NY Jets articles- 9/15/08

[Kentucky Jet]

Even with Brett Favre, it's same old Jets against Patriots

BY JONATHAN LEMIRE

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, September 15th 2008, 2:20 AM

Revved-up fans came to cheer new hero Brett Favre, but left wondering if a new year would bring familiar disappointment.

Deafening cheers turned to frustrated boos as a sea of fans in brand-new Favre jerseys headed for the exits after watching the future Hall of Famer lead Gang Green to a disappointing 19-10 loss to the hated New England Patriots.

"It's the same old Jets," moaned Eric Donald, 40, of Brooklyn, whose face was painted Jets green. "We get our hopes up, and then they dash them."

"The Jets will always let us down," Donald added. "I just can't stand it."

Favre played a decent game, but hyped fans were crushed that the Jets wasted a raucous atmosphere at his home opener.

"I expected more out of Favre, to be honest," said Matthew Leiter, 29, of Manhattan. "Maybe they should have waited [to cheer him] until, you know, he actually won something."

Outside in the parking lot, crestfallen fans did their best to sound a hopeful note about the new season.

"Favre's still adjusting, and the season's still young," said Veronika Morris, 27, of Edison, N.J. "I still think this will be the Jets' year."

Before the game, spirits were high and beer was flowing in countless tailgate parties scattered throughout the Meadowlands' expansive parking lots.

"I don't think we've ever been more excited for the start of a season," said Tim Muggato, 35, a stockbroker.

Then he went further, predicting, "Let me pull a Joe Namath and guarantee it: The Jets are going to the Super Bowl."

Other Jets fans freely admitted that they were reveling in the misfortunes of the Patriots, who lost MVP quarterback Tom Brady to injury.

Linda Seanez, 40, of Newark brought a 4-foot-tall Tom Brady doll that she hung from a parking lot fence.

"The Patriots are over," Seanez said. "What the Giants started last year, the Jets will finish this year."

Fans doffed their shirts in the 90-degree heat to grill burgers and toss footballs as the parking lots took on the look of the Jersey Shore.

"This is the life," said Antonio Cruz, 38, of Freeport, L.I. "I've been counting down the hours until I could come here with my boys and cheer on the Jets."

jlemire@nydailynews.com

[Kentucky Jet]

Time for Eric Mangini to adjust to Brett Favre

By Ian O

[Kentucky Jet]

Jets

[Kentucky Jet]

Powell: New Jets look a lot like the oldShaun Powell

September 15, 2008

Same old Jets-Patriots. That's what we learned yesterday when the Jets opened for business at home and instead of making a case for who they are, they emphatically demonstrated who they are not.

They're not the Patriots, not now, maybe not tomorrow, no matter who's quarterbacking for Bill Belichick, be it Tom Brady, Tom Hanks, Tom Thumb or someone even more unbelievable, like Matt Cassel.

Yes, in a stadium soaked with anticipation, in a setting ripe for a big reversal of fortune in the AFC East, Matt Cassel's team beat Brett Favre's team.

A guy who didn't even start at USC, and probably couldn't start there right now if he went back, beat a future Hall of Famer. And Cassel beat Favre mainly because the Patriots were better prepared to win with someone like him than the Jets were prepared to win with someone like Favre, strange as it sounds.

Shaun Powell Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

And so the Patriots, wounded but smug as ever, walked into the Meadowlands, took a 19-10 victory and left with ... well, the best way to describe how they left is to describe the way Pats defensive back Ellis Hobbs left.

"Why did we even bother showing up?" Hobbs shouted to no one in particular while strutting off the field. "Tom Brady, he's not here. We can't win. We got no shot. Why bother?"

Well, to paraphrase Hobbs, if the Jets insist on blowing a chance to beat the Brady-less Patriots, as they did yesterday, why bother trying to be like them?

In their wildest dreams, the Jets will win multiple Super Bowls and keep retooling and reloading their roster for a glorious run that lasts a decade. That's what the Patriots have done, and the Jets, from owner Woody Johnson on down, idolize the Patriots. Johnson hired his head coach from the Patriots. The Jets model themselves after the Patriots. They want to be the Patriots when they grow up.

Now that's a pretty good example to follow, except at this point, in just about every way, the Jets are coming up considerably short, like that underthrown ball Favre threw to Chris Baker right after halftime.

The Jets spent $100 million-plus on upgrades in the offseason and added Favre and still never seriously threatened a team that was missing Brady, probably the most important player in football. Yesterday proved the Patriots are good enough to beat certain teams without Brady, and the Jets, at least this early in the season, aren't ready to flex. It also reminded everyone that the Jets are coming off a 4-12 regular season and the Patriots are coming off a 16-0 season and that one doesn't suddenly beat the other overnight, no matter who's not in the lineup.

Oh, and it says something else: The Jets really should ditch the Chad Pennington playbook and write a new one for Favre.

They had first-and-goal from the 3-yard line, trailing 6-0 just before halftime, and ran Thomas Jones three times up the gut. They have a risk-taking rambler for a quarterback and they asked him to hand off. In three carries Jones traveled six feet. The Jets had to settle for three points.

"We liked our opportunity" with Jones is all coach Eric Mangini said, but you would've liked the Jets better in that situation, and a few others, if they had maximized what Favre has to offer: a scramble, a pass on the run, anything but three runs up the middle.

It's still early, and Favre and the Jets are still getting to know one another, so you can excuse them for now. But the Jets must realize they'll probably have Favre for only one season and that it'll go quickly; therefore, why not go for broke?

Sorry if this comes off as anti-Mangini, but Belichick wouldn't put handcuffs on Favre.

Belichick tweaked his playbook for Cassel and it worked yesterday. Cassel stayed within his limits and leaned on former Jet LaMont Jordan to run the ball and keep the offense moving.

And that's another reason why the Jets aren't the Patriots yet. The Patriots in this decade under Belichick usually find a way to win, damn the circumstances; the Jets this decade have found ways to lose.

Based on two Sundays of football, the Jets are not the 4-12 team of a year ago because, as Favre said rather accurately, "there's a lot of room for improvement but we're not far off." But just the same, the Jets aren't quite in the class of the Patriots, either.

They had a chance to throw a scare into the Patriots and ran three times instead.

[Kentucky Jet]

Jets 'D' can't stop Pats when it counts mostBY RODERICK BOONE | roderick.boone@newsday.com

September 15, 2008

The comeback was well within sight.

A sluggish Jets offense finally put it all together, driving for a big touchdown to bring them within a half-dozen points of the Patriots. With 10:18 remaining, there was more than enough time left for Brett Favre to create a little of his typical late-game magic. All he needed was the defense to make one huge stop and get the offense the ball back.

Never happened.

"We got into a position where it was a [tough game] down the stretch," safety Kerry Rhodes said. "The offense scored and cut it to six. It was a chance for us to get the ball back right away and give them a chance to go and score. But we couldn't get it done. In those situations, we have to make those kind of plays."

Instead, the Patriots were the ones who made the big plays to win, 19-10, in their first game without the injured Tom Brady.

The Patriots drove 71 yards in 11 plays, took five minutes off the clock and used a 27-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski to make it a two-possession game. That essentially sealed the Jets' fate, given that there was only 5:22 left when the ball sailed through the uprights.

"We just had to get off the field," linebacker Calvin Pace said. "They were going to run the ball. They weren't going to do anything crazy. That's all on the defense. We have to do a better job next time."

Finding a way to stop a familiar face on that last crucial drive would have been a start. LaMont Jordan rushed four times for 21 yards on the key march. The former Jet, who left for greener pastures in Oakland before the 2004 season - five years and $27.5 million, to be precise - relished sticking it to his old team.

"It felt great," Jordan said. "My first role when I became a Jet was to be a 'four-minute back.' Today, I was able to get back into that role and do it as a Patriot and it felt good."

Pace's roughing-the-passer penalty certainly didn't help matters. The Patriots had picked up the first down, anyway, on Matt Cassel's 4-yard pass to Sammy Morris on third-and-2 at the Jets' 44. But the 15 yards tacked on moved the ball well within field-goal range, allowing the Patriots to set up at the Jets' 25.

Six plays later, the Jets found themselves down by nine. "It was a big drive for us," Cassel said.

Said cornerback Darrelle Revis: "They kept on moving the ball on us. We tried to stop them on a couple of things, a couple of schemes we tried to do, and they found a way to get their yardage."

[Kentucky Jet]

Jets' Q&A: Cassel plays it close to the vestBY ERIK BOLAND | erik.boland@newsday.com

September 15, 2008

Notice anything different with Matt Cassel in there instead of Tom Brady?

Obviously, yes. The explosive downfield game representative of a Brady-led offense was nonexistent yesterday, with the Patriots content to have Cassel attempt to hurt the Jets with short passes. Cassel finished 16-for-23 for 165 yards, the long a 26-yarder to Wes Welker. But that play was a quick out to Welker, who picked up most of those 26 yards on his own. Yesterday came down to Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels handing Cassel a conservative game plan that required him not to lose the game. Cassel didn't.

Is the Brett Favre-Laveranues Coles on-field relationship a major problem?

Not yet, though Coles had a couple of drops and came to the sideline plainly frustrated at times. It is clear, as it was last week in Miami, that Coles missing the amount of practice time he did - along with every preseason game - has hindered him getting on the same page with Favre. His frustration, however, is with himself and no one else.

"If you have anyone to blame, you can blame it on me," Coles said. "I had quite a few mistakes. I could have got us going and I wish I had another couple plays to help us get going in the right direction."

Speaking of relationships, any indication that the deep freeze between Eric Mangini and Belichick is thawing?

After last year's December meeting in Foxborough, a closer-than-expected 20-10 Patriots victory, Belichick greeted his former assistant with an audible, "Great game, Eric. Great game. Awesome."

There didn't appear to be any small talk after yesterday's game as the two shared a perfunctory, and brief, handshake. Before the game, they stood not 15 yards from one another near midfield, looking every which way, it appeared, but at each other.

Where was Randy Moss?

On lockdown mostly, courtesy of second-year cornerback Darrelle Revis. Moss, who had six catches for 116 yards and a touchdown last week against the Chiefs, had two catches for 22 yards yesterday. Moss did beat Revis badly off the line on a go route early in the fourth quarter but Cassel underthrew the pass, giving Revis time to catch up to and distract Moss as the ball arrived. Still, Revis, for the second straight week, showed himself to be an emerging star.

There was nothing but praise for the Jets secondary after last week's victory in Miami. Any flaws yesterday?

After Revis and rookie Dwight Lowery, the quality of the Jets' corners drops off significantly. Drew Coleman ended up trying to cover Welker, lined up in slot, a good portion of the afternoon and the results were not good, with Welker leading all receivers with seven catches for 72 yards.

SECOND GUESS

Obviously, the play-calling when the Jets had a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line in the second quarter.

The plays:

Thomas Jones off right guard for 1;

Jones up the middle for 1;

Jones off left guard for minus-2.

The result: a 21-yard field goal by Jay Feely that excited no one.

UNSUNG HERO

Outside linebacker Bryan Thomas, maligned for a subpar 2007, turned in his second straight strong performance of 2008.

Thomas tied for second-best on the team with eight tackles and had one sack, two quarterback hurries and one tackle for loss.

[Kentucky Jet]

Big buildup for Jets ends with little bangBY RODERICK BOONE | roderick.boone@newsday.com

September 15, 2008

Brett Favre was the last player out of the tunnel, the final one to be introduced to an enthusiastic Meadowlands crowd that was frothing with anticipation.

Fireworks emanated from a pair of makeshift stands draped in black cloth, shooting high into the sky and well above the upper reaches of Giants Stadium as Favre sprinted toward midfield.

By the time the game was over, though, whoever conjured up the idea of those pregame pyrotechnics probably would have been better served by replacing the fireworks with sparklers. You know, the ones that look good at first when you light them - until they flame out and leave you begging for a little more.

Like Favre and the Jets yesterday.

Favre's first official home game as a Jet was more of a dud. The future Hall of Fame quarterback, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 181 yards, threw a crucial third-quarter interception and appeared to never get completely in sync with the rest of the Jets' offense, which appeared to be a tad on the conservative side at times.

"I looked at the pictures on the sidelines and there were some opportunities for some big plays," Favre said. "And that's all it's about for me. So it can go both ways. You know, we didn't score enough points, obviously, and someone is to blame on it and I think that goes to our whole offense because there were plays to be made. They just weren't made."

Not by the Jets, anyway. The Patriots made more than a few, and they came up with a huge one against Favre early in the third quarter that swung any momentum the Jets might've been gaining.

After forcing the Patriots to go three-and-out on their first drive of the second half, the Jets got the ball back at their 23-yard line. On the fifth play of the drive, Favre dropped back and threw left, looking for tight end Chris Baker. Brandon Meriweather cut in front of the underthrown pass and picked it off.

"Maybe I got a little greedy," Favre said. "I could have dumped it in the flat. I think if I had made the throw I wanted to, there's no guarantee it would have been caught. But it would have made a much better opportunity. I just underthrew him."

Jets coach Eric Mangini said: "Interceptions are going to happen throughout the course of the game. And with Brett, he's going to make some outstanding plays down the field and there are going to be some he'd like to have back."

The Patriots cashed in the turnover with a six-play, 31-yard drive punctuated by Sammy Morris' 1-yard touchdown run that put New England ahead 13-3 with 6:20 remaining in the third. They scored six more points the rest of the way and held off the Jets' offense.

"It's disappointing, but I know what I have to do," Favre said, "and hopefully the rest of our team knows and wants to get better."

BRETT FAVRE

COMPLETIONS 18

ATTEMPTS 26

YARDS 181

TDs 1

INTs 1

SACKED 2

RATING 85.6

[Kentucky Jet]

GRADING THE JETSBY ERIK BOLAND

September 15, 2008

OFFENSE

C-

Brett Favre's numbers were similar to last week - 18-for-26 for 181 yards and a touchdown - but with one exception: an interception that led to a Patriots' touchdown. The offense sputtered much of the way, though there were some positives: Chansi Stuckey (4 catches, 43 yards, TD catch), Dustin Keller shedding linebacker Adalius Thomas for a 19-yard gain - the rookie's first regular-season catch - and Thomas Jones running reasonably well (17 times for 70 yards). But ... not being able to punch the ball into the end zone on three straight runs in the second quarter wasn't Jones' or the offensive line's best sequence.

DEFENSE

C

Matt Cassel (16-for-23 for 165 yards) didn't light them up, but the Jets' defense wasn't able to force him into making any mistakes. The defense got decent pressure - three sacks and five hurries. Safety Eric Smith led the defense with nine tackles and linebackers Eric Barton, David Harris and Bryan Thomas each had eight. The stars of the unit were Thomas (1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 2 QB hurries), nose tackle Kris Jenkins (6 tackles, including 3 for loss, 1 sack) and Darrelle Revis for holding Randy Moss to two receptions for 22 yards. Tough to hammer the defense but still, with the Jets down 16-10, it had a chance to make a stop late but instead allowed a 71-yard drive that ended with a back-breaking field goal.

SPECIAL TEAMS

D-

Mike Westhoff, known as one of the best special teams coaches in the league, came back the week before the Miami game and he has some work to do. The unit was merely average against the Dolphins and was awful yesterday. It started in the first quarter when Jay Feely, signed to fill in for the injured Mike Nugent, missed a 31-yard field goal and things didn't improve appreciably thereafter. Ben Graham punted poorly, the Patriots' Ellis Hobbs had a 32-yard kickoff return after fielding the ball five yards deep in the end zone and Kevin Faulk averaged 17.7 yards on his three punt returns.

OVERALL

DEric Mangini, for the first time in his three seasons as Jets coach, found himself as the favorite against Bill Belichick and his team didn't respond well, though the problem wasn't effort. Bottom line: Yes, the Jets' six penalties for 60 yards were costly, a more aggressive game plan against Cassel was in order, but Mangini's and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's epitaph from this one will be those three straight runs from the goal line.

[Kentucky Jet]

Jets' Coles gains big yards, drops big passes

• September 15, 2008

Coles connects: Laveranues Coles has said he and Brett Favre don't have that chemistry yet, but yesterday he had three catches for 72 yards - the most yardage of any Jets receiver. Coles reached up to snag a pass Favre threw on the run, and took it down for a total of 54 yards. Later, he dropped a pass that was much easier to catch. "If you have anyone to blame, you can blame it on me," Coles said. The wide receiver had a prolonged period where he would not talk publicly after his friend Chad Pennington was released when Favre was acquired to be the new QB. Yesterday, Favre said that with Coles' thigh injury, the two had not been practicing together in earnest.

Revis revisits: Darrelle Revis, who had an interception in the waning moments of the win over Miami to start the season, made another key play yesterday against the Patriots. Wide receiver Randy Moss streaked downfield, and Pats QB Matt Cassel threw deep to him. Moss nearly caught the ball, only to have it knocked out of his hands by Revis.

Isn't that special: New England began five of nine drives in Jets' territory, and only three near its own 20-yard line. Kevin Faulk returned three punts for 53 yards, and Ellis Hobbs III returned two kickoffs for 53 yards. In contrast, the Jets started nearly each of nine drives on its own 20. Leon Washington returned a kickoff for 24 yards, the only return for the Jets on special teams.

Sack attack: Bryan Thomas sacked Cassel in the third quarter for his third of the season and 20 1/2 for his career. Last year, he had 2 1/2 .

Injury report: Patriots RB Laurence Maroney left the game with a shoulder injury in the second quarter and did not return. Patriots S James Sanders was injured late in the fourth quarter and did not return.

Jane McManus

[Kentucky Jet]

MANGENIUS GAVE FAVRE NO SCHOTT TO WIN

Bill Belichick, a 19-10 winner over the Jets, devoured Eric Mangini alive yesterday and made Brett Favre look like just another 38-year-old quarterback going on 39.

Belichick didn't need Tom Brady, and he didn't need any of his Spygate videographers.

All he needed was Mangini playing not to lose for the second straight week and Favre not playing well enough to win.

The great coach beat the great quarterback with a career backup named Matt Cassel and turned him into Frett Favre at the end of a day that began with a Giants Stadium standing ovation for Favre.

The great coach rallied the troops who were forced to hear that their season was over with Brady gone and that Favre and the Jets were now The Team to Beat.

Same Old Belichick and Same Old Bretts.

When it was over, Favre took the blame.

"Regardless of the plays that were called, there were some opportunities - I looked at the pictures on the sidelines - and there were some opportunities for some big plays," Favre said, "and that falls back on me."

Favre's fleeting moment of glory came when he was 6-for-6 for 51 yards on the fourth-quarter drive that cut the Jets' deficit to 16-10.

Alas, it was too little, too late, because Gang GreenNew York Jets picked the worst possible time to become infected with gangrene.

When Favre got the ball back, it was 19-10, and he was promptly sacked for a 20-yard loss by Adalius Thomas.

The Jets trailed 6-3 at the half in part because Mangini was more conservative than Sarah Palin on first-and-goal at the 3.

Thomas JonesThomas Jones , off right guard, for 1 yard.

Thomas Jones, up the middle, for 1 yard.

Thomas Jones, off right guard, for a loss of 2.

"Their front seven guys are as good as anyone in football," Favre said.

All the more reason to keep the ball in Favre's hands and let him improvise.

It is always risky business to play for field goals against the Patriots - even the Matt Cassel Patriots.

Because Brian Schottenheimer is Mangini's offensive coordinator, someone ought to tell him his team Schott itself in the foot there.

"I don't second-guess Schotty's call one bit," Favre said. "Would I have liked to have thrown? I'd like to throw every play, but you're not gonna win that way. We have the offensive line to do it, we have the running backs to do it, and I know Bill's saying over there - they have the defense to stop it. . . . I thought we could run it in as well."

Limbaugh - er, Mangini - didn't second-guess Schotty either. "I liked the way we were running the football on the ground," Mangini said.

Favre (18-26, 181 yards, one touchdown, one interception) still had the entire half to make amends.

Belichick wouldn't let him. While Mangini was taking away Randy Moss (2-22), Belichick was taking away Jerricho CotcheryJerricho Cotchery (1-20).

"They rotated their coverage a little bit and mixed it up. . . . They disguised well," Favre said.

Favre, second-and-25 at his 24, underthrew Bubba Franks, and Brandon Meriweather intercepted, and Cassel had it at the Jets' 31, and soon it was 13-3.

"Maybe I got a little greedy, could have dumped it in the flat," Favre said. "I saw the guy . . . just made a bad throw."

By the time Favre got it back, it was 16-3.

Cassel (16-23, 165 yards) wouldn't rattle. "They kept it simple; they didn't want him to lose the game," Kerry Rhodes said.

Favre still had the entire fourth quarter to stage one of his breathtaking comebacks.

From the New England 2, Favre lined up in the shotgun and lofted a perfect touch pass in the right corner of the end zone for Chansi Stuckey. Ten plays, 80 yards. That made it 16-10 with 10:18 left.

That's Winning Time in Belichick's world, unless the other team has a David Tyree on its side.

And so the great coach beat the great quarterback.

"A lot of people didn't expect us to do much today, but these guys came in here with a lot of determination," Belichick said. "I think this team was going to come down and do what we did today regardless of what anybody else thinks."

Same Old Belichick. Same Old Bretts.

steve.serby@nypost.com

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