Thursday, December 3, 2009

Revis & Jets Defense Holds On in Toronto

JETS 19
BILLS 13

Two big stories come out of the Jets 19-13 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Thursday. 1) Darrelle Revis continues to play like a man out of his mind. Revis held wide receiver Terrell Owens to three catches for 31 yards, knocked down a handful of passes and hauled in the game clinching interception to seal the Jets victory.

Revis has been outstanding all season long. He has shut down every top receiver to face his this year, whether it be Owens, Randy Moss, Steve Smith or Andre Johnson. Revis has done the job and should be a favorite to receive defensive MVP honors come years end.

2) Then there is the other headline. In an attempt the get a first down, Mark Sanchez went head first and dove for the marker in the third quarter. Apparently Sanchez injured his knee on this dive, and was removed from the game, never to return.

This coming just days after Rex Ryan went out of his way to bring in Yankees manager Joe Girardi to teach the quarterback how to slide.

Ryan was the first to rip his young quarterback after the game: “He’s got to understand that it’s in the organization’s best interests to slide, and that was disappointing,” said Ryan, who added it’s uncertain whether Sanchez will be able to play at Tampa Bay on Dec. 13. “I love the kid, but he’s got to grow up and understand that he represents our entire organization” (Yahoo Sports).

You can understand Ryan's anger, especially after emphaising this week that Sanchez slide legs first, but, you can't take the competitor out of the kid. He showed great poise in the pocket, and moxi last night. The fact, that he dove for the first down was unselfish and team first. One should applaud Sanchez for showing guts.

Plus, Jet fans finally understood why Kellen Clemens had no shot in the starting quarterback job this summer. Clemens bobbled a snap, sacked himself (he tripped over his own legs before anyone touched him), and even fumbled the ball near the goal line late in the game, that if it were recovered by Buffalo would have been an easy touchdown for them.

This game was wild from the start. Even though Sanchez showed great accuracy, he missed a wide open Jerricho Cotchery in the end zone that would have given New York a 7-3 lead. Instead the Jets settled for the field goal. Later in the first quarter, Sanchez had a streaking Braylon Edwards down the sideline, Sanchez lofted a perfect bomb right into the Edwards' hands, but the unreliable receiver dropped the ball, costing the Jets a potential 85 yard touchdown.

Finally, in the second quarter, Sanchez hit David Clowney in the end zone for a touchdown, however Clowney stepped out of bounds and never had complete possession of the football costing the Jets another score. Gang Green had to settle for three field goals to cut Buffalo's lead to 10-9.

Later in the second quarter, Edwards made up for his dropped pass, when he caught a bullet from Sanchez at the 11, and stretched his left arm over the goal line for the touchdown to give Gang Green a lead they would never relinquish at 16-10. Box score.

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