By Brian Bohl
About the only thing the Jets accomplished on a warm afternoon in Miami on Sunday was avoiding the indignity of becoming the Dolphins’ first victim this season. When the 40-13 victory was completed, the Jets improved to 3-9, with two of those victories coming against the 0-12 Dolphins.
Considering the Jets are looking to finish out a deplorable season and were embarrassed by the Cowboys in a nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game, coach Eric Mangini’s team should have just been thankful to walk out with a rare victory over a historically bad team. But, of course, Shaun Ellis was able to put everything into perspective, commenting about Gang Green being a slight underdog to a winless opponent.
“It was disrespectful,” Shaun Ellis said. “That goes to show that the people who make those lines don’t know what they’re talking about. Everybody that said the Jets were going to lose to the Dolphins, counting us out . . . that was [garbage]. I hope we made them eat their words.”
Good job, Shaun. You and your teammates certainly showed the football world your courage beating a team that might be the first in NFL history to go 0-16. Only an idiot would ever bet against a Jets’ team that lost 34-3 to the Cowboys and already endured a six-game losing streak earlier in the campaign.
All teams overplay the “disrespect” card to a hilt. Logically, one team must be the favorite every game, so picking the other to be an underdog isn’t exactly a tremendous insult. With an underperforming team like the Jets, a 3-13 finish is possible, making comments like Ellis’ a head-scratcher. Tight end Chris Baker even added another memorable quote.
“It was more of a pride thing in saying, ‘We’re not going to go out and let this team beat us. They’re 0-12 for a reason,'” Baker said. “We were picked as an underdog to a team that hasn’t won a game yet, so that was kind of an insult to everybody.”
The loss to Dallas was an insult to all Jets fans, part of a season of disappointing performances that included a sweep to the Bills and a road defeat to the woeful Bengals. In fact, Ellis has been a big reason for why the Jets were expected to lose to the Dolphins, as the defensive end has two sacks in the past eight games.
That lack of a pass rush was a major contributor to the 1-8 start. Only nine sacks-one per game-were logged during that span. Since then, the Jets produced 13 sacks in the last three contests, though the effort came too late to salvage anything. The only other victory came against Pittsburgh, a contender in the AFC but also a team that barely survived a meeting with Miami.
Building for the future is the only reason to watch the Jets play out the string. Second-year quarterback Kellen Clemens wasn’t fantastic against the Dolphins. He still did the job without receiver Jerricho Cotchery, going 15-24 for 236 yards (one touchdown and one interception). He proved he could be effective with a balanced offense, aided by strong running games from Thomas Jones and Leon Washington.
Jones recorded his first rushing touchdown since coming to the team in an offseason trade from Chicago, while Washington had over 100 yards of total offense as a running back and receiver.
“Offensively, I was pleased that we were able to run the ball, especially when we needed to, despite their coverage,” Mangini said.
“Fortunately, when we’ve gotten into the red zone, we’ve had some issues this year. I’m a team player but as a running back, [I] want to score touchdowns. But at the end-of-the-day, I’m a team player. I’m just as happy whether I score a touchdown or whether a teammate scores as long as we’re scoring touchdowns,” added Jones.
Jones signed a long-term extension and should be the running back next year and beyond. Clemens’ status isn’t as secure, though the former second-round pick has now engineered victories over the Steelers and Dolphins in his five career starts.
The next four weeks could determine his future, and a positive showing means Mangini and general manager Mike Tannenbaum can target an upper-echelon defensive lineman instead of a passer with the franchise’s likely top-5 draft pick. A high selection in April should be the only thing the Jets Derreare gloating about now.