Premium – Part III of Dan’s Sanchez Review

The Jets first two possessions of the second half looked like they both had promise, but like so many potentially successful possessions this season, it fizzled, due to wild inconsistency.

On the first three offensive plays of the second half, LaDainian Tomlinson ran three times for 19 yards. So this set the Jets up nicely to go the air on the fourth play, and Mark Sanchez hit Dustin Keller for a gain of 13.  The tight end did a terrific job of running after the catch on this short pass, making a great move on LB Kevin Burnett, on the right sideline.

On the next play, Matt Mulligan was called for a facemask, creating a 1^st-and-25, and the Jets never recovered from. On first down, Sanchez hit Keller with another short pass, and once again, he did a nice job running after the catch, gaining eight yards on the right side, thanks in large part to breaking a tackle by S Tyrone Culver in the middle of the play.

But the Jets ran on the next two plays and punted. On third-and-14, Sanchez wasn’t the quarterback, it was Jeremy Kerley, and on this Wildcat play, Shonn Greene ran for five yards up the middle.

Very strange – they were around mid-field, why not try to throw down field, as we said before about another drive, it would be as good as a punt where they were situated.

Either Schotty was saying he had no faith in Sanchez on third-and-long, or the Jets decided to punt and pin Miami deep in their own territory, which happened –  T.J. Conley did a nice job with a punt to the six.

But guess what, Miami drove right down the field, setting a team record for most plays on a drive – 21.

The Jets next offensive possession, after the unit sat on the sidelines for 12:29, wasn’t a good one.

It actually started off well. On first down, Sanchez threw a terrific back shoulder pass to Jeremy Kerley on the right side for a gain of 16. Kerley beat CB Sean Smith on this play. Just an aside here, Smith did a great job in this game for covering Plaxico Burress. A rare 6-3 corner, he’s a terrific matchup on the 6-5 Burress.

But the long-legged Smith had issues with the shorter, quicker Kerley on this play, and the Jets did a nice job taking advantage of it.

Then the Jets did a nice job of getting another first down, with runs of eight and three yards by Greene.

Then disaster struck. Sanchez attempted to dump to John Connor over the short middle, and Randy Starks picked it off.

Dolphins defensive coordinator Mike Nolan did a nice job preparing his defenders for this game, and the predictability of Sanchez, and the routes he likes to throw.

Sanchez has fallen in love with check downs, and Nolan is well aware of this.

I’m not condoning Santonio Holmes actions, but he’s clearly fed-up with the quarterback, and surely Burress is as well. He doesn’t trust his eyes on down field passes, so he’s going with the easy options underneath.

Sanchez needs a lot of work on reading defense.

We will have Part IV of our Sanchez review by 11:30 am on Wednesday morning.