Kerry Rhodes
Storylines Heading into Sunday’s Game Against the Carolina Panthers (1:00 p.m., Giants Stadium)
Demotion of Kerry Rhodes: In the middle of a five year, 33 million dollar contract, the Jets’ safety hasn’t been the same since he signed that extension following the 2007 season. This year, Rhodes has zero interceptions, zero sacks, zero forced fumbles, and zero fumble recoveries. Now, he’ll only play in nickel and dime packages. Eric Smith will replace him.
How Will Mark Sanchez Respond: Sanchez threw four interceptions and fumbled once in last week’s loss at New England. This week, Rex Ryan announced that he’ll take a more active role in coaching Sanchez. Though results, if any, aren’t going to be seen right away, word out of Jets’ camp is that Sanchez had a good week of practice and his coaches seem optimistic that the rookie play better this week.
The Carolina Panthers: Let’s be honest and say it: At 4-6, the Panthers aren’t that good. Carolina was thought to be a playoff team coming into the season, but that was nearly three months ago. They still have Jake Delhomme, DeAngelo Williams, and Steve Smith on offense, but the offense has not shown the same explosiveness it did in years past. Carolina ranks 23rd in the NFL in points (19.3 pg), though with 159.1 rushing yards per game, you could see Williams and Jonathan Stewart giving the Jets trouble. Defensively, they allow an average of 130.7 rushing yards per game, so Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene could have big games for New York.
Prediction: Despite their struggles, the Jets still rank second in the league in rushing yards (163.5 pg). Expect a big day from Jones, and assuming Sanchez doesn’t throw this one away, the Jets will win for the first time in a month. Jets 26, Panthers 22
