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This was a perfect game for Sanchez to be effective – good running game, solid defense, favorable field position, allowing him to compliment this with a safe, conservative passing game . . .
The Jets didn’t score on their first possession of the second half, but Mark Sanchez had one his best scrambles of the season.
On second down, he ran for 25 yards down the right sideline.
But this drive didn’t go anywhere.
The Jets attempted to run a bootleg to the right side, but Patrick Turner did a poor job of blocking LB Shaun Phillips, who sacked Sanchez as he rolled right.
Then on 2nd-and-18, Sanchez threw an bad pass down the right sidelines to Jeremy Kerley, who wasn’t open, and the pass actually landed out of bounds.
Then on 3rd-and-18, Sanchez dumped to LT over the middle, and the play gained 12. On 3rd-and-18, down by 11, there had to be a better choice than dumping to LT.
On the Jets next possession, the Jets took over in great field position (which would have been even better if not for an Ellis Lankster holding call on the punt). They Jets took over on their own 45.
The Jets went on a 55-yard, 10-play scoring drive with Shonn Greene runs of 10 and 15 yards helping this possession a great deal. Two key third down passes on this drive to Kerley were also important.
On third-and-five, Sanchez hit Kerley on a crossing route from right to left, and it gained 10 yards. With all the attention going to Burress and Santonio Holmes, Kerley got single coverage, and the Jets took advantage of it.
Then on the next third down, a third-and-five, Sanchez hit Kerley on the short right side, for a gain of eight. Kerley had a mismatch on this play, with a safety on him, thanks once again, to all the attention give to the other wideouts (and Dustin Keller).
Kudos to Sanchez and Brian Schottenheimer on these plays focusing on Kerley, who wasn’t the main focus of the Chargers defense.
This drive ended with Sanchez hitting Burress with a fade on the left side of the end zone on CB Antoine Cason. Burress has five inches on Cason.
The Jets next possession didn’t go anywhere; two Nick Mangold penalties hurt the Jets cause on this drive. Sanchez threw an incompletion over the middle to Holmes, who expected a flag on the play, but the officials said, “no flag for you.” They might have been throwing a bone to the Chargers on this play, who felt there were too many interference calls on them in this game.
The Chargers went on a long drive on their next possession, and then the Jets got a little bit of a break, when a pass bounced off the hip of Vincent Jackson and into the hands of Darrelle Revis, who returned it 64 yards, giving Sanchez the ball on the 19. Greene advanced the ball to the nine, with a 10-yard run on first down. Then the Jets got five more yards on a pass interference call on LB Takeo Spikes on Keller.
On third-and-three, Sanchez hit Burress on a slant in the middle in the end zone to Burress. This might have been Mark’s best throw of the game. He did a good job of moving some defenders by looking left first, and then threw over a safety to Burress in the back of the end one. Burress had a step on Cason, but there was a safety a few yards in front of him, so Sanchez had to clear the safety with this throw.
The Jets went on a field goal drive on the next possession. The biggest play of this drive was a 20-yard pass interference call on Jammer, who was covering Holmes on the deep right side. Two seven yard runs by Greene were a big help on this drive as well.
This was a perfect game for Sanchez to shine – good defense helped him get great field position on several occasions, the running game was outstanding, and he helped out with a conservative, complimentary passing attack, going 18-33. There is no question he was helped by a lot of flags on San Diego, but so be it.
