Jets Run To Daylight!

"Run To Daylight"
            -Vince Lombardi

In a game that started out as a typical “Here we go again” for Jet fans, turned out to be a complete 34-16 victory that was highlighted by big plays. Overcoming an early fumble by Bilal Powell that the Broncos turned into a touchdown, along with a missed chip shot field goal by Jason Myers, running back Isaiah Crowell did a fine impersonation of Barry Sanders rushing for 219 yards which is a new Jet record. Bilal Powell added 99 rushing yards himself. Rookie Sam Darnold (10-22, 198 yds. 3TDs, 1 INT) showed why he has a chance to become something special in this league. His three TD passes were all terrific and he showed a ton of pocket presence as the game moved on. The Jets had 512 yards in total offense. The Jets offensive line was opening up holes big enough for my Ford Edge to fit through. On defense Leonard Williams was a force. Avery Williamson continues to defy why we never heard of this guy before? All he did was fill holes and make tackles. I thought the Jets secondary did an excellent job. With Trumaine Johnson out for the game and Buster Skrine leaving, the patchwork secondary was surprisingly competitive. The stats will show Denver had 378 yards passing yards but a ton of those came in garbage time in the 4th quarter when the Jets were giving up the underneath passes. The Jets have to take everything from today and do the same thing against the Colts next Sunday. 

Offense
Maybe Robby Anderson had his off season arrests on his mind the first four games of the year. This week the NFL said he would not be suspended and he celebrated in a big way. His two touchdown passes were a thing of beauty and he finished with 3 receptions for 123 yards. What I also liked about Anderson was on Isaiah Crowell’s 77 yard touchdown run, both Anderson and Terrelle Pryor were way down field trying to block for him. Pryor’s touchdown catch was a spectacular 20 yard one hand reception. For some reason he has not been utilized as much as I’d like. He will run lazy patterns at times but he is an incredible athlete. If somehow Jeremy Bates could ever motivate him, I would give him more repetitions than Jermaine Kearse. To date Pryor’s stats are: 
8 receptions, 158 yards, 19.8 yards per reception, 1 TD. Sam Darnold spread the ball around today hitting 7 different receivers with only 1 reception going to a running back (Crowell). Unfortunately Darnold missed Quincy Enunwa wide open early in the game. The usual sure handed Enunwa dropped a couple of passes and ended up without a catch. But on one particular play, Darnold missed Enunwa in the end zone who would have caught the pass for a TD if the defender didn’t slow him up by holding his jersey. It was an obvious pass interference call that was missed. The ref also missed another questionable pass interference call on Jermaine Kearse who was knocked down. The Jets offensive line needs to continue what they did today. The only concerning items were the high snaps by center Spencer Long and maybe a couple of Sam Darnold’s passes that got tipped. But today it was the Isaiah Crowell show. On his 77 yard run two of his cuts left a couple of Broncos on their tushies. Whenever the Jet line gave him some daylight, he made the best of it. As Green Rewind reader Rob August texted me during the game, “Who are those guys wearing Jet uniforms today?”

Defense
Throw out the stats. The defense played well today. Early in the game they lacked a pass rush but that came on stronger and stronger as the game went on. Leonard Williams and Avery Williamson led the way. The secondary played outstanding with kudos going to Morris Claiborne who should have had an interception. Jamal Adams got caught on a couple of plays but he was very active. Parry Nickerson was picked on for a bit and after being somewhat abused for series, he held his own. Nickerson is incredibly quick and I’d give him more and more playing time. He needs to play with more discipline but I didn’t miss Trumaine Johnson at all. Claiborne, Adams, Nickerson, Marcus Maye and Williamson all had at least 5 solo tackles. Marcus Maye had a 104 yard interception return but never made it into the end zone. This one has got to be up there with New York Jet historical lore.

Green Tidbits
…..Marcus Maye just caught his breadth and is heading into the Jets locker room…..Claiborne drops a sure INT. It seems every week our secondary has butter fingers. Time for extra reps with the Jugs machine and the tip drill……Josh McCown seems like he is having fun on the sidelines. Hope he is game ready if Jets need him…..The good news is the Colts injury report is long. Very long. The bad news is they have 10 days to prepare for the Jets….Wish I knew when TE Neal Sterling will be cleared to play. Blocking tight end Eric Tomlinson is being thrown to more and more. And I like it!…..My rookie favorite LB Frankie Luvu is back and he made 2 solo tackles today. Luvu and DE Henry Anderson may become 2 of GM Mike Maacagnan’s best moves…..Sam's QB sneaks worked.....We can all relax, Marcus Maye just made it to the Jets locker room…..

Special Teams
Whatever the Jets are feeding Andre Roberts keep doing it. He is becoming a legitimate threat returning punts every time he touches the ball. What a breath of fresh air having someone who doesn’t call for a fair catch on every punt. He kept his feet moving and had some great moves on his 51 yard return. Lachlan Edwards continues to punt well and despite missing an early field goal, Jason Myers did a good job. At this point I would not let Trenton Cannon near the field on punts. He is a disaster waiting to happen.

What The Jet Scribes Are Saying
Manish Mehta, NY Daily News
The Jets pulled off a marvelous magic act Sunday that surely left some armchair quarterbacks befuddled, bewildered and bemused: Maybe this team isn’t led by a bunch of clueless guys after all. The Jets punctuated a week filled with a mountain of doubt and criticism with an offensive eruption in a 34-16 rout of the Broncos.Snapping a three-game losing streak must have been a miracle. After all, the charlatans already concluded that Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates weren’t fit to coach Pop Warner, let alone a professional outfit.The truth, of course, is that Bowles, Bates and the rest of the guys paid to coach these players are plenty good enough to lead the Jets in the right direction. Gang Green’s second win of the season was further evidence of what this team could become… given time…..Bowles’ defense atoned for its embarrassing display last week in Jacksonville by flummoxing Case Keenum until garbage time. On a day when the Jets were without defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers due to illness, Bowles had a brilliant plan to neutralize Denver…..“(It was) the same type of preparation that we had for this week is what we had for Detroit,” linebacker Darron Lee said. “We had a little bit of adversity during that three-game stretch. It was a good learning experience. I’m glad it happened early for us. But now we have… a solid foundation of how this is supposed to look. We’re looking to build on it.”How could that be? Weren’t the Jets supposed to be led by a bunch of bums? “We’re capable of winning a lot of games,” Darnold said.
It’s not always going to be this easy, but know this: The Jets have some smart people leading the way.

Brian Costello, NY Post
The Jets’ defensive players took the field Sunday with defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers on their minds.
Rodgers is dealing with an illness that coach Todd Bowles described as “serious” and it caused Rodgers to miss Sunday’s 34-16 win over the Broncos. Many Jets players said they were playing for Rodgers and several of them had texted with him before the game. “When we found out, it definitely hit home,” linebacker Darron Lee said. “At the end of the day, for all of our young careers, he’s always believed in us. We always want him here. You obviously want to make your teammates proud and your coaches proud. He’s here in spirit. We know he’s going to fight through. We definitely got this win for him.” The Jets’ defense played well as it honored Rodgers. The unit sacked Case Keenum four times and did not let the Broncos get into a rhythm until the fourth quarter, when the game was over. Bowles called the defensive plays, saying, “It was hard.”…..It was the first time in franchise history the Jets had a rushing touchdown of 75 yards or more and a touchdown pass of 75 yards or more. It was the sixth time since the merger it has happened in the NFL and the first since the Seahawks did it in 2014.