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After the Jets dubious decision to defer after winning the opening kickoff (this made very little sense – it’s not like the Jets are the 1985 Bears), they took over on offense, and had two really nice passing plays, but then fizzled and punted.
The first two plays were impressive. On the Jets first offensive play, Mark Sanchez threw a quick slant to Plaxico Burress for a gain of 15. Burress beat CB Chris Johnson on this play. Then on the second play, Sanchez ran a bootleg to the left side, and threw against his body, hitting Dustin Keller for a gain of 25.
This possession ended a few plays later, when Sanchez overthrew Keller on a mid-range out route towards the right sideline. He needed to step up in the pocket on this play due to some pressure, and that clearly messed up his footwork.
On the second play of the Jets second possession, Sanchez hit LT with a short pass over the middle, and the runner took it 74-yards. S Tyvon Branch, who has world class speed, tracked him down on the one. Two plays later, Sanchez ran a bootleg to the right, and ran it in.
On the Jets next possession, they got great field position thanks to a 53-yard punt return by Jeremy Kerley.
But then Sanchez made perhaps his worst play of the game. On the very next play, he threw a pick in the end zone to Branch.
This play made little sense.
First of all, the intended receiver, Derrick Mason, wasn’t open. And if you are going to throw a ball up from grabs in the end zone, you do it with the 6-5 Burress, not the 5-10 Mason. The Jets wasted the Kerley return. They should have played it safe, and at least settled for three.
On the Jets next possession, a late first, early second drive, Sanchez, aided by two Stanford Routt penalties, drove the Jets for a touchdown. The first key pass on this possession was Sanchez rolling right and hitting Holmes for a gain of 19. This was on third-and-four. The next play was a mid-range fade down the right side to Burress, and Routt was called for interference.
After a couple of incompletions (Jeff Cumberland and Holmes, both deep), Sanchez hit LT on a square out, on the left side, and the runner took it in for a 19-yard TD. Sanchez did a nice job of taking advantage of a major mismatch here, 265-pound OLB Quintin Groves, on LT.
On the Jets next possession, Sanchez drove them 51-yards, on 10 plays, and the drive resulted in a field goal. Not helping matters on this possession was a drop by Patrick Turner. Also Sanchez was inaccurate on a short left side throw to Mason. This was one of those plays where Mason could have gained some RAC, but the pass was poorly thrown (high) and this allowed CB Joe Porter to nail him in his tracks, as he was reaching high for the ball.
The biggest impact pass of this drive was an 11-yarder to Mason over the middle, on a backup corner in the game for the injured Johnson.
But then the Jets passing game, facing a secondary with two starters injured early in the game (Johnson and S Mike Huff), didn’t score again for two entire quarters. And this is on Sanchez. The Bills embarrassed this secondary, and Sanchez wasn’t able to, with two backups.
Here is another example of Sanchez’s problem – inaccuracy.
Late in the first half, on 3rd and 7, he threw a pass down the deep left side to Burress, with the rookie Chimdi Chekwa covering him, in for Johnson, and was way off-target. You know it’s a pretty bad pass, when the 6-5 Burress, can’t get near it. Mark has to give this guy a chance to get a hand on the ball, because there is a good chance he will come down with it.
With the two backups in the lineup, and the same bad coverage linebackers on the field, Mark Sanchez got nothing done in the third quarter.
Late in the fourth, he hit Burress for a 16-yard fade TD on Chekwa. How come for almost three quarters (Johnson got hurt early), Sanchez couldn’t take more advantage of this matchup –a middle round rookie against Plax?
Sanchez has flashes of brilliance at times, but his inconsistency is really hurting this team.