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Mark Sanchez was protected well in this game, and the Jets ran the ball effectively, but the passing offense didn’t do enough. Here is an extensive breakdown of Mark’s performance . . .
The Jets first pass of the game should have told you all you needed to know about their mindset in this game – pound the football and throw safe, simple passes.
You can blame Schotty all you want, but the head coach is on board with this – this is what they need to do with their quarterback right now.
The first throw was a quick pass to Shonn Greene in the right flat for a gain of five. Greene ran for three yards up the middle on the next play, and this set up a very manageable third-and-two, but a very simple pass to Dustin Keller was incomplete.
It was a quick slant that was broken up by CB Leigh Bodden. But you know why it was broken up? It was a little behind Keller. It wasn’t a blatant bad throw, but if Sanchez had put it out more in front of Keller, this wouldn’t have likely been complete.
The second drive ended with a quick out to John Connor was dropped. This was basically the same play as the first completion of the game to Greene. It was another manageable third down – a third and one, but you can question the call a little. True, Connor was wide open, but he has very inconsistent hands, so you are definitely rolling the dice with this call. And plus he almost never gets thrown the ball, so guys like that tend to press when they get their rare opportunity.
On the first play of the third drive, Sanchez threw a crossing route to a wide open Santonio Holmes, but it was dropped. However, once again, it was behind him. He had to reach back for it. There is no excuse for a mid-range crossing route to a wide open receiver to be behind him. So they need to share the blame on this one.
On the fourth drive, yet another three-and-out. On first down, they started things off with a screen to LT on the right side. It gained just two yards. Why? Sanchez threw it behind him, and since he had to reach back for it, it stifled his momentum, and he was stopped in his tracks. Then after an unsuccessful Connor run up the middle, Sanchez threw a seven-yard strike to Keller on third-and-eight.
Then finally, in the middle second, against one of the NFL’s worst defense, the Jets finally managed to drive for a touchdown.
This was an outstanding run-driven possession that took almost eight minutes off the clock.
On the second play of the drive, on second-and-nine, Caleb Schauderaff reported in as a tight end, so the Patriots probably throught it was going to be a run, but Sanchez threw to Plaxico Burress over the middle for a gain of 19.
There were two other helpful passes that aided this drive.
On a second-and-nine, Holmes did a nice job sitting down in a hole in the zone between LB Brandon Spikes and CB Devin McCourty over the short middle, and Sanchez hit him for a gain of 11.
Late in the drive, on a third-and-two, Sanchez couldn’t find anyone open, was about to run, but then Plaxico flashed open, right in front of him, and he hit him for a nine yard gain. Two plays later, Greene ran it in from three yards out.
That was it for the first half – seven points against a pedestrian defense.
Early in the third quarter, the Jets took over on a short field after an 88-yard kickoff return.
After two Greene runs, Sanchez hit Jeremy Kerley (pictured above) for a nine-yard touchdown pass on the right side. Sanchez did a nice job of taking advantage of a mismatch, the super quick Kerley on safety Patrick Chung.
Two three-and-out possessions followed this. On the first one, the Jets had a third-and-six, and Sanchez hit Kerley for a gain of four.
The Jets had a long fourth quarter TD drive. The possession had a nice combo of running and passing.
Sanchez hit Burress over the middle for a gain of 14 on first down, and then two plays later, connected with Holmes on the short right side for a gain of 19.
Later in the drive, Sanchez hit a wide open Burress in the red zone on the left side, for what should have been a nice gain, but he dropped it.
Upon further review, what happened on this play was Holmes ran a route that was about five yards in front of where Burress was. Holmes thought it might have been for him, and put his arms up to grab it, and kind of blocked Plaxico’s sightlines. I think that is why Plax dropped the ball.
This drive ended with a pretty 24-yard strike, from Sanchez to Holmes, on the right side, for a 21-yard touchdown. You saw Sanchez do something on this play he rarely does – he threw it as Holmes made his break, so the ball was there as the receiver cut away from the defensive back. Sanchez doesn’t do this enough, but did a nice job on this play.
The Jets got the ball with about a minute left, down nine, with no timeouts left, and the clock ran out of them. There was one positive note from this last possession. Kerley caught a 22-yard pass down the deep right, and hung on, despite being crushed by Kyle Arrington.
The Jets needed a little more from the quarterback in this game, but if they keep running the ball this well, Sanchez should benefit from it a great deal, moving forward.