Jets Takeoff

Will Sunday be the day when Thomas Jones finally runs like Thomas Jones is supposed to run?

The Jets are 9.5 point favorites over the Buffalo Bills tomorrow, and with good reason. The Bills stink. They’ve lost their last three games and have been outscored 71-20 in those games. And oh, by the way, that includes a 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Browns last Sunday. At home! At 1-4, and after last week’s debacle against the Browns, the Bills have to be considered one of the worst teams in the league. And that’s somewhat surprising given the fact that they almost beat the Patriots back in week one, and beat the Buccaneers convincingly in week two. Losing to the Saints and Dolphins is nothing to be ashamed of (just ask the Jets), but the Browns? Come on.

Jerricho Cotchery might not play for New York, but expect a huge game from Braylon Edwards in his home debut. Edwards was spectacular in Monday night’s loss (5 catches, 64 yards, one touchdown), and with more time to work with his new team, he could be even better tomorrow. This is the game where Thomas Jones could finally have some consistent success running the football. And the defense? Time for that unit to rebound from Monday’s poor performance against Miami. The Jets’ defense entered that game ranked No. 4 in the league. They preceded to give up 413 yards of total offense. Playing the Bills presents the defense with a great opportunity to rebound.

Prediction: It’s over in Buffalo (how do you think T.O. is feeling right now?), and the Jets need to pounce on their division rival tomorrow afternoon when the two teams meet at 4:15 at the Meadowlands. This is a statement game for New York. At 3-2, they need a win. The way things went Monday night, and considering the opponent, they need to crush Buffalo. They will. Jets 38, Bills 10

Random thoughts from Jets-Dolphins:

1) The most amazing part of Monday night’s loss was the poor defensive performance. The Jets’ defense was ranked fourth in the league entering the game, and it’s one I’ve touted as the league’s best. But Monday night, they got beat by the Wildcat, beat by Chad Henne, and beat on a 13-play, 70-yard final drive that lasted five minutes and six seconds and resulted in Miami’s game-winning score. Ahead 27-24 with 5:12 left, the Jets left it up to the defense. Shockingly, they failed when it mattered most.

2) The play of the game: This from my colleague Steve Swidler, a die-hard Jets’ fan (also a fan of the Mets and St. John’s but we won’t hold that against him). Third-and-10 for the Dolphins at the Jets 16 with time winding down. Henne completes a 12-yard pass to Greg Camarillo for a first down, keeping the drive alive. Three plays later, Ronnie Brown runs it in with six seconds left. Great throw and catch by Henne and Camarillo. Great call by Steve.

3) I’m a fan of the Jets’ uniforms from the 80′s and early 90′s so I was happy to see them go with the green pants Monday night. During the “Boomer Years” the Jets would routinely wear their white jerseys and green pants on the road. While I’d like to see the green helmet return, that’s not going to happen. I’d even like the green pants to be worn at home along with the green jersey. Still reading?

Here is the transcript of Rex Ryan’s Tuesday conference call with reporters. This is one day after the Jets’ disappointing 31-27 loss to the Miami Dolphins. After New York’s second straight loss, Ryan offers some very revealing and honest commentary, such as this:

You don’t get better as a football team unless you practice better. Really, that’s on me. I thought our scout teams were horrible last week. We can’t practice to the tempo of our scout team. We have to practice to the tempo of our defense and the standards we want to set. That shows up on Monday that [you] don’t know how your teammate’s going to play if you’re not going 100% and flying around. That’s what we’ve got to get better at, whatever that takes. I’m not allowing this to happen. As a coach, I’m not going to allow this to happen again. We’ve got to get back and sharpen up what we do defensively. I know we have the talent, we’ve just got to play better.

And this:

I’m talking about scout teams as well. I wasn’t happy with our scout teams last week. When we got in the game part of those things, you don’t know exactly where to fit. You don’t know how a guy’s going to play it because you’ve got to go full speed. That gives you an idea of how your guys are going to play it. Sometimes I know Bart [Scott] looked like he overran some because he saw a man one way, then the guy crossed his face, and now he’s trying to make a tackle with one arm. Not just Bart, but that happened over and over where they were able to push the pile back. So we’ve got to do a much better job of really our show teams getting after it, and our guys playing full speed or you’re never going to have a great defense. That is the only way to get it done.

And finally:

We had a couple of mental gaffes. You can’t be a consistent defense if you don’t know where your guy’s going to be. They’ve got to play off each other. The only way to do that is to go full speed in practice. If I’m going to play a block a certain way, then I need to show that on the practice field. I think there was some indecision in some of the things. Maybe it looked a little different on the practice field than it looked on the game field. Until we get that consistency, I don’t think you’ll ever be a dominant defense. We really have to pump our scout teams up, our show teams. As a defense, you can’t go at the pace of your scout team. If they’re slow, you’ve still got to come off 100 miles an hour. Sometimes we dictated that last week. You’re either coaching it or allowing it to happen. I’m not going to allow it to happen.

The Jets welcome two key additions tonight, one on each side of the ball.

Linebacker Calvin Pace returns after serving a four-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, and wide receiver Braylon Edwards makes his Jets’ debut after being traded to New York from Cleveland last week. Pace returns just in time as the Jets No. 4 ranked defense will go up against Ronnie Brown (369 yards) and Ricky Williams (248 yards), who have led a Miami ground attack that averages 183.5 yards per game.

Chad Henne starts at quarterback for the Dolphins (1-3) in place of the injured Chad Pennington. Meanwhile, for the Jets (3-1), Mark Sanchez looks to rebound from last week’s disastrous performance in the Jets’ 24-10 loss at New Orleans. And it must be said again that the Jets have to get their running game going.

Prediction: Jets 23, Dolphins 16

No Jets’ beat reporter has done a better job covering the team this season than Greg Bishop of The New York Times. His article on NFL quality-control coaches a couple weeks back is a must-read. Today, Bishop delivers one of his best, a moving piece on Jets’ wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery.

Inside the Cotchery home, visitors find framed paintings, a grand piano, hardwood floors, granite countertops and flat-screen televisions. These are the spoils of the Jets’ No. 1 wide receiver, even one who acts as if he still plays on special teams.

Jerricho Cotchery may rank fifth in the N.F.L. with 356 receiving yards, but he does not fit the self-promoting, me-first receiver stereotype. His house, for all the expensive furniture, highlights none of his football exploits.

“He loved to prove people wrong without saying a word,” said Sedric Cotchery, his older brother. “He don’t beat his chest. He just beats cornerbacks.”

Read the entire article here.

Braylon Edwards is a Jet, and now New York has found a complement to receiver Jerricho Cotchery.

The addition of Edwards, traded from Cleveland to New York yesterday in exchange for Chansi Stuckey, Jason Trusnik, and two draft choices, gives the Jets two legitimate threats at wide receiver. However, the talented wideout does come with baggage as the Cleveland Plain Dealer does a fine job pointing out.

Still, this is a great trade for New York, and if Edwards can stay on the field and out of trouble, the Jets will make the playoffs because of it. Not that they didn’t have a shot at the playoffs before this trade, but now that Edwards is on board, the Jets don’t have any holes on either side of the ball. GM Mike Tannenbaum deserves a lot of credit for this one.

Edwards will start Monday night in Miami. As Boomer Esiason pointed out this morning on his WFAN radio show, Edwards should be familiar with the Jets’ offensive system since Eric Mangini, his head coach in Cleveland, coached the Jets the last three years, and Mangini’s offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer, is still calling the plays for New York.

Here are Braylon’s career stats.

Obviously the Giants have never seen Darrelle Revis play.

In an article in today’s Star-Ledger, the Giants say that Oakland’s Nnamdi Asomugha is ”the best corner in the league, hands down.”

Memo to Big Blue: How many catches would Steve Smith have with Revis defending him? Perhaps the Giants should check with Andre Johnson, Randy Moss, and Marques Colston before they anoint anyone other than Revis as the best cornerback in the NFL.

David Harris had 12 tackles Sunday for the NFL's best defense.

The Saints have one of the league’s most potent offenses, and Sunday proved once again that the Jets’ defense is the best in the NFL.

The Jets held New Orleans, who came in averaging 40 points per game, to just one offensive touchdown, a fourth quarter score on a one-yard run by Pierre Thomas. Drew Brees, who has thrown for 1,031 yards and nine touchdowns on the season, was 20-of-32 for 190 yards and no touchdowns on Sunday. The Saints, who came in averaging 170 yards on the ground, rushed for 153. And Marques Colston, their No. 1 receiver, who had 15 receptions entering the game, had two catches for 33 yards.