" Jubilant Jets shift focus to Titans and dismiss playoff talk " ~ ~ ~

[kelly]

It was a green-and-white party that saw Todd Bowles jumping for joy and hugging team personnel while owner Woody Johnson would later do his version of “The Dab.”

The New York Jets celebrated their come-from-behind win over the crosstown rival Giants on Sunday like it was a playoff victory.

“It was a moment I will never forget,” defensive tackle Damon Harrison said.But 24 hours later, the Jets shifted their focus back to business. And they dismissed any playoff talk as the Jets began preparing for this weekend’s game against Tennessee.

The Jets (7-5) don’t want to hear anything about the playoffs even if they are in control of their own postseason fate at the moment.“It was an emotional win for us so it was a great feeling in the locker room, everybody was jumping around, excited,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “I promise Coach Bowles is not jumping around and excited in the building today. He is focused on the next game and figuring out what we can do to beat Tennessee.”

The thing is, the Jets might want to look back before they look forward. They will want to bottle the way they finished the game against the Giants. They erased a 20-10 lead by getting a key fourth-and-short stop near the end zone and scoring 10 points in the final 4:24 of regulation before kicking a field goal in overtime and watching Josh Brown miss a field goal to end the game.

The stirring victory set off a celebration that saw Bowles let his guard down and jump for joy while hugging anyone near him. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall said he was in tears hugging teammates and coaches while also having an awkward celebration with Fitzpatrick that he likened to almost spooning with the quarterback.And Johnson celebrated by doing “The Dab” a la Cam Newton to the delight of the team.

“Hopefully from a grit standpoint of never giving up, I don’t think you can become a complete team until you have one of those types of games,” Bowles said. “The previous six games that we won, we were basically winning pretty good and we didn’t have any pressure-packed type games where we had to come from behind. So to come back and finally have success and win one of those games really says a lot hopefully about the growth of our team.”

Cornerback Antonio Cromartie honestly thought the Jets would be better than their current record. But with that said, he knows the Jets can play better moving forward.His teammates likely would agree. The Jets just know that as great as Sunday felt after the win, they don’t want to ruin it with a setback against the Titans.

“It is a great feeling (beating the Giants),” Fitzpatrick said. “But (it is) a feeling that can go away quickly depending on how we play.”

>     http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/56837/jubilant-jets-shift-focus-to-titans-and-dismiss-playoff-talk

[kelly]

It’s right that the Tennessee Titans will be the next team the Jets have to conquer if they want to keep their playoff push headed in the right direction. Actually, it’s perfect that it’s the Titans who happen to show up in MetLife Stadium on Sunday, because they provide the Jets with an alternate-universe question for the ages.

Would you rather be you  ?

Or would you rather be them ?

This is an exceedingly relevant question, actually. This weekend the Titans will lug their 3-9 record to North Jersey but they will be led by Marcus Mariota, their rookie quarterback, coming off a dynamic game in which he threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for an 87-yard TD.

The Jets have been steadfast all year that they keep their concentration locked on the subject at hand, that even the fact they presently sit on the right side of the playoff brackets won’t hinder that focus.“I buy into what Coach [Todd] Bowles is saying, one game at a time,” nose tackle Damon Harrison said Monday. “I don’t look at the playoffs position.”So that means no scoreboard gazing Sunday, while the Jets try to take care of their business against their guests from Nashville. No peeking at the Steelers-Bengals game, or the Chiefs-Chargers game, or the Bills-Eagles game, all of which will be taking place simultaneously. No effort wasted wondering if the Pats can do the Jets a solid for a change by taking out their frustrations on the Texans at night.

“Take care of what we have to do,” Antonio Cromartie said, “and not worry about anything else.”

“Stay the course,” Bowles said.

Fifty weeks ago, the Jets — or, at the least, their fans — were doing some scoreboard watching of a different kind, and it was a study in futility. While waiting on the Jets-Titans 4 o’clock game in Tennessee — a forgettable collision of 2-11 teams, so if you’ve forgotten, you’re forgiven — the early games turned into a disastrous parlay: Tampa, Oakland, Jacksonville and Washington all lost.Ah, yes. You remember what life was like around the Jets just 50 weeks ago, right? Looking for help from the out-of-town scoreboard, only in that case you were hoping rival teams would embrace the league’s any-given-Sunday mantra, rather than stubbing their toes. Such is life at 2-11, with a couple of quarterbacks the certain prizes for the biggest losers.

Surely you remember “Suck for the Duck,” right?

The Jets all but surrendered their chances for Mariota by literally doing something that had never been done before: they beat the Titans 16-11, the first NFL game that had ever been decided by that score. They gave it the old college try to secure the hot college quarterback: the Titans tried the old multiple-lateral trick on the game’s final play, and it came as close to working as it ever does in the NFL, but Dawan Landry tackled Delanie Walker 9 yards short of crafting Music City Miracle II.

The Jets’ dream of drafting a franchise quarterback died that day.

“Tough,” was Rex Ryan’s defiant — and predictable — response.

Ryan also said he might feel differently if, say, Peyton Manning were available in the coming draft. “But I don’t think Peyton Manning is out there,” he said.Mariota and Jameis Winston — whom Tampa Bay took No. 1 in the draft — may spend their careers trying to make Ryan eat those words, or they might simply justify them, but for now both have shown enough to make it clear the Buccaneers and Titans are significantly better today than they were a year ago.Yet it’s hard to argue the Jets aren’t, also, even if Ryan Fitzpatrick is their quarterback now, even if he hardly qualifies as a QB for the future (and likely wouldn’t be one of the present, either, if not for IK Enemkpali’s fist). The Bucs and Titans, after all, are still future stocks, and in the NFL so much can happen between promise and payoff that it’s a wonder it ever happens at all.

The Jets  ? Maybe living and dying for a wild-card berth is thankless labor, and isn’t the best blueprint to end a Super Bowl drought in an AFC top-heavy with three legit powers in Cincinnati, Denver and Foxborough. But it sure beats the alternative. If nothing else, the scoreboard-watching is a little less soul-sucking, and a lot less confusing.

>    http://nypost.com/2015/12/07/in-titans-mariota-jets-get-glimpse-at-what-life-could-have-been-like/

[Integrity28]

“Hopefully from a grit standpoint of never giving up, I don’t think you can become a complete team until you have one of those types of games,” Bowles said. “The previous six games that we won, we were basically winning pretty good and we didn’t have any pressure-packed type games where we had to come from behind. So to come back and finally have success and win one of those games really says a lot hopefully about the growth of our team.”

I made a point like this at the end of the game thread. I'm glad Bowles recognizes the value, and potential, of a game like this to become a rallying point for the rest of the way. 

[kelly]

oh ,..jets by 10  

 

 

 

cheers ~ ~

[kelly]

Ten things to know about the Tennessee Titans (3-9), the New York Jets' next opponent:

1. It has been another painful year in Nashville. Let's sum up the Titans' season this way (in no particular order): Six-game losing streak. Three-game losing streak. Coach fired. Marcus Mariota, savior.

2. Ken Whisenhunt, handed a terrible roster, was the scapegoat for a 1-6 start. He was fired on Nov. 3, replaced by offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey on an interim basis. Mularkey is 2-3 and hopes to get the full-time gig, but there's little chance of that happening. The front office already is performing due diligence on potential head-coaching candidates.

3. The Titans snapped an 11-game home losing streak last week with a 42-39 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, so they'll be coming to MetLife Stadium in a positive frame of mind. They haven't won back-to-back games since Dec. 22 and Dec. 29, 2013, so it'll be a big step if they can beat the Jets.

4. Mariota, the second overall pick, has lived up to the hype. He's a smart, tough and athletic, with the ability to make plays inside and outside the pocket. His signature moment came in last week's win, when he beat a blitz and ran for an 87-yard touchdown -- the third-longest run in NFL history by a quarterback. He became the first player in history to pass for 250 yards and three touchdowns and rush for 100 yards in a single game. He accounted for four touchdowns, joining Fran Tarkenton (1961) as the only rookies since 1960 to have three four-touchdown games. Dude can play.

5. Mariota's rise has coincided with Mularkey's promotion. Since Week 9, Mariota's Total QBR is 81.6, second-best in the league. The only player with a better QBR over that span is Cam Newton (82.1), and he just might be the MVP of the league. All told, Mariota has 19 touchdown passes and only nine interceptions in 10 starts; he missed two games due to knee and ankle injuries. Remember all the talk before the draft about whether he could adapt to a pro-style offense? He seems to be managing nicely.

6. There's a stark contrast between the Titans' tight ends and those of the Jets, and that's an understatement. Led by Delanie Walker (67 catches for 800 yards), the Titans lead the league with 104 receptions by tight ends. The Jets are at the bottom with only seven. Walker isn't a conventional tight end in that he often lines up in the slot.

7. The Jets will be facing a Beckham for the second week in a row. This time, it's rookie wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham (no relation to Odell). It has been an inconsistent year for DGB, a second-round pick who didn't play his final season in college due to off-the-field issues. He was dismissed by Missouri and transferred to Oklahoma, but never played. He's a talent, though. He's 6-foot-5 and he can fly. He's coming off his best game -- five catches for 119 yards and a touchdown.

8. It would be a mistake to sleep on the Titans defense. The unit is coached by legendary defensive mind Dick LeBeau, known as the creator of the zone blitz. Not surprisingly, the Titans have blitzed on 185 snaps, the fifth-highest total in the league, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Led by defensive end Jurrell Casey and outside linebacker Brian Orakpo, they're ranked eighth in yards per game and 21st in scoring defense. Their Achilles' heel is the red zone (65 percent), where they rank 29th. They got lit up last week by Blake Bortles, who threw five touchdowns.

9. The Titans have invested a lot of resources in their offensive line -- two first-round picks (left tackle Taylor Lewan and right guard Chance Warmack) and a marquee free agent (left guard Andy Levitre). It hasn't help their running game much, though. Their most dangerous threat is Mariota.

10. New Jersey-born rock star Jon Bon Jovi tweeted there's no truth to the rumor that he's interested in buying the Titans. Indeed, Bon Jovi doesn't seem like a Nashville kind of guy. He's rock, not country.

>    http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/56884/rookie-qb-marcus-mariota-the-real-deal-tennessee-titans-real-bad

[#27TheDominator]

Looks like McCluster will be back.  That's probably not good news.

[drsamuel84]

A team we should beat but definitely shouldn't underestimate.  Another good test for this team as well as our rookie head coach coming off a huge win against a 2 win team I'd be really disappointed to see them come out flat in this one.  

[bitonti]

Despite the Giants game celebration, Bowles' approach is like this every week. 

Measured, serious and grounded. 

The emotional roller coaster approach can achieve success but it's never consistent. 

[Larz]

walker is good for 100, mariota probably 50 rushing yards, but the jets D should contain the t!ts to less than 17 points

 

[GREENBEAN]

I made a point like this at the end of the game thread. I'm glad Bowles recognizes the value, and potential, of a game like this to become a rallying point for the rest of the way. 

Just like the Giants did when they beat us a few years ago en route to a SuperBowl victory. Hey... ya never know.

[pointman]

3-9. Its the NFL every team is dangerous blah blah blah. We school them or we suck too.

[kelly]

-- As he’s sorted through the increased complexities of NFL defenses, Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota has shown the ability to move defenders with his eyes and make things easier for himself.On the rookie quarterback’s second-quarter, 7-yard touchdown pass to Delanie Walker against the Jacksonville Jaguars, linebacker Telvin Smith magnified the power of a look-off. Smith overreacted and jumped to Bishop Sankey as Mariota looked to the running back, clearing a wide path the scoring pass.

(Terry Lambert has a post that shows it here.)

“He’s pretty good with his eyes,” interim coach Mike Mularkey said. “He’s really getting a good feel for how people are trying to defend us. Jacksonville did a lot of disguising, especially in the red zone, where there are a lot of moving parts. When the ball is snapped, they better be where they’ve got to be. He’s using the eyes to move them like we want him to.”No matter how much they may move around to attempt to throw Mariota off, defenders are realizing they have to get to their spots quicker, according to Mularkey. A last-second move may be too late because of Mariota’s ability to read things and deliver the ball quickly.

“Their guys are showing faster what’s going to happen, faster than they used to as we’re kind of progressing in the season,” Mularkey said.

Mariota said he has not been working specifically on looking people off.It’s just a natural part of what a quarterback does, and he’s been doing it for some time.“I knew I had an opportunity in terms of maybe trying to get some guys open in some of the zones,” he said of the Jaguars game. “That’s something I learned in high school and I just continue to try to have it be an aspect of my game.”

Former Steelers, Titans and Jets quarterback Neil O’Donnell is a Nashvillian who pays close attention to the Titans.He said he thinks Mariota still has a lot of room for improvement with what he can do in looking off defenders, particularly to help on deeper stuff.“Looking people off and taking shots comes with confidence and experience,”O’Donnell said. “He’s average but will be fine in long run. If he can gain confidence and rhythm with his receivers and tight ends, looking off and putting safeties in spots to take chances will come in time.

“He will be able to put safeties where he wants to with his eyes.”

>     http://espn.go.com/blog/tennessee-titans/post/_/id/17366/a-look-at-just-how-titans-qb-marcus-mariota-is-using-his-eyes-to-move-defenders

[kelly]

 — The Jets are doing their best this week to dismiss the notion that Sunday's home game against the Titans is a so-called trap game. 

The 7-5 Jets have won two straight games, most recently an emotional comeback against the Giants.The Titans are 3-9. They just snapped a three-game winning streak by beating Jacksonville. Tennessee hasn't won back-to-back games all year. The Titans won their opener, followed it with six straight losses, and are 2-3 since that six-game skid. They are playing under interim head coach Mike Mularkey, who replaced Ken Whisenhunt when he was fired after the 1-6 start. 

The Jets pretty much have to win Sunday's game, right? 

"We're not a good enough team to overlook anybody," said quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. "We've got to treat everyone like it's the playoffs. We're in the playoffs right now, [with] trying to win each week. I don't think you'll see, hear, or feel that [overlooking] out of our team at all." The Jets, with four regular season games remaining, are in the thick of the AFC wild card race. A loss Sunday would not bode well for their chances of reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2010. 

"I don't think it's a trap game," said Jets coach Todd Bowles. "We know they've got a good team. We're just going into it playing another opponent. We know we've got to take care of ourselves — and if we don't, then we're not going to win. We don't look at any game as a trap game. We look at it as the next game." Bill Parcells is one of Bowles' coaching mentors. When Parcells coached the Patriots from 1993-96, he once had mousetraps hung in the locker room, during the week of a trap game. Bowles laughed when a reporter relayed this anecdote to him Wednesday. Bowles doesn't have any plans to do something like that. 

"No, he's got me beat there," Bowles said. 

>    http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2015/12/ryan_fitzpatrick_says_jets_not_a_good_enough_team.html#incart_river_index

[kelly]

Paul Kuharsky ESPN Staff Writer 

In the last five weeks, the Jets lead the NFL with 17 sacks and the Titans are second with 16.

>     http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ten/tennessee-titans

[kelly]

-- After missing two games with a concussion, New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said Thursday he's ready to return to the lineup.

"I practiced, so I'll be ready to go Sunday," he said after practicing for the first time since his Nov. 22 concussion against the Houston Texans.Technically, Revis hasn't been cleared yet by doctors to play, but he doesn't anticipate any problems. He said he made it through Thursday without any setbacks. The next step in the NFL concussion protocol is to be cleared for full practice.

"I think I'll pass that and move forward," he said.

The Jets (7-5), who went 2-0 without Revis, face the Tennessee Titans (3-9) at MetLife Stadium.

Revis acknowledged this was the most serious head injury of his career. He suffered a concussion in Week 1 of the 2012 season, which cost him a game. In 2013, playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he admitted that he "blacked out" in a game, but it never was diagnosed as a concussion. He didn't miss any games."You can't play around with these things," he said. "These are serious. It's a blow to your head, so you definitely have to follow every protocol you can to get back on the field."

Revis declined to get into specifics, but he admitted the symptoms of his latest concussions were "pretty bad." He said he's not worried about possible long-term ramifications."I'm not really looking at that right now," he said. "You have one, they're all the same. You go through the same protocol. My job is to get back healthy and get back on the field. I will be back on the field soon. That's how I look at it.

"You don't wish a concussion or any type of injury on anyone. This is what we signed up for. But at the same time, if you have an injury or a blow to the head ... you just have to follow the protocol and get back as healthy as you can."Coach Todd Bowles stopped short of saying Revis will face the Titans, but he was "happy with the progress" he showed in practice.Wearing the red/no-contact jersey, per NFL rules, Revis was limited in team drills, but he made an interception and looked fine, according to Bowles.

"I have to see a little more (Friday) and then we'll talk about it," Bowles said.

Revis played one of the worst games of his career against the Texans, surrendering a 61-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins. Bowles claimed he's not concerned."He got beat against Hopkins, but he was playing pretty well before that," Bowles said. "He had one or two times where he got beat and it looked worse than it was. He was playing good before that. I have all the confidence in the world in him."

>       http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14337156/new-york-jets-cb-darrelle-revis-practices-1st-concussion

[kelly]

Paul Kuharsky ESPN Staff Writer 

Dick LeBeau says Ryan Fitzpatrick tends not to slide, goes head first. "If he ain't sliding, we say: Knock the hell out of him"

>    http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ten/tennessee-titans

[kelly]

After best run performance in 6 years, Titans face Jets' D

-- Marcus Mariota's impressive 87-yard touchdown run against Jacksonville reminded defenses that the Tennessee rookie quarterback can be just as dangerous with his legs as his arm.

''We'll run him, and we'll design runs that we'll have enough guys to block all their guys because as soon as the quarterback can run, the playing surface is even ...,'' Titans interim head coach Mike Mularkey said. ''And that puts the threat on defenses because if you're not where you're supposed to be, you're going to get creased.''

Take heed, New York Jets.

Mariota ran for a career-high 112 yards last week, and the Titans finished with 210 yards for their best rushing performance since Nov. 23, 2009. An offense that has shuffled starting running backs and offensive linemen all season finally seems to be gelling. The Titans Sunday visit the Jets, who feature the NFL's stingiest run defense allowing just 83.5 yards per game.

Jets coach Todd Bowles has seen enough of Mariota's running to get his attention.''It's a big concern because he can run like a halfback,'' Bowles said. ''He can throw it and beat you in the air, and he can beat you on the ground. Anytime you have a dual-threat quarterback as he is, you have a problem with the run and the pass game because you know your defensive linemen aren't fast enough to catch him.''

Mariota has helped rev up a run game that has had its issues this season. The Titans have started three different running backs with Bishop Sankey, the second-round draft pick out of Washington last year, benched in favor of Antonio Andrews, an undrafted free agent in his second season.Mularkey also shifted starters on the offensive line to better protect Mariota and become more physical up front. Byron Bell has settled in at right tackle, while undrafted free agent Quinton Spain will be starting his third straight game beside fellow rookie center Andy Gallik on Sunday.''They are huge up front,'' Bowles said of the Titans' rookie linemen. ''Those guys are big, huge run-blockers, and they understand. They keep it very tight-knit when they run their power run game. They do a lot of things that can hurt you.''

Tennessee (3-9) hopes to get Dexter McCluster back against the Jets after missing two games with an injured right knee. McCluster not only handles punt returns, he ranks third behind Andrews and Mariota in yards rushing. McCluster said Thursday he thinks the Titans all are on the same page now and confident running the ball.

Having Mariota around certainly helps, and the rookie is as healthy as he's been since spraining the MCL in his left knee Oct. 18. His two touchdowns rushing have come in the past three games, and he is averaging 8 yards a carry. Mariota is running more both by design and when the rookie feels he can take off, something Mularkey wants to use the quarterback's strengths.''If you looked at that long run, there were some really bad angles taken on him, and that happens a lot when guys with his kind of speed are breaking the pocket,'' Mularkey said.

If a defender comes too close when Mariota is running, Mularkey has only one word of advice.

''Slide,'' Mularkey said. ''Do not take hits.''

Notes: Mularkey said LB Derrick Morgan likely will not play Sunday because of his injured left shoulder. WR Kendall Wright (ribs) will try to run Friday to test himself after not practicing the past two days. ... The Titans added WR Tre McBride (abdomen) and LB Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil (knee) to the injury report Thursday.

>      http://sports.yahoo.com/news/best-run-performance-6-years-titans-face-jets-223143927--nfl.html

[kelly]

-- A dramatic jump in third-down defense was a big key to the Titans’ defensive improvements in 2015.

In the second year of the 3-4 and the first year with Dick LeBeau as the team’s assistant head coach/defense, the Titans were getting off the field at good rate through their first seven games.

At that stage, opponents were converting third downs at a 33.7 percent clip, the seventh-best defensive rate in the league.

Since then, however, it’s been a downward spiral.

In the last five games, the Titans have been the NFL’s worst third-down defense, allowing conversions 53.0 percent of the time.

Allow an opponent to extend its drives more than half the time and you’re going to be in trouble.

“We haven’t played as well on third down as we were early in the year when we were very near the top of the league,” LeBeau said. “A lot of times the teams are pretty well spaced through there and a couple of bad games can move you a lot of spaces (in the rankings). The answer to that of course is don’t have any bad games on third down.

“We are working on that, we are addressing that.”

The good news is that the Titans won two of those games, including the worst of the batch -- Tennessee allowed 10 conversions in 14 attempts to the Jaguars last week and won anyway.

“Whether it’s not making the play, not getting in the right rush lanes or not getting in a third and manageable, I think we need to continue to win first and second down to give us a better shot, inside linebacker Wesley Woodyard said. “We’ve just got to tighten up our defense on third down.

“We know what plays they are going to run. We’ve just got to be better.”

>     http://espn.go.com/blog/tennessee-titans/post/_/id/17380/titans-are-nfls-worst-third-down-defense-over-last-five-weeks

[kelly]

Paul Kuharsky ESPN Staff Writer 

Titans WR Kendall Wright (ribs) will not play Sunday against the Jets. More reason they need big follow-up performance from Dorial Green-Beckham.

>    http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/ten/tennessee-titans

[kelly]

-- The New York Jets have been impressed by Marcus Mariota, and talked up his maturity for a rookie and ability to be much more than a mobile quarterback.“He is definitely a sound quarterback, he goes through his reads,” safety Calvin Pryor said. “That is what sticks out about him. He tries to be a quarterback, he only runs when he has to. Hopefully he stays in the pocket more.”

Of course, it is what Mariota can do with his legs that has Jets defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers on pins and needles. Mariota has passed for 2,512 yards and 19 touchdowns while completing 63.4 percent of his passes. But he also has rushed for 249 yards -- 112 of them coming last week in a 42-39 win over the Jaguars. Mariota exploded for an 87-yard touchdown run in that game.

“They were playing man,” Rodgers said of Jacksonville’s defense on the play. “Guys running with their backs turned, they don’t see him until it’s too late. As a matter of fact, they were in a six-man rush and he broke contain and he was out of the gate. So, that’s something we’re definitely stressing this week, stay where you’re supposed to be and make sure your guys stay in their lanes.”

That’s why Jets head coach Todd Bowles isn’t licking his chops at the opportunity to get after a rookie quarterback.

“I’ve been eaten up by rookie quarterbacks before too,” Bowles said. "Just like coming out of college, he is very poised, he understands and runs the offense very well. He doesn’t just run out of the pocket, he can sit there and make all the throws and if he sees an opening he can take off and run. He is very mature for a rookie.”The Jets’ playoff hopes could hinge on their ability to not only contain Mariota, but force him to turn the ball over. The rookie has thrown nine interceptions and fumbled eight times, losing the ball on five of those occasions.

Cornerback Darrelle Revis practiced fully Friday and just needs final clearance from the team doctor to play Sunday. Revis’ expected return after missing the past two games with a concussion will be a boost for the Jets' defense, which surrendered six receptions for 149 yards including a 72-yard touchdown to Odell Beckham Jr. last week during the Jets’ 23-20 overtime win over the Giants.

On Sunday, the Jets face another explosive offensive player who will have the ball in his hands on every offensive snap.

“He’s kind of a guy with the total package,” Rodgers said. “We looked at him going back, we really feel like he’s as good as advertised.”

>     http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-jets/post/_/id/57000/jets-defense-braces-for-the-total-package-in-marcus-mariota

[kelly]

-- Tennessee Titans defensive backs had their worst game of the season last Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It was their good fortune that it didn't lose the game for them, as Marcus Mariota and the offense did great work to offset it and get the Titans their third win of the season.Veteran Perrish Cox has been the Titans' best cover corner by a good deal for most of the year. But Cox rated Sunday as "one of my terrible, terrible games.""It was just me out there, trying to guess the route instead of playing the receiver," he said. "I was trying to make a play and obviously that sucker went the other way on me. It was just me not reading my keys right and trying to do something that I normally wouldn't do.

"It'll be a whole different game this week. It was more of, I'm going to say, a reality check. Everything doesn't always work the way you plan it to. Just stick to what you know best, do what you do best. That's not what I did that game."In general as the Titans have struggled on third down over the last five weeks, the coverage has been less sticky. Blidi Wreh-Wilson's play as the nickel against the Jaguars landed him on the bench after just six snaps in favor of B.W. Webb.

On Sunday, the group will be asked to slow some productive, big and fast receivers in Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. The New York Jets don't throw to a tight end, so help from big safeties and linebackers won't be as effective as it has been against other teams."Our biggest problem right now, we're not getting really separated on, we're always at the ball, if you notice and look back through these recent games, we're not making a play at the ball," Titans assistant head coach/defense Dick Lebeau said. "That's not one person at all, that's the secondary.

"You've got to get that long pass knocked down or intercepted. I mean they're going to catch some, but you can't let them catch a high percentage or you're going to have problems."

>    http://espn.go.com/blog/tennessee-titans/post/_/id/17401/titans-cb-perrish-cox-pledges-a-whole-different-game-this-week