| Dwayne Smith. 23rd September, 2009 - 3:45 pm
 Whether it was the rust of a star quarterback coming back from a year off, the late scratch of a key offensive weapon or a depleted defense, the 2009 New England Patriots lost at Giants Stadium for the first time since 1999. That includes the season ending victory in 2007 over the New York Giants that secured the only 16-0 regular season in NFL history… How’d that work out again for the Patriots?
From the opening kickoff in which the New York Jets chose to put their defense on the field until the final Tom Brady pass that was broken up by DB Dwight Lowery, the Jets were able to utterly confuse and pressure a team that is generally surgical and fearless. In New York’s 16-9 victory, it was New York’s defense that was fearless and gave enough different looks to neutralize the resilient Brady. It also needs to be noted that QB Mark Sanchez did enough to win this game when the Patriots did everything they could to slow down New York’s running game. These are the five things that were learned in New York’s victory.
1. The Jets have an elite NFL defense.
While conventional wisdom said that New York would field an aggressive defense that would be exciting, but in being so aggressive there are generally breakdowns. The fact that neither Houston nor the Patriots were able to score a touchdown illustrates such a breakdown could not be exploited. This defense is the real deal and apparently does not have a prevent package in their arsenal. You saw no signs of the prevent defense when New England got the ball with 1:48 left in the game, trailing by a touchdown. There was no deep coverage, allowing the underneath routes. Essentially, Rex Ryan’s defense attacked the Patriots on their side of the field so they wouldn’t get to the New York side. The pressure continued being applied and the coverage was tight. The result was a five-play drive with Brady throwing four straight incomplete passes to end his day. It is rare that you can credit a defense for applying tremendous pressure without getting a single sack. This was that day as Brady was forced out of comfortable throwing positions all game.
2. Defensive Back Darrelle Revis is a shutdown corner.
There may be only four or even five in the National Football League, because when you earn the title of a shutdown corner you have to be able to outfight the best receivers in the NFL. Signs were shown last year, including the Pro Bowl in which Revis made a spectacular interception. So after 2009 starts that had Revis up against Pro Bowlers Andre Johnson and Randy Moss, he has proven that he is an elite DB and a shutdown corner. Removing both of the elite receivers from their respective offenses. The punctuation being the interception in which he outjumped and outfought the future Hall of Fame receiver with a 5-inch height advantage for a deep ball thrown his way. How many can say they’ve ever seen that?
3. The progression of QB Mark Sanchez is coming along quite nicely and begins with his brain.
Late in the Jets win on Sunday, Sanchez took a sack that eventually led to New York punting the ball, giving the Patriots a chance to win. Oddly enough, this was the smartest play of his young career. While the standard rule is to never take a sack, in this situation a sack on third down was the better play than an incomplete pass. This was because the Jets were able to punt at the two minute warning instead of at the 2:30 mark. With New England essentially getting the ball nearly 45 seconds later, Sanchez did his part in helping the defense apply pressure. The concern of the week among Jets fans was the defensive game plan of Bill Belichick that historically confuses even the best quarterbacks. Despite a couple of missed plays, Sanchez did a great job at finding soft spots, avoiding pressure and running the Jets offense against one of the great tacticians in the NFL.
4. Vernon Gholston has disappeared.
As great as this defense has been, one must wonder where has the 2008 first round pick gone? Touted in the preseason as the clear starter until OLB Calvin Pace returns, Gholston made a few plays in Houston but was called out by Ryan for not being aggressive enough. On Sunday he was non-existent against New England, even falling out of the starting lineup and not recording a single tackle.
5. Swagger is infectious and apparently not so bad of a thing.
From his very first press conference with the Jets, Rex Ryan refused to be nothing but supremely confident and straightforward. He clearly stated that he was not going to gameplan for his opponent; they needed to game plan for what he called Jets Football. Although he showed respect for his rivals in New England, he in no way behaved like he feared them. This rubbed off to veterans like FS Kerry Rhodes who has never before indicated he talked like this. Ryan’s move to leave a voice mail for Jets season ticket holders helped bring the swagger out of the locker room and to every single Jets fan present in the Meadowlands. A move like this is sorely needed as for too long Jets coaches have been deferential to the opposition and repressive to players that wanted to speak. Also, the New York jets fan base has also traditionally been one waiting for the other show to drop after years of disappoint after early promise. Ryan’s confidence gives his players the freedom to swagger and the confidence to speak their minds and back that up. On Sunday, Jets players and fans bought into the swagger and won that game… together.
In fact Ryan presented every New York Jets fan with a game ball. He explained, “I think our fans were maybe even a bigger part of that game than I first thought. They had four or five penalties against their offense, four delay of games. That doesn't happen to really any team but especially New England. I can't remember the last time that's ever happened so our crowd was really into it and they really deserved that game ball that we are giving them. We are going to have it out in our trophy case. (We) should have it here by Friday. “ |
