No Tanking Here, Jets Dominate Dolphins for 1st 'W'

JETS 20 - DOLPHINS 6 

So much for the "Suck for Sam" campaign (at least for this week). The Jets won their first game of the year with a virtuoso performance Sunday against the hated Dolphins. The much maligned Jets defense, which has taken a brunt of criticism through the first two games of the season, was spot on Sunday.

The Jets defense completely shutdown the Dolphins offense, holding running back Jay Ajayi to 16 yards on 11 carries.  Quarterback Jay Cutler was in typical Cutler-esq form, throwing widely all over the ball park, as he struggled to find open receivers.

The Jets secondary deserves a lot of credit for the way the played Cutler on Sunday. Terrance Brooks had three passed knocked down and two interceptions, while rookie Jamal Adams had a pass deflection, and even sacked Cutler on a huge third down play in the first half.

At one point the Jets held Miami to 47 yards of total offense through three quarters, and they were well on their way to a shutout were it not for Miami's late score with six seconds to go in the game. Overall, the Jets D held Miami to 225 yards of offense and 16 first downs. More importantly New York was able to get off the field on third down, holding Miami to 1-for-11 effort on the day.

Offensively, with the way the Jets defense played on Sunday, 20 points was more than enough for the victory. Josh McCown was solid. He threw for 249 yards and did a wonderful job running the football game for New York. He showed great poise in the pocket against Miami's front seven, and had a array of short, precise throws that ate up chunks of yards. The best play of day came with 1:42 left before halftime when McCown found a streaking Robbie Anderson down the nearside, and dropped it right into his waiting hands. Anderson did the rest, dashing into the end zone to give the Jets a 10-0 lead.

New York carried the momentum into the second half, with McCown marching the Jets on a 7-play 49-yard drive for their second touchdown of the day. A 15-yard pass by McCown to Lawrence Thomas set things up nicely for New York at the Miami 13. After Matt Forte gashed the Dolphins for 12-yards to the Miami 1, Bilial Powell went airborne into the end zone for the score to make it 17-0.

NOTES: Todd Bowles was noticeably pumped up during the game. The typically pocker-faced coached showed plenty of emotion on the sideline, including screaming at the side judges after a horrendous holding call negated a terrific run by Powell. Bowles had come under intense criticism in the past for not showing enough fire. He showed it today.

At 1-2, the Jets are clearly not going to be as bad as people think. No, this is not a playoff team, but it is not a team destined for 0-16. We'll see how the Jets get ready for the Jaguars (2-1) who blew out the Ravens 44-7 in London on Sunday. Should be interesting.