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Florham Park – How were the Jets able to win a game committing a team-record 20 penalties? Two factors helped a great deal . . .
Look, I’m not looking to take away from the Jets win over Buffalo, but it’s also important to be realistic – the Bills injury issues in the secondary, and their rookie quarterback, certainly helped matters.
I know I mentioned this earlier today, but it’s important to reiterate how banged up with the Bills were in the secondary.
Imagine the Jets playing a game without both starting cornerbacks, a star starting safety and their nickel back.
That’s crazy.
That is what the Bills were dealing with. Their best cornerback Steph0n Gilmore was out, as was their nickel back, Ron Brooks. Then, on the Jets’ first offensive series, the team’s other starting cornerback, Leodis McKelvin, got hurt, and never returned. Safety Jairus Byrd also missed the game.
That is brutal, and the Jets did a good job of taking advantage of that.
They picked on backup cornerback Justin Rogers early and often.
On the Jets’ third offensive play, Geno Smith hit Stephen Hill for a gain of 45 down the deep right side.
This was on Rogers.
What Hill did was faked a post route, and then cut to the sideline. Rogers bit on the post, and Hill was wide open.
In the second quarter, Hill beat Rogers down the deep right side for a 51-yard touchdown.
Rogers had no help on this play, and you can give Kellen Winslow the credit for this.
Safety Da’Norris Searcy could have possibly helped Rogers on this play, but Winslow ran a mid-range route on the right side, and Searcy snuck up to deal with the tight end, and this left Rogers in single coverage on Hill, and he couldn’t keep up with him. Hill runs 4.3, and when he runs a go-route, he gets up to that speed.
On the Jets’ third possession, Santonio Holmes beat Rogers for a gain of 24 down the deep right side. Rogers was so far off of him, he was practically in Hackensack. This was on a third-and-13.
On the game winning TD from Smith to Holmes, a 69-yard completion, this was on Rogers also.
The University of Richmond-product had a rough day . . .
E.J. Manuel is a project, and the Jets defense, for the most part, ate him for lunch.
He was sacked eight times, and had trouble with the Jets complicated coverages. Manuel isn’t good at reading defenses yet.
The Jets run defense was exceptional, so they were able to tee-off on Manuel.
If you take out the 59-yard run by Fred Jackson, which should have been stopped in the backfield, the rest of the Bills’ carries went for 61 yards on 24 carries . . .
Speaking of the running game, as you know, Bilal Powell had his best game as a Jet, rushing 27 times for 149 yards for a 5.5 average.
The Jets face Shonn Greene and the Tennessee Titans this week, though he might not play due to a knee injury.
One thing Greene isn’t great at is making people miss. He’s better at running over people than making them miss.
Powell is more elusive, and has the ability to make the first guy miss, and this was on display against Buffalo.
On the Jets’ third drive, Powell had a gain of five off left guard.
On this play, Searcy had a clear shot at him in his initial hole, but with some fancy footwork, Powell made him miss, and made a play that could have been stopped after a gain of one, into a gain of five . . .
Chris Ivory re-injured his left hamstring on the Jets’ second possession. He was running to the right side, and Bills safety Jim Leonhard attempted to tackle him, and twisted his leg. Ivory broke the tackle, but hobbled away from Leonhard and was tackled.
September 23, 2013
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