Week 1 Report Card

By Joe Grinwis

JETS – 23 Titans – 16

Quarterback:  A
Pennington (24-33, 319 yards, 2 TD’s)
How could it be anything but an A for Pennington? If it wasn’t for Chad and the consistent play he showed throughout the game the Jets would not have came back and won the game. Chad answered any questions about his twice repaired right shoulder with a few deep passes, the most notable the 41 yard hook-up with Laveranues Coles late in the game.  Pennington made no mistakes aside from a fumble that was forced by the Titans D on a sack in the 4th quarter early on.

Running Back: D
Barlow -11 carries, 35 yards, TD
Blaylock – 19 carries, 36 yards
Aside from the TD run by Barlow the running game was non-existent throughout the day. Derrick Blaylock was either hit in the backfield for a loss or getting 2 yards per carry and Kevan Barlow showed sparks but wasn’t used all too much.

Wide Reciever:  A
Coles – 8 receptions, 153 yards
Cotchery – 6 receptions, 65 yards, TD
McCareins – 2 receptions, 34 yards
A strong day from a TRUE #1 WIDE RECIEVER in Laveranues Coles as he made the usual tough catches over the middle as well as a deep 41 yarder from Pennington. Jerricho Cotchery, making his first ever start at Wide Reciever in the NFL, had a strong debut with a Touchdown grab. Justin McCareins had a few nice grabs and Brad Smith in the 2nd quarter had a nice 1 handed grab to keep a drive alive.

Tight End: C+
Baker – 4 receptions, 34 yards, TD
Ryan – 1 reception, 10 yards, Fumble
Chris Baker was there as a dumpoff option for Pennington for a few times and also caught the winning TD grab with 2:10 remaining. Sean Ryan on his 1st NFL catch got hit hard and fumbled the football, something that’s not good in the Eric Mangini Era.

Offensive Line:  B
No running holes for Blaylock & Barlow but Pennington was protected fairly well by rookie LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson and the rest of the line.  Katnick did a good job filling in for the injured Pete Kendall.

Defensive Line: B
Shaun Ellis & Dewayne Robertson brought pressure to Collins.  Rashad Moore & Bobby Hamilton were active as well. Bryan Thomas had a sack & was in the backfield at both 4-3 DE and 3-4 OLB.

Linebackers: B-
Victor Hobson came through with a sack and Jonathan Vilma was on many tackles with 7 solo and 5 assists throughout the game. Eric Barton back from missing the final 9 games of last season made some plays and was like his usual run stuffing self and the same kind of Eric Barton we got accustomed to seeing in 2004.

Secondary: B
Andre Dyson had 2 interceptions and Kerry Rhodes had another on a deflected pass from Collins intended for Ben Troupe. Justin Miller was burnt a few times by David Givens but other then that it was hard for Collins to get a rhythm going with his wideouts aside from the 2 drives where the Titans scored.  David Barrett was soft in coverage otherwise this grade would be higher.

Special Teams: D+
Mike Nugent flat out stunk. He left 7 points on the field and his 2 missed FG’s were from 34 & 30 yards out. Justin Miller, however, had a key return late in the game when it was tied 16-16 with a 41 yard return to set up the Jets’ final game winning scoring drive. Ben Graham had a strong game as well with his 4 punts totalling almost 200 yards (49.8 avg).

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