Jets Lose Heartbreaker; 24-22 To Jaguars

Rex Ryan made the decision to give his squad six days off during the bye week.  Today, the New York Jets played like a team that had six days off during the bye week.  The Jaguars beat the Jets with a late touchdown and improved to 5 and 4.  The loss drops the Jets to 4 and 5 on the season.

What’s wrong with the Jets?  They need to improve in a lot of areas but the one that jumps out is that they don’t seem to play as a team.  The offense does well, the defense slacks off.  The defense does well, the offense struggles.   The biggest issue seems to be the play of rookie QB Mark Sanchez (2 more interceptions today).  Here is the official stat line on Mark Sanchez through 9 games:

53.3 Completion % – 1,443 yards, 8 touchdowns – 10 interceptions.  That equates to a QB rating of 67.6.  You would need a top three defense and flawless special teams play to win with that performance at QB.  The Jets do not have a top three defense and they have not played flawless on special teams.

There are a lot of game recaps in our forums.  Rather than dwell upon that let’s talk about another big concern that is becoming more and more evident.  Feeding off the crowd is good.  The Jets need to learn to not worry about things they can’t control.  Some examples:

• Late in the game (last drive), Mark Sanchez spends more time telling the crowd to settle down instead of focusing on the next play.  Mark, talk to the Jets if you are concerned.  They come out of a TV timeout and the stadium music is blasting.  You want people to just be silent instantly.  That would be nice but it probably isn’t going to happen.  You have to deal with it and stop worrying so much about the crowd.
• Bart Scott:  How many times are you going to look into the crowd and tell them you are disappointed?  Shaking your head?  Stop worrying about the crowd.  Worry about things you can control.  When the Jets win, the crowd will support you.  It is that simple.
• Misc Rant:  Getting a little tired of the tunnel entrances.  It is fun but these are not the Chicago Bulls in the Michael Jordan days.  I think they need to settle down a bit and focus on winning football games.  Enough talk, enough excuses.  Just play football.  We (the fans) will support you.