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New Jersey – In this edition of One Jets Drive, we take a deep look at some different angles from the Jets loss to San Diego . . .
The second half of the Jets-Chargers game was not a good one for this team, offensively or defensively.
The Chargers scored two touchdowns – both on plays where there was very poor coverage.
While Antonio Cromartie had a good season, he didn’t distinguish himself against his former team.
On the first drive of the second have, on third-and-seven, Cromartie got beat badly for a 37-yard touchdown by WR Denario Alexander on the left side of the end zone. The Jets MVP seemed to lose his bearings on this plays.
The other touchdown pass of the third quarter was from Phillip Rivers to Antonio Gates.
It was a crossing route from right to left, and Gates outdistanced Eric Smith by a long distance.
“How do you have Eric Smith in single coverage on Antonio Gates,” asked Marshall Faulk.
Good question.
Smith gives you everything he’s got, but he looked slow on this play. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Smith doesn’t have great speed to start with, and now you throw in hip and knee issues suffered a few months ago, he lost a step he couldn’t afford to.
The Jets drafted two safeties to help them cover tight ends, Josh Bush and Antonio Allen, and it’s Week 16, and the Jets are out of the playoff hunt – why aren’t they playing?
The concept, thrown out in some media reports, that the Jets were going to look at some young players in the last two games, was never true. I don’t know where that info came from . . .
Let’s continue our look at Greg McElroy from Monday.
It was kind of quiet second half for McElroy, who was on his back quite a bit due to poor protection.
There was one drive in the third quater, a three-and-out, where he was sacked on first and third down.
On the first play of the last possession of the third quarter, McElroy had a nice strike to Braylon Edwards for 13 yards over the middle. On the next play, McElroy threw a poor pass he’d probably want back. It was a quick out to TE Konrad Reuland on the left side, that was too high. Even if it worked, it wasn’t going anywhere, the Chargers had plenty of defenders over there to tackle Reuland – the gain would have been negligible.
The last play of the third quarter was McElroy’s worst play of the game. He rolled right and threw into a congested area for Clyde Gates, and it was picked off by S Corey Lynch.
This play surprised me a little bit. The cerebral McElroy is generally very good at reading coverages, but on this play, he did a poor job. I think some of us forgot this was his first start.
McElroy bounced back nicely, and led the Jets to a field goal on the next drive.
On first down, he hit Edwards on a crossing route for a gain of 10.
Two plays later, he rolled right, and hit Chaz Schilens for a gain of 24.
The Jets kicked a field goal a few plays later.
On the Jets next possession, McElroy had the Jets on the move, with passes to Gates (14 and nine yards) and a 15-yard scramble.
However, this possession ended two plays after the pretty scramble, when OLB Shaun Phillips got by RT Austin Howard for a strip sack of McElroy. Phillips recovered.
The Jets got the ball back one more time, and that drive ended with THREE straight sacks – two by DE Kendall Reyes (back-to-back plays), and then on fourth down by DE Corey Luiget. And that was it. The Chargers then ran out the clock.
While people are quick to be dismissive of the Chargers defense because San Diego has a losing record, this is a good defense.
John Pagano’s group had a pretty solid season, and wasn’t the reason for the bad record.
This isn’t an excuse for the play of the Jets offensive line, but it needs to be pointed out – this is a solid defense. So many writers, who refuse to research the opponents, just wave their hand and say, “The Chargers stink.”
On the defensive side of the ball, that isn’t the case.
But this game also pointed out that Austin Howard might not be the long-term answer at right tackle.
He gave it his best shot this year, and did some very good run blocking along the way, but he doesn’t have the quickest feet, and that led to problems throughout the season against speed rushers.
December 25, 2012
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