Wilson, McIntyre, Lankster and Trufant. 3 of the 4 are smaller than me. Those guys are tiny, but they did their jobs. Not sure when they credit Ellis with the missed tackle, but he had Spiller around the legs for a loss on one of the TDs, but the lineman was sitting on/holding him. I think Scott's play was better than most of the people on here. Not that I'm sending him to the pro bowl, but I don't think he had such a bad game. Was Davis active? I didn't notice him out there.

[Steveg]

where is this from?

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2012/09/jets_vs_bills_film_review_brea.html

[Jetsfan80]

3. Austin Howard, in his Jets debut at right tackle, faced off against Mario Williams and allowed just one quarterback hit in 29 passing plays. By an unofficial count, Howard was left 1-on-1 with Williams 15 separate times, as some players hinted after the game that the Jets were comfortable turning off their slide protection once it became evident Howard could handle the $100-million defensive end. And on film, there were a few times where he received help that wasn’t necessary – it was easy to see Williams tame down after attempting to bull rush Howard on the first few passing downs. Williams complained about face mask penalties and, although they’re tough to see on the fly, we counted one that wasn’t called.

Amazing how we get a new RT and, poof!.....Pass protection fixed!

The far likelier explanation is that it wasn't as bad as we thought to begin with. Howard played great, and perhaps with Wayne Hunter in there, its a different game. But the fact remains that Sanchez was pressured at about an average rate NFL-wide last season.

[JustInFudge]

That was a great read and a great breakdown. Going to be tough for the Jets to have repeat success across the board like they did Sunday. Especially against a hungry Steelers team on their home opener.

[TnT]

Interesting. Kind of hard to fault Coples for blasting Fitzpatrick when you are praising the team for hitting the guy when you can't get sacks. I think Coples was hit in the back on the play which may have contributed to how/when he made the hit. Also interesting that on the punt return big blocks were cited for Wilson, McIntyre, Lankster and Trufant. 3 of the 4 are smaller than me. Those guys are tiny, but they did their jobs. Not sure when they credit Ellis with the missed tackle, but he had Spiller around the legs for a loss on one of the TDs, but the lineman was sitting on/holding him. I think Scott's play was better than most of the people on here. Not that I'm sending him to the pro bowl, but I don't think he had such a bad game. Was Davis active? I didn't notice him out there.

I could be wrong but I think Ellis missed the tackle at the LOS on the play Fred Jackson got hurt.

if not...i do remember the miss cause not even 3 mins before it, I made the "Ellis is gonna be a beast this year statement."

[TnT]

Interesting. Kind of hard to fault Coples for blasting Fitzpatrick when you are praising the team for hitting the guy when you can't get sacks. I think Coples was hit in the back on the play which may have contributed to how/when he made the hit. Also interesting that on the punt return big blocks were cited for Wilson, McIntyre, Lankster and Trufant. 3 of the 4 are smaller than me. Those guys are tiny, but they did their jobs. Not sure when they credit Ellis with the missed tackle, but he had Spiller around the legs for a loss on one of the TDs, but the lineman was sitting on/holding him. I think Scott's play was better than most of the people on here. Not that I'm sending him to the pro bowl, but I don't think he had such a bad game. Was Davis active? I didn't notice him out there.

Went back and looked...

Wasnt that play.

[#27TheDominator]

Went back and looked...

Wasnt that play.

I know it was Spiller because I got to my friend's late and Jackson was gone before I arrived. I know it was Spiller and a TD. I think it was the one where he split Landry and Scott.