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It was pouring rain and windy most of the game – not great passing weather. Brandon Marshall had a few drops. But this still doesn’t excuse poor reading of defenses . . .
Mark Sanchez is having two major problems – he’s eyeballing his primary targets and is having trouble reading zones.
You know your passing game is in trouble when your first pass of the game, a simple short out to Jerricho Cotchery, is nearly picked off by CB Sean Smith, with Pick Six potential. This play ended the first possession. It was a three-and-out.
The second possession wasn’t a good one for Sanchez. Obviously Ben Hartsock’s 15-yard facemask penalty didn’t help. First Sanchez had a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage by Tony McDaniel (who is 6-7). Then two plays later, a Sanchez deep out to Santonio Holmes, was picked off by CB Nolan Carroll. This was an awful decision by Sanchez. You don’t throw deep outs late. That is a recipe for disaster.
At the end of the first quarter, the Jets finally had a notable completion, a 15-yard pass to Cotchery on the short left side. This play was mostly Cotchery. It was a short pass, and J-Co made a tremendous move on S Chris Clemons, right after the catch, to gain an extra 10 yards.
This possession carried over into the second quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, a play was called that fits Sanchez current skillset perfect – a one read quick slant to Braylon Edwards for a gain of 17 yards. Edwards had a mismatch on nickel back Benny Sapp. This drive ended with another near pick. Sanchez threw pass over the short middle to Dustin Keller. The tight end stopped, and Sanchez threw it to him like he was going to keep crossing.
Early summary here – there Jets first three drives ended with two near picks and one interception.
Late in the first half, on the Jets final possession of the second quarter, Sanchez started the drive with a low pass to Tomlinson on the left side that fell incomplete. On the next play, he hit Cotchery who beat Smith for a gain of 16 on the right side. But the drive ended a few plays later, when Sanchez started to run, but stopped and forced a crossing route to Holmes, and it was broken up by S Chris Clemons. Sanchez should have kept running because he probably would have put them in field goal range. They ended up punting
The Jets came out in the third quarter, clearly seeing a hole in the short middle of the Miami defense, for a runner to catch passes. On the first play, Sanchez hit Shonn Greene for a gain of eight, and then two plays later, for a gain of 15. This drive ended with another force to Holmes. He got a hand on it, but it was a tough catch. There had to be easier throw than this.
Late in the third quarter, Sanchez had one of his better throws of the game, a pass down the deep left side to Keller. It was a nicely thrown ball to Keller placed perfectly into the zone, over the head of linebacker Tim Dobbins. But this drive ended with Sanchez having another pass blocked by McDaniel.
Early in the fourth quarter, things started off well when Sanchez hit Cotchery for a gain of 14 on Sapp on the right side. A few plays later, Sanchez did have a nice six yard scramble on a 2nd-and-four. But this drive ended with two bad passes by Sanchez. First he was way off target to Keller on a right side square out. Then he drew to Holmes into double coverage.
In the middle of the fourth, the Jets had a field goal drive, and Sanchez had two nice plays. He had a 14-yard scramble on 3rd-and-13, and then his best throw of the game, a 42-yard strike to Holmes down the deep left side.
The next possession was a three-and-out, featuring two incompletions to Keller.
On the Jets last possession, Cotchery had a bad drop, but then caught a 15-yarder on the next play, and then the pass protection fell apart and that was all she wrote.
The bottom line is this – Sanchez is bad at sustaining drives because of his poor accuracy, not trusting his eyes and bad completion percentage (53.3 percent).
