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Mark Sanchez clearly is more comfortable in the two-minute offense compared to all the bells and whistles of the Jets standard set.
For the most part, Sanchez had an inconsistent game, but obviously came through at the end.
The Jets first pass of the game, a basic stop route on the left hash by Braylon Edwards, was broken up by CB Alphonso Smith. Considering how easily he jumped it, he clearly has a good feel for it on film. This ended the Jets first possession.
On the Jets second possession, Sanchez seemed to force a quick slant to Jerricho Cotchery on the right side, and CB Chris Houston broke it up. Cotchery wasn’t open. This possession ended with a three-yard pass on the left side to Holmes, on a third-and-fifteen.
On the Jets third possession, Sanchez was way off target on an out, on the left side, to Braylon Edwards, who had CB Brandon McDonald beat on the play.
On the Jets fourth series, Sanchez had a quick slant to Edwards tipped at the line by DT Sammie Lee Hill. And just like the pass to Holmes earlier, this possession ended with Sanchez throwing three-yard pass to Edwards, way short of the first down.
In the middle of the second quarter, Sanchez did great job of surveying the field, before hitting LaDainian Tomlinson for a gain of 14. He looked right, then to the middle, then to the left to Tomlinson. This was at the beginning of a long drive that resulted in a Jets field goal.
The top play of this drive was when Holmes torched Houston on a crossing route for a gain of 31 yards. Two plays later, Cotchery dropped a quick slant on the right side. He needs to make this catch, but I will offer one caveat. Sanchez threw this five-yard pass like he was Nolan Ryan. It was thrown way too hard considering how close the receiver was to him.
This drive didn’t end on a great note when Sanchez and Nick Mangold had a miscommunication on the snap, due to the noise, and this caused a fumble, which Sanchez recovered. Also L.T. was called for illegal motion on the play. It was a mess all around, and the Jets settled for a field goal.
And late in the first half, the Jets got an ideal one-on-one matchup on a deep route, and Sanchez hit Edwards for a 74-yard touchdown. It was 6-3 Edwards against the 5-9 Smith, and the corner had no help.
On the first series of the second half, the Jets were around mid-field, and Sanchez hit Edwards on the short left side, but when he took off running after the catch, he was stripped by S Louis Delmas, who recovered the fumble.
In the middle of the third, Sanchez does a nice job of stepping up on the pocket, hits Holmes, who had a mismatch on the safety Amari Spievey over the deep middle, and the play gained 21 yards. A few plays later, Sanchez rolls right, and throws an incompletion to Cotchery. It seemed like Cotchery and Dustin Keller were in the same spot and got in each other’s way. Remember, this wasn’t a designed roll, it was broken play, and Sanchez was running for his life, so to speak.
On the next play, Sanchez hit Keller on the deep right side for a gain of 17 on Spievey. But then drive ended with a bad decision by Sanchez, throwing into double coverage deep to Holmes, and it was picked by Smith. Holmes wasn’t open.
Late in the third quarter, on second-and-12, Sanchez hit Cotchery on a comeback route on the right side for a gain of 11. Late in this possession, Sanchez threw behind L.T. over the short middle. On the next play, Sanchez threw to Holmes on the out on the left side, but he really wasn’t open, so the quarterback might have actually thrown it away.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, Sanchez threw a pass to L.T. over the short middle, but the runner wasn’t looking.
Also in the middle of the fourth, Sanchez threw a pass down the deep right side to Edwards, who had three people around him. It was incomplete. If Edwards had three guys on him, somebody else must have been open.
Late in the fourth, on the drive that cut the Jets deficit to 20-17, Sanchez started the possession with an 18-yard strike to J-Co over the middle. He also hit Keller, who had a mismatch on LB Julian Peterson, for a gain of 25 over the deep middle.
Then on the drive that ended in a field goal to tie the score, on a third-and-10 on this drive, Sanchez threw an 11-yard rocket to Keller, and a 10-yard pass to L.T., to get the Jets in field goal range.
And of course the 52-yard throw to Holmes in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal.