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If Mark Sanchez continues to play the way he did in Oakland and Baltimore, the Jets need to have him on a short leash in New England . . .
The Jets first drive ended when Mark Sanchez was sacked by Ed Reed off a blindside blitz, and the fumble was returned for a touchdown.
Sanchez said somebody messed up the protection call.
But you know what – he needs to be more aware of Reed on the line, and throw a hot read, something he’s not great at.
This is why teams blitz Sanchez so much; he’s not great at hot reads, and doesn’t make them pay. If you make teams pay on blitzes, they will cut back on them.
On the Jets second series, Sanchez was off target to Keller on the right side. This should have been a nice chunk play because Keller was matched up on an outside linebacker with average speed – Jared Johnson. This was followed up by a botched snap with the center. Then on third down, Sanchez threw a ball up for graps down the right sideline to Santonio Holmes that was broken up by CB Cary Williams. This was part of Operation Appeasement – Holmes complained this past week about not getting the ball enough and Rex, Sanchez and company made sure they fed him the ball plenty. He was thrown 12 passes, and three were complete.
You know what you do in football – you throw to the open guy. The Jets need to embrace this concept and don’t worry about the egos of their THREE #1 receivers – Mason, Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason. Having THREE #1 receivers isn’t a good thing necessarily.
The Jets third possession started off well. After a five-yard run by Shonn Greene, Sanchez hit Burress for a gain of eight on a quick slant. But then this possession came apart.
Sanchez was off-target to Keller on a crossing route. Ray Lewis was blitzing on this play and he was bearing down on Sanchez, and this probably impacted his accuracy on the throw. On the next play, Sanchez fumbled a shotgun snap, that wasn’t a bad snap, and DE Paul “Freddie” Kruger recovered.
The next possession seemed to start off okay with a quick out to Burress on the left side, but the receiver was called for a facemask. Two incompletions followed (after a short run), and the Jets punted.
On the next possession, one of Rex’s worst coaching decisions of the year came back to bite the Jets. Five plays into this possession (the Jets did get one first down on this drive on a Sanchez scramble on third down), Vlad Ducasse was blocking Haloti Ngata, but abandoned him for somebody else, and the nose tackle sacked Sanchez, causing a fumble and Johnson returned it for a touchdown.
The bad coaching decision was scapegoating Colin Baxter for a failed shotgun snap that wasn’t his fault, and moving Matt Slauson to center and Ducasse in to left guard, a position he’s not ready to play. It’s astonishing that Rex would actually think that Ducasse, who had an awful summer, would improve the O-Line situation. This move was devoid of common sense, so Rex needs to take the blame for this touchdown.
On the Jets next possession, started with a Ducasse false start, and then after that is was a three-and-out.
The Jets final drive of the first half, Sanchez had his most successful pass of the game, a 22-yarder to Holmes on the left side. He managed to get wide open. This drive stalled and the Jets kicked a field goal.
One play on this drive shed some light on the state of the Jets passing game. On a pass to the short right side to Mason, he and Burress were essentially in the same spot. This is what happens when you add new receivers in training camp. If the Jets had re-signed Braylon Edwards and kept Jerricho Cotchery, this stuff might not be happening right now. He was on the same page with those two.
Sanchez has a big problem right now – he tends stare down his main target and this leads to picks, PD’s and tips.
He had two passes batted down at the line in the second half. When you stare down one receiver, in one direction, not only can it lead to picks, but it allows defensive linemen to gear up to block the pass.
With the score 27-17 in the third quarter, Aaron Maybin had a strip sack and gave the Jets the ball on the Baltimore 27 yard-line.
On the next play, Sanchez essentially ended the game by throwing a Pick Six to CB LaDarius Webb. Sanchez should never have thrown this pass. It was telegraphed, and essentially thrown up for grabs. You can’t do this on out routes.
I’m not going to get into the fourth quarter. This Webb played ended the game, so the fourth quarter is a moot point.
The Jets are too worried about PR and Mark’s feelings.
Personally, if he keeps playing the way he is – eye-balling his receivers and displaying poor accuracy, Mark Brunell should be a consideration.
I know Mark’s taken a lot of hits, but there are also a lot of bad plays mixed in.
