I would like to focus my blame and disgust. I don't want to spread it around in an unorganized sloppy way. I don't want my blame to look like the NY Jets football team. I want it centered, crisp and clean... so I will aim it at one man: Head coach Rex Ryan.
Rex gave his team a weeks vacation immediately after they dropped 4 of 5 games. Well, now it's 5 of 6 and the big man has a lot of explaining to do. "Lucy, you got some splainin to do....".
The game opened up with a long pass down the field that was picked off. I have no problem with the play call or the actual pass (it was a bit under-thrown). The interception was simply an amazing play. I think there was a little luck involved also, it seemed to fall right into the DB's hands. I was shocked by what little effort Cotchery put into knocking it down. Jericho had a great game (like usual) and I guess every player can have a bad play from time to time.
What bothered me about this game was how some of our most reliable players didn't show up today. Most notably #52 David Harris. He has had a solid pro-bowl effort during the first 8 games of the season. I am confident he will finish the season strong as well. That being said, he was out of position all day. In my opinion this all goes back to preparation and our head coach.
I started to notice the rust in the first quarter when Mark threw a simple screen pass to Thomas Jones in the red zone. TJ had two linemen ahead of him and a clear path to the six points. Mark overthrew him and the ball slipped from his finger tips.
Another player who had a sloppy game was Braylon Edwards. He had a fumble that completely sucked the energy from our home crowd, and destroyed our momentum. He also dropped the two point conversion, and frankly thats a ball a #1 WR needs to hold on to. #6 was the most inaccurate he has been all year. He missed the screen to Jones, overthrew Edwards in the endzone in the second half, and threw nearly a half dozen balls into the ground. Again, preparation, preparation, preparation.
I won't spend much time on Kerry Rhodes, like usual he phoned it in this week. His lowlights included one of his patented half ass tackles on the 5 yard line that ended up as a TD (yes, a WR carried #25 12ft over the goal line). And of coarse, the classic blown coverage on the Jag's TE that was the play that broke our neck as a team and effectively cost us the game. Just for good measure, our classy safety finished off that blown coverage by getting to his feet and blaming his teammate by pointing and waving his arms. It sucks to be 4-5 after a 3-0 start, but if we had 10 more guys like Kerry Rhodes we could very well be 0-9 and making a run for Detroit's record of 0-16.
So, what does this loss mean? First off our post season hopes are fading very quickly. Second, our home field advantage is going to be non-existent for the rest of the regular season. Our fans won't be wasting their time showing up to games down the stretch now that the playoffs look like a long shot. Those who do show up will probably spend more time voicing their collective dissatisfaction than their approval. Third, our rookie QB will be officially branded a loser after his first season. That's always a receipt for success in NYC (that was meant to be verrrrrry sarcastic).
I have said, from the day Sanchez was drafted, that starting Clemens was the only thing that made sense. On August 9th I was very clear in my post ( Clemens should start ). Starting Clemens would have required strategy and thinking a few steps ahead of the game. I am not sure Rex Ryan is familiar with that process. If you start #11 and we go 4-5, you can call #6 off the bench and let him start the "Sanchez" era the right way. This 'all or nothing' approach is ignorant and my main problem with it is there is no plan B. Rex has no choice but to hang Sanchez out to dry, because if he benches him it will send a message that #6 has failed. The NY media doesn't treat failures with 50 million dollar contracts very nicely.
I am not trying to say I told ya so... but I told ya so. I know that Sanchez has had his ups and downs, but I have seen enough already to say that he is the real thing. He can play QB in this league and he even shows flashes of greatness. The question now is: will a losing season, some ugly rookie stats and the firestorm that is building from the NY media crush this young signal callers spirit? If we would have waited to start him that wouldn't be a concern.
I like the fact that Sanchez seems to be improving and learning as the season progresses (his two INT's today had no effect on the game). I also like the fact that with the game on the line he drove us down the field and we scored a TD. He even delivered the two point conversion pass on target, too bad #17 dropped it. This offense has unlimited potential in 2010, I just hope Rex Ryan starts to show some signs of growth and learns from all of his mistakes in 2009.
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