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Rosemont – Another tremendous game plan by Brian Schottenheimer, except, perhaps, for the last pass of the game. On that play, there was a fundamental flaw in the concept of the play. Here is Dan’s breakdown of Sanchez.
The Jets first pass picked up where they left off last week – a quick slant to Santonio Holmes for gain of 12 yards on the left side. It was the Jets second offensive play. It was a quick one-read pass. Perfect play for a second year quarterback.
Also on this possession, on third-and-seven, Sanchez hit Jerricho Cotchery, for a gain of eight, over the middle, on a one-read pass. But this drive fizzled, shortly thereafter.
On the second possession, Sanchez led the Jets on an eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive. The drive included three big plays to Dustin Keller.
After Shonn Greene gained 12 yards on first down, Sanchez faked a handoff to Greene on the next play, and ran a bootleg right, hitting a wide open Dustin Keller for a gain of 12 yards. Keller was wide open because so many defenders bit on the fake.
Then on the next play, Sanchez ran a play-action fake, and hit Keller on a one-read pass for 26 yards over the middle. Three plays later, on his second read, Sanchez threw a rocket to Keller over the middle, right past the outstretched arms of LB Lance Briggs. If it wasn’t for the velocity on this throw, Briggs might have knocked it down.
On the next play, Sanchez hit Braylon Edwards, who sat down in a soft spot of the zone, for a gain of 13 on the right side. The Jets ran it in on the next play.
Early in the second quarter, on the first play of a possession, Sanchez ran another play-action, one-read, quick slant to Edwards, for a gain of 16 yards, but this drive went three-and-out after this play.
The last play of this drive should have been a pick. Sanchez looked right, and then turned all the way to his left, and threw it right to a Bear defensive back, who dropped the ball. It was right in his hands. Here is the problem. Sanchez is sometimes to herky-jerky moving from one read to another. He swung his head so quickly from the right to left, I can’t imagine that he had a clear vision of his options on the left side. Imagine any of his swinging out head from right to left, really fast, it throws off you vision for a second. Think about how smooth Tom Brady is between reads, or how Chad Pennington used to do it.
In the middle of the second, with a short field after a bad Brad Maynard punt, Sanchez led the Jets on a quick TD drive. The key play on this short drive was a pass to Holmes, on the left side, where he sat down in the zone, and it gained 16.
Late in the first half, Sanchez led the Jets on a nine-play, 59-yard drive that ended with a field goal. It started with a one-read quick slant to Holmes on the right side. At the end of this drive, Sanchez threw to Keller into the end zone, but the tight end couldn’t come down with it. While he should have had it, it was by no means an easy catch, as some would lead you to believe.
Second possession of the second half, Sanchez misses a wide open Greene on a pass attempt in the left flat. This drive was a three-and-out.
On the Jets next possession, Sanchez leads them on a four play, 66-yard touchdown drive. The touchdown pass on this drive was a very well executed play, and perfect for Sanchez’s skillset. On the previous play, the Jets had a big run, an 18-yard scamper by Greene. So on the next play, the Jets fake a handoff, and run a bootleg right, and Sanchez has two choices – an underneath route to Keller, or a deeper pass, also on the right side to Holmes. The safety bites up to Keller, so Sanchez makes the correct choice and hits Holmes on the deeper route for a touchdown.
The Jets next passion wasn’t very successful, and ended with back-to-back forced passes to Holmes – first deep left and then short left. He wasn’t open on either play.
Not much happened between this drive and the last one, so let’s fast forward to the final play, a pick by S Chris Harris. The problem on this play is simple. Sanchez attempted a deep out on the left side to Holmes. The issue is the Jets had no receiver or tight end to occupy Harris, who was patrolling the deep left side, so he was free to come over and pick off the football. The Jets should have sent somebody into Harris’ area to occupy the safety. This wasn’t a great play call, or throw.
But overall, this was a very good performance by Sanchez, and a terrific game plan by B-Schotty.