It’s been a while since I’ve written any posts about sports. In fact, I think several months may have gone by where I didn’t write about anything that wasn’t in some way tied to the election. Now that the election is over, I might find that I still haven’t quite defined the extent to which I’ll cover non-political topics here. I don’t really know the answer, except that I’ll continue to write about what happens to be occupying my thoughts at the moment. Right now, they’re occupied by the greatest margin of victory in NY Jets franchise history, which I was lucky enough to witness first-hand from the very top of the north corner of Giants Stadium.
I was reminded of a hullabaloo from last season in which the Patriots were accused of unsportsmanlike behavior for unnecessarily running up the score late in blowout games in which the outcome had already been determined. The most offensive example came in the week 8 blowout against the Redskins. In that game, the Pats got the ball back with 2:02 remaining in the 3rd quarter and led the Skins 38-0. Any NFL fan knows that a head coach lucky enough to be in that position will normally play out the game as conservatively as possible. He’ll sub in as many of his reserve players as possible to eliminate the risk of key injuries. He’ll call mostly simple running plays, to keep the clock running and eat up as much of the remaining time as possible while he has possession of the ball, and to limit the likelihood of turnovers.
But this was not the approach that Coach Belichick employed in the 4th quarter of his week 8 game last season. Instead, the Pats ran an offensive assault with Tom Brady in at QB. They ran 10 passing plays, all of them from the shotgun. The drive took 17 plays and ate up 8 minutes because of two penalties called against the Pats, the fist of which sent them back to their own 13 yard line on the 6th play of the drive. On the 15th play, a 4th and 1 on the Redskins 7 yard line with 11:02 left in the game, they ran a QB sneak to get the first down! This set up the touchdown pass two plays later with 9:09 remaining. 45-0 Pats.
The Skins promptly went 3 and out and New England got the ball back at the Washington 45 with 8:30 to play. Would they now win graciously, let the clock wind down and go back to the locker room and celebrate another blowout? No. They ran it up to 52-0 with the backup QB on 6 plays (2 from the shotgun) including a pass on 4th and 2 from the Washington 37 with 7:16 left to play. The drive took all of 2:40 off the clock.
Compare that with the final 17 minutes of yesterday’s Jets/Rams game. The Jets also got the ball with just over 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter with a huge lead (40-3). They orchestrated an 8 play drive with 6 running plays that ended in a touchdown, eating up 5:30. The Rams then went 3 and out and the Jets got the ball back on their own 22 with 11:09 left in the game. The Jets brought in backup QB Kellen Clemens and ran 12 straight running plays, getting them 4 first downs and 70 yards and eating 9 minutes off the clock. So they came out of the 2 minute warning with first and goal on the Rams 8 yard line. With a cinch field goal and the opportunity for their second 50 point game of the season (not to mention Clemens’ first touchdown opportunity of the season) staring them in the face, he took a knee on three straight plays and let the clock run out. With a division showdown looming this Thursday against the hated Patriots, Coach Mangini made exactly the opposite statement that Belichick chose to go with 54 weeks earlier in almost exactly the same situation: a display of sportsmanship.
I have become a Jets fan because of Brett Favre, and have seen every game this year – continuing my streak of seeing every game Brett Favre has played in his NFL career. Not quite as impressive as actually playing all those games, but …
You are right in praising the Jets staff for how they handled it, especially compared with the Patriots from last year.
By the way, tonight I’m going for a 10-0 week in the NFL against the spread at my other site: http://www.smartplays.net
New York Jets 6-3 and tied for the division lead, after a 4-12 season last year.
Green Bay 4-5 and going nowhere, after a 13-3 season last year. Despite having far more dangerous weapons on offense than the Jets.
How’s that decision to let Brett Favre go working out for you, Ted Thompson?
Hey joe – I didn’t know you were a Gurupie. Do I know your name on there?
I don’t think it entirely aplicable to compare the 2007 Jets to this year’s team and assume it is Favre who makes the bulk of the difference. More than anything else, it’s the defense and specifically the ability to stop the run. The honor of biggest impact goes to nose tackle Kris Jenkins. That man is an absolute beast. Also they finally have the personnel to run a 3-4 defense and the revamped offensive line has clicked better than anyone thought they would consdering half of them were brought on this year. Thanks to them, Thomas Jones, a good RB but certainly not elite, is the 5th leading rusher in the NFL and averaging 4.7 yards/carry. There’s also the matters of Pennington’s injury last year, the offensive line disaster and that last season’s schedule was considerably tougher than this year’s.
So I don’t think the Jets’ record is a product of Brett. I think a strong case could be made that they wouldn’t have lost the Oakland game with Pennington under center but I’ll grant that with Penny they might not have been able to sufficiently run up the score to hold back the Cards.
Favre’s big arm and creativity do add an element to the Jets offensive repertoire that they didn’t have before but his tendency for sloppy play is a new liability as well. The Jets have run a conservative play-action/dink-and-dunk/ball control offense which has performed well when the O line and running game are working and Pennington is healthy. Pennington also sees the field better than Favre and is one of the most consistantly accurate passers in the league (again, when healthy) and the Jets’ offense has been built around those strengths. Introducing Favre into that mix was like mounting a giant 4 barrel American carburator on an engine built for fuel injection. So, through the first half of the season, I believe this has been a net loss in overall prowess.
And what’s interesting is that the offense seems to be really clicking now that Mangini has reigned in Favre. If you’ve watched the last few games, you’ll note he has thrown very few deep passes and they have gone back to their short-pass ball control game. It remains to be seen whether Favre’s big play ability, when utilized, will overshadow his tendency to throw INTs.
One area where I do believe he has improved the team is their Red Zone efficiency, especially inside the 10. To be able to force a hard strike into traffic is a weapon the Jets sorely missed with Pennington.
I’m Mith.
I agree Favre hasn’t been the biggest difference, although their ability to throw the ball certainly all over has certainly unclogged the boz and allowed the running game to prosper. And of course, the red zone.
Favre will make a difference when they play good offenses, because you will now have the ability to match them score for score.
The biggest thing that concerns me is that the Jets don’t utilize him where he is at his best. When they are passing they usually go shot gun. Favre is the best play-action passer in the NFL, and they seldom take advantage of it. Although they are starting to a bit.
The Raiders game was lost solely on their decision to never throw the ball more than two yards downfield. And their rookie tight end (who is a good player) tripping over the yardmarkers on a wide open big play in OT.
Oh, hi Mith. So I’m assuming you found my site from there, then? It seems like you’ve been commenting longer than I’ve been posting my stuff there.
Let me know if you’d like some help on building traffic. You make good arguments for your side and deserve to be read by more people.
That was a really ugly game for Favre. There were rumors at the time that his shoulder was hurt. Even though he stuck mostly with short passes he only threw 21 completions in 38 attempts. He also threw two interceptions, one in the 2nd quarter from the OAK 8 yd line that was caught by the defender in the end zone.
I think I started replying to your site right after you initially returned to the forum. Pretty sure I let you know who I was, though I think I did it at the Rotoguru thread you had posted in so maybe you missed the post.
Yeah if you have any tips for drawing more traffic I’m all ears.
Email sent from my conservatismtoday email address.
Thanks Scott
Looking for the game that the Jets don’t win with almost anyone else at QB? Oh, hi there.
Pennington also sees the field better than Favre and is one of the most consistantly accurate passers in the league (again, when healthy) and the Jets’ offense has been built around those strengths. Introducing Favre into that mix was like mounting a giant 4 barrel American carburator on an engine built for fuel injection.
You really believe Penny sees the field better than Favre? No way. Favre abuses defenders with his eyes – Pennington may appear to see the field better at times, because he’ll throw a ball away, whereas Favre sees the field just fine but says, “Screw it, my arm is 100 times stronger than Penny’s is and there are no better options and I can get the ball in there.” Sometimes it doesn’t work.
Favre will make a difference when they play good offenses, because you will now have the ability to match them score for score.
Bingo.
There’s no question that Pennington sees the field better than Farve – or at least better than Farve has shown since joining the Jets. Even last night, in his best and most complete game as a Jet, there were several plays where Favre simply didn’t see a nearby open man and went with a lesser option. I’m telling you that’s a real rarity with Chad Pannington. Pennington is also a better decision maker than Favre.
Before you dismiss me as a mark for Pennington, don’t think I discount his limitations. His weak arm can be a serious liability, both in certain game situations and in severely limiting overall game strategy. Having him under center allows defenses to cheat against the run. A weak-armed QB is far less effective in the red zone. He isn’t mobile (much less durable) enough to ever be considered a threat to run. And his fragility is ultimately why his jersey hangs in a locker room in Miami right now. But there is also a reason why, despite those liabilities, the Jets never had a losing season when Pennington was healthy enough to start at least 10 games. He’s easily the most cerebral QB I’ve watched.
Anyway, I do agree that yesterday was the first game this season with a Brett Favre stamp on it, the first win that, without Brett, almost certainly wouldn’t have been won. He’s not the only player we could say that about – solid play from Kris Jenkins, Darrelle Revis and Dustin Keller were also crucial. Without any of them, it’s probably a loss as well. I’ve been waiting for Favre to distinguish himself in a positive way and I’m glad to see it finally happen. It’s clear that he’s becomming more comfortable in the offense and that they’re getting used to him.
Just after the news broke of Farve coming to NY, a friend of mine (without looking at the schedule, I’m sure) said to not expect an A game from Favre until week 10 while he learned and became comfortable in the system. He was dead on.
I’ve always liked Pennington, too, so your clarifications make sense to me. As one of Favre’s biggest fans ever, I initially took it as a rip on him – which is just silly, I know, but you of all people know how it can be when you idolize someone.
BTW, now that he is on your team, you really need to get used to the correct spelling of his last name.
That total domination of the Cards defense is starting to look more and more impressive as the Cards keep marching on.
Favre, unlike Pennington, did have a couple losing years. I bet he wished he could’ve taken 7+ games off during those seasons like Chad did.
;)