Geno Smith who
started the game played well throwing some pinpoint passing. A couple of his
passes were dropped but playmaker Quincy Enunwa scored a touchdown on an
excellent run after the catch. Enunwa continues to impress not only as a
receiver but his blocking ability is excellent. Geno went out of the game after
he was sacked. He left for the locker room and will probably undergo an MRI.
Fitzpatrick entered the game and looked sharp also. He led the Jets on a drive
highlighted by a scoring run by Matt Forte.
Starting in
the first quarter, the Jets were in a punt situation and on the snap, Lac
Edwards never caught the ball as it went through his hands and the Ravens
pounced on it for a touchdown. This play, guaranteed was seen by every football
fan watching the one o’clock games. At this point every Jet fan watching the
game on television probably figured they could be more productive going outside
and raking leaves. The Ravens then got a field goal and were ahead 10-0 and
things seemed bleak knowing the Jets are not a come from behind team. But thank
the green Gods for Quincy Enunwa. On a short curl pass he showed real burst
breaking it for a 69-yard touchdown. I’ll say it again, Enunwa is our best
player on offense. The first
quarter ended with the Ravens ahead 10-7. One of the lowlights of the quarter
was a 53-yard pass completion to Mike Wallace covered by Buster Skrine with
help from Calvin Pryor. How Pryor did not knock the ball away is beyond belief.
The ball went right through his arms. For the Jets, Geno Smith was developing a
rhythm and it actually looked like
there was hope. There were drops by Charom Peake and Brandon Marshall. As
talented as Marshall is he seems pull up and stop his routes sometimes and
doesn’t extend his body to the ball. In the first quarter you could also see
that Matt Forte had a chance to have a good day. He ran with some
giddy up
hitting holes well.
The first play
of the second quarter was a microcosm of the Jets season so far. The Jets made
two great plays to end the first quarter highlighted on a sack by Sheldon
Richardson for a 9-yard loss. On that first play of the quarter on a 3rd
and 19, Flacco threw a 20-yard completion for a first down right in front of
Marcus Williams who later in the game would make up for this awful play. The
Ravens settled for a field goal. The Jets started a drive with Bilal Powell
running hard on a 3rd down for
9-yards. Unfortunately Geno Smith got
sacked 3 plays later and this is the play where he hurt his knee and he limped
to the sideline and then to the locker room.
The Ravens
were driving and for some reason on the Jets 42 with a 4th and 1,
the Ravens punted. This was a great break for the Jets and a horrible coaching
decision by the Ravens. At 4:34 in the 2nd quarter, Ryan Fitzpatrick
entered the game. On a 3rd and 5 he hit Peake who broke a tackle got
the 1st down to continue the drive. He then hit Brandon Marshall for
21-yards. Two plays later the Jets ran a near perfect reverse to Robby Anderson
for 30-yards. Anderson showed off
his break away speed. On the next play Fitzpatrick looked like the 2015 Fitz
setting up a perfect middle screen to Forte for a
13-yard touchdown pass. The Ravens ended the first half scoring with 44 yard field goal. This was the 3rd by kicker Justin Tucker who was excellent for the Ravens. He also had field goals of 49 and 50 yards. At half time the Jets were losing 16-14.
With 7:16 remaining in the 3rd quarter Buster Skrine intercepted a Flacco pass and returned it to the
Raven 3-yard line. Two plays later something happened that might have been the
most frustrating play of the year. With a 2nd and goal at the Raven
4, our Ivy League graduate got a delay of game penalty. I could not believe it!
Fitzpatrick must have missed his classes at Harvard on telling time. The Jets
had to settle for a field goal.
On the Ravens
next possession, Marcus Gilchrist intercepted Flacco again and the Jets had
excellent field position. On the 4th play of the drive this may have
been the biggest play of the game. At the Raven 6-yard line Forte took the hand
off and ran to the Raven 3-yard line but fumbled the ball. Tim Jerrigan picked
up the ball and began to run but Brandon Marshall stripped Jerrigan of the ball
and recovered the fumble and the Jets had a new set of downs. If by some
miracle the Jets make the playoffs, this is the play we have to look back on.
On 3rd down, Forte ran the ball in for a touchdown. This was the
last score of the game though there were nervous moments in the 4th
quarter. The best Jets offensive play of the 4th quarter was a
28-yard pass play to Robby Anderson. It was a very good pass and Anderson
jumped to make a fine grab in traffic.
The Jets
defense was outstanding. The Ravens could not run the ball. They had a total of
6-yards rushing which is unheard of in today’s game. The Jets secondary looked
confused in the first half but settled down and played solid in the second
half. Marcus Williams who let up a huge 1st half play made a nice
play knocking away a long pass. Kudos have to go out to linebacker Julian
Stanford (#51) a Wagner graduate by way of Bloomfield Connecticut who had 6
tackles. He was filling in an already thin linebacker group.
It is tough
watching your team make two huge special team mistakes, the fumbled snap and
then a blocked field goal. A win is a win and the Jets needed this one bad.
As injuries mount up we’ll see what type of character the Jets have. If Geno
Smith is healthy, I’d start him again. He looked good but still looks lost when
pressured and has to turn his back to get away from it. His uncertainty about
what to do and which way to run helped cause his injury. We’ll give him a
little slack because this was his first game in a while and his passes were
sharp. Start Geno but have a short leash. I’d expect the Jets to activate 3
quarterbacks in Cleveland so look for a dressed Bryce Petty.
Green Tidbits:
….Had to
be one of the dumbest things I ever heard not playing Bilal Powell when Geno
went down because he is our emergency QB. Talk about coaching scared….Jets TD
drive with Anderson reverse was the best series called by Gailey this
year….Please remove the shuffle pass from our playbook….Enunwa had another
great block on one of Fotre’s TD runs….Enunwa is our best offensive player and
Sheldon Richardson is our best defensive player….I confess, when Jets were down
10-0, I was about to give up….Punter Loc Edwards may have thought he was back
in Australia playing soccer and wasn’t aloud to use his hands….It seemed like
it was more but the Ravens were only 3-14 on 3rd down plays….Ravens
coach Jim Harbaugh has seen enough of Met Life Stadium this year….On punt
return by J. Marshall in 1st quarter it looked like his uniform was
coming apart like a ball of yarn….Twice Steve McLendon pushed the center right
into Joe Flacco….Linebacker Victor Ochi from Stony Brook by way of the Bronx
was activated and played some. He is a kid you want to root for….
@GreenRewind
This weeks newsletter is sponsored by Amazon Prime Instant video and Marty Schupak's sports instructional videos. Always free on Amazon Prime!
@GreenRewind
This weeks newsletter is sponsored by Amazon Prime Instant video and Marty Schupak's sports instructional videos. Always free on Amazon Prime!
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