The Jets fell to 2-2 last night, suffering an ugly. 34-24 defeat at Baltimore. The Ravens defense was the highest scoring unit on the field.
It was over when…
Lardarius Webb jumped a screen pass intended for Santonio Holmes and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown. It put the Ravens up 34-17 with 8:49 left in the third quarter. The Jets at that point where in range to make it a one score game as a result of a strip sack by Aaron Maybin the Jets recovered. On a night the Jets only gained 150 yards, a 17 point second half deficit was far too much.
Turning Point…
It came on New York’s first offensive snap. Ed Reed blitzed and ran free to the quarterback and stripped Mark Sanchez, who held onto the ball too long. Jameel McClain recovered and ran it back 6 yards for a touchdown that made it 7-0 Baltimore. The Jets trailed the rest of the night.
Three Goats
1. Mark Sanchez: He had three turnovers that resulted in Baltimore touchdowns. He was 11 of 35 throwing. His passer rating was 30.5. It is difficult to win a game when the quarterback plays like that. The Jets scored two non offensive touchdowns and still lost by 17. That is on the quarterback.
2. Offensive Line: It is difficult to single anybody out because all six linemen who saw significant action looked pretty bad. There were constant false starts and blown assignments. Part of it was due to missing Nick Mangold, but there were plenty of blown assignments and mistakes away from the center spot also. Sanchez was bad in his own right, but him spending most of the night on his back did not help.
3. Brian Schottenheimer: Given how poorly his offensive line and quarterback executed, it might not have mattered, but Schottenheimer probably should have tried to move Sanchez around more on bootlegs and roll outs to buy him some time and get him some easy completions to build some confidence.
Silver Linings…
The defense bounced back in a big way from a brutal outing in Oakland. It is easy to overlook the Ravens averaging less than 4 yards per play and turning it over thrice given the way the offense was playing.
Joe McKnight had a 107 yard kickoff return for a touchdown, a forced fumble on special teams, and a pressure as a blitzer on defense that resulted in an interception. That is a pretty good night considering he is really a running back.
Next Up…
The Jets head to Foxborough, the site of both their worst lost and greatest win of last season for a showdown with the 3-1 Patriots. New England won at Oakland Sunday.