By Mike Trovato
In the words of legendary NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, “On any given Sunday, any team in the NFL can beat any other.” While this may not be true for this year’s Lions, this famous statement has proven to be true time and time again. Over the past two weeks, the New York Jets have been a prime example of just how right Pete Rozelle was.
Following their Week 11 victory over New England that launched Gang Green into first place, Eric Mangini’s Jets marched into Tennessee (sans their throwback Titans of New York jerseys, thankfully), and embarrassed the previously undefeated Titans. The 34-13 performance humbled Jeff Fisher’s Titans, who quickly rebounded on a short Thanksgiving week to defeat the aforementioned Detroit Lions.
As for the Jets, the win over Tennessee had New Yorkers buzzing with visions of a potential Jets-Giants Super Bowl. The Giants are dominating the NFL despite the Burress circus, and the Jets were on their first five game winning streak since they started 5-0 in 2004, and for the first time in years an all-New York Super Bowl actually seemed more and more plausible.
Unfortunately for the Jets, the Denver Broncos would at least temporarily knock them off of their high horse, so to speak.
Against the Titans two weeks ago, the Jets’ game plan was practically seamless. Brett Favre completed over 78 percent of his passes for the second week in a row, and posted his third straight game with a QB rating over 100. New York’s running backs trampled Tennessee’s monstrous defensive line, racking up 192 yards on the ground. Leon Washington averaged over 10.25 yards per carry for two touchdowns, while Thomas Jones ran for 96 yards, and scored from 10 yards out on a dump-off pass in the first quarter.
Tennessee appeared virtually helpless after halftime as the Jets caught on fire, compiling four scoring drives that totaled 36 plays. New York ate up nearly 21 minutes of the second half clock en route to three touchdowns and a field goal, sealing the Titans’ first loss of the season.
Combined with the road win at New England, the division lead, and the five game winning streak that got them there, all of these factors may have amounted to a bit of overconfidence on the part of the Jets’ coaching staff heading into Week 13. To boot, the Broncos were 7.5 underdogs coming off of a brutal 31-10 loss against Oakland. Denver netted just 319 yards against a Raiders team that is 25th in yards allowed, while the Jets had piled up over 400 the week before against one of the league’s best in that same category.
An argument that the Broncos on the whole are a better team than the Jets would not really be a valid one. Their offense is more explosive, but the Jets have been steady as well, and still rank 11th overall. The bigger difference is on the defensive side, where Denver doesn’t compare to the Jets’ run-stuffing front. The Broncos’ defensive line, equipped with Jet castoff Dewayne Robertson, has amassed only 22 sacks to New York’s 35. But let’s not forget the words of Rozelle- any team has a shot.
Maybe this past Sunday’s game against Denver had “trap game” written all over it for New York. Maybe it didn’t. But one thing was certainly clear: the Jets didn’t have their “A” game this time around. Wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery acknowledged that fact during his weekly spot on WFAN. “We had a not-so-good day on that Wednesday,” Cotchery told co-hosts Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts. “The week was kind of inconsistent… Unfortunately that inconsistent week carried over to the game.”
And that it did. The holes that were present in practice during the week did not patch themselves up. The game plan consisting of heavy running and short passes, the one that worked so well against the Patriots and Titans, was abandoned in favor of trickery and the unexpected.
Had they stuck to what they had been doing so well, it is hard to imagine that the Broncos, who rank 28th in total defense, would have been able to stymie them. But after running 39 times in each of the last two contests, New York’s first mistake against Denver was veering away from the basics. On the Jets’ second drive, a Smith-to-Cotchery transfer was called instead of the standard Favre-to-Jones handoff, as the Jets ran a trick play out of the Wildcat formation, Brad Smith under center.
If it was executed properly, the result would have easily been a large gain to the left for Cotchery, as the entire Broncos defense bit when Smith rolled to his right. Instead, the rain-slicked ball pitched errantly by Smith was never secured by Cotchery, who chased after and seemingly covered the loose pigskin. Rather than touching him down, linebacker Wesley Woodward drilled Cotchery, knocking the ball loose once again. Vernon Fox recovered, and ran into the end zone.
On the very next play, Thomas Jones scampered 59 yards for a touchdown, and would score again early in the second quarter on a whacky play in which he landed on top of defensive tackle Kenny Peterson. Never downed, he alertly bounced to his feet and ran into the end zone, and it seemed Gang Green had remembered how they had been successful thus far, handing off to Jones.
It did not last. Just three plays into their subsequent possession, down 17-14, Favre slung a 35 yard bomb down the left sideline, five yards beyond Laveranues Coles and into the hands of cornerback Dre’ Bly. Denver marched 68 yards in only seven plays, coordinating four plays of over nine yards including a 22-yard pass play to Tony Scheffler. Rookie running back Peyton Hillis added a 19-yard run, and capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge through the right side of the line.
Hillis, who just three months ago was buried as the fifth-string back on the Broncos’ depth chart, has emerged as yet another successful running back under Coach Mike Shanahan. In his 14-year tenure as Broncos head coach, Shanahan’s offensive system has produced six different 1,000-yard rushers. Outside of Terrell Davis and Clinton Portis, the rest (Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Reuben Droughns, and Tatum Bell) never again reached the 1,000 yard plateau after leaving Denver.
As for Peyton Hillis, his opportunity arose after a rash of injuries that landed three Bronco backs on injured reserve. Over the last four weeks, the converted fullback has seen a steady increase in touches, and has steadily been more productive. The Jets defense, which held Tennessee’s premiere ground attack to just 45 yards on 11 carries, and had yet to allow a 100-yard rusher in 2008, surrendered 129 yards and the one touchdown to the former Arkansas Razorback Hillis.
The 34-17 loss to Denver dropped the Jets’ record against the AFC West to 1-3, but did not drop them out of first place, as Pittsburgh crushed New England 33-10 to keep the Jets’ one game lead intact. Matt Cassel, who had only three total turnovers in the Patriots’ previous four games, threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles as the Steelers abruptly ended his string of two straight 400-yard passing games. That streak, of course, began against Gang Green.
The Jets have an opportunity to redeem themselves this week as they head west to face the 4-8 San Francisco 49ers. However, this road contest marks their third of four trips to the west coast this year. Their first two trips haven’t exactly been successful, as they have gone 0-2. The Jets incurred their two Pacific Standard Time losses against teams which are a combined 10 games under .500: 48-29 on a Monday night against San Diego (4-8), and 16-13 in overtime at Oakland (3-9).
The good news for Gang Green is that the Niners aren’t nearly as explosive as the Broncos’ second ranked offensive attack. San Francisco averages just over 300 total yards per contest, and is only 21st in the league in points per game. The Denver game was probably just a blip on the radar, but still, we can’t ever forget Pete Rozelle’s timeless adage- any team can win.
How about this adage? “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Hmmm, there’s some food for thought. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, New York is a perfect 5-0 over the past two seasons when Thomas Jones gets 25 carries or more. When he receives less than 20 carries as he did against the Broncos, the Jets are 4-11.
The key to getting back on track is quite simple. Revert back to what they do best, playing smart football (emphasis on smart). The Jets control their own destiny, why place it in the hands of trickery? The “Man-genius” would be extremely wise to leave the Wildcat formation back on the east coast and out of the game plan.