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Let’s take a look at the linebackers, and the job they did at Sports Authority Field. These guys did enough to win the game. They could have used a little more help from the offense.
Bart Scott had a solid game.
On the Denver Broncos second run of the game, Scott crushed Tim Tebow after he handed to Willis McGahee, to send the young quarterback a message. But Tebow is so big and strong (6-3, 245), I’m not sure messages work with him, but it was worth a try.
On the first series, David Harris had an un-David Harris-type play. He seemed to have Willis McGahee stopped short of the first down on a run off right tackle, but McGahee pushed him back on a sled for a gain of six, on a third-and-five. But he ended this drive with a Harris-type play, when he stopped the runner for no gain, on fourth-and-one.
On the Broncos second series, on second down, they handed to WR Eddie Royal and he ran to the right side by Calvin Pace, who was taken out of the play by TE Virgil Green. The play gained 10 yards.
The Broncos second drive ended when Denver an option play to the left side, and Scott crushed Jeremiah Johnson who didn’t even gain a yard, on third-and-six. The Broncos had to settle for a field goal.
The Broncos third possession ended on the second play, when McGahee ran off left tackle and Pace punched the ball out, and Scott recovered the fumble.
A couple of drives later, Scott sniffed out a pitch to the left side to Johnson, and stopped it for a loss of seven. Scott had a real good feel for the options plays Denver was running.
On the Broncos next possession, around the two-minute warning, Pace got a “sack,” forcing a scrambling Tebow to run out of bounds, as he scrambled to the right side. This wasn’t a conventional sack, but more like stopping a runner for a loss. So with that being said, did you know the Jets have had no real sacks in the last two games? While sacks aren’t everything, they need to get going in this department.
The Jets defense was nearly flawless in the third quarter. The only plays of note were back-to-back Lance Ball gains of 19 and 11 yards, on the possession right after the Matt Slauson touchdown.
On the 19-yard screen to the left side, it looked like Scott missed a tackle, but I don’t agree – he was being engaged by a blocker, and while he got a hand on the runner, he was in no position to tackle him. The other teams get paid also, and the Broncos had so few impact plays, it’s unfair to nitpick on a few plays here and there.
Let’s fast forward to the last play of the third quarter when David Harris effectively blitzed and hit Tebow as he threw, and this caused an incompletion to Eric Decker.
The Broncos only had the ball for two possessions in the fourth quarter; the Jets killed almost six minutes with a field goal drive at the beginning of the stanza.
Denver’s first possession of the fourth quarter was a three-and-out which wrapped up when, on third-and-two, Harris stopped FB Spencer Larsen on the line on a run up the middle.
After a brilliant game for the linebackers, they were obviously a big part of that bad last drive, when Tebow led the Broncos on a game-winning TD drive. But the game-winning scramble by Tebow, that one is on the defensive coaches – that blitz was an ill-advised call.
I know people find this to be cliché, but here goes anyway – Tebow is a winner, and while he doesn’t get a lot of style points, he figures out a way to get the job done, and you let him hang around, you are asking for trouble.
I refuse to be too critical of the linebackers and defense for that last drive. They did a heck of a job all day, and Mark Sanchez and company let them down.
