New York Jets
Marquee Matchups – Revis’ Rule Restated
After an absolutely spectacular start to the 2011 NFL season in which he brought the term shutdown corner brought back into relevance, Darrelle Revis experienced, by his own high standards, somewhat of a mid-season lull. Revis was still among the very best corners in the NFL during that stretch, but some receivers (principally Buffalo’s Stevie Johnson) at least made him look human.
This week Revis restated his supremacy as the top corner in the league by posting arguably his best performance of the entire season. Going up against one of the best and deepest receiver corps in the league and a quarterback playing some of the best football of his career in the shape of Eli Manning, he produced another astonishing game. Read the rest of this entry »
Re-Focused: Giants @ Jets, Week 16
The battle of the Big Apple in the New Meadowlands stadium (not Giants Stadium) saw the Jets get their playoff plans derailed in a major way by the Giants whose win officially eliminated the Philadelphia Eagles faint playoff hopes. The Giants themselves now win the NFC East with one final victory over the Cowboys, but the Jets require some major help to get in the back door of the dance.
The lead up to this game had been all about trash talk. Rex Ryan had typically been telling anybody that would listen that the Jets are the better side and Darrelle Revis got himself into a little war of words with the Giants receivers.
In the end the Giants are the team that won the bragging rights, but some Jets certainly held up their end of the bargain. Let’s check out who did what.
Three to Focus On: Giants @ Jets, Week 16
If the Giants and Jets were two of the worst teams in the league, this would still be an intriguing game because of the New York rivalry. Both of these teams are evenly matched and are right around average teams this year which makes the matchup even better. Throw in the fact that the winner greatly helps their playoff chances, while the loser greatly hurts theirs, and you have potentially one of the best games of the year.
The Jets have more momentum coming into this game as they have won three of their last four, while the Giants have lost five of their last six. Both had embarrassing losses last week to NFC East opponents with weaker records, so they are looking to redeem themselves. Whoever wins gets the bragging rights for four years, and here are the three matchups to help determine who gets to be the best team in New York.
Re-Focused: Jets @ Eagles, Week 15
Just when the Jets needed to step up and take their playoff destiny into their own hands they end up laying an egg and getting rolled by the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles for their part are still not eliminated from the playoffs, and actually don’t require that unreasonable a scenario in order to not only make the post-season but to win the NFC East.
As good as the Eagles looked in this game, and it was pretty good, the end result owed far more to the Jets and their performance than it did from the Eagles. So let’s take a quick look at what went so badly wrong for one team and so right for the other.
Three to Focus On: Jets @ Eagles, Week 15
This AFC East/NFC East showdown looked like a promising game at the beginning of the season. So much so that CBS elected to protect it, making it impossible for NBC to flex this contest to Sunday Night Football. Entering Week 15, though, this will certainly not be a premier matchup between two playoff teams, as the 5-8 Philadelphia Eagles are all but mathematically eliminated from the playoff race. The 8-5 New York Jets still have very realistic postseason dreams, but will need a victory in a hostile Philly environment to keep those hopes alive.
The Eagles are coming off a 26-10 win over the Miami Dolphins that was closer than the final score suggests, but a win nonetheless. They finally have their franchise QB Michael Vick back and will be looking to silence the fans and media clamoring for coach Andy Reid’s job with a win. The Jets are coming off a truly dominating 37-10 win over the hapless Kansas City Chiefs but have to be cautious here as the Eagles have been competitive in nearly all of their games, not to mention that four of New York’s losses have come on the road. Lets take a look at some key matchups in what should be an entertaining game.
Re-Focused: Chiefs @ Jets, Week 14
Could the New York Jets be peaking at just the right time again? They stormed to a 28-3 half time lead and coasted to a 37-10 win over the injury-hit Kansas City Chiefs for their third win in a row to grasp sole possession of the sixth seed in the AFC with three games remaining. The Jets – notoriously slow starters on offense – didn’t need any late-game heroics this week, as they drove for a touchdown on their opening possession for the second straight week and led throughout.
The win was marred slightly by Jim Leonhard’s season ending knee injury in the second quarter, although the Jets were able to regroup without him and still make some noise in the postseason when he suffered a broken leg at a similar point of last year, so they’ll be hoping history will repeat itself. For the Chiefs, any slim hopes they had of winning the AFC West died with this defeat.
Let’s recap some of the more notable performances:
Three to Focus on: Chiefs @ Jets, Week 14
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Both the Jets and Chiefs were playoff teams last year and now are on the outside looking in with just four weeks to go. The Chiefs have suffered a number of injuries as well while facing a more difficult schedule to get them to their 5-7 mark, but the Jets are simply suffering from poor play on offense.
Now the only two teams that won a Super Bowl while in the AFL square-off with the winner clinging on to their dim playoff hopes. The Jets could be eliminated from the division this week, and are currently sitting at a four way tie for the sixth seed. The Chiefs will likely only get in with a division victory, but they only have a chance if they win out, and they only have teams with winning records on the schedule. Here are the matchups to watch between two desperate teams.
Re-Focused: Jets @ Redskins, Week 13
For those of you who follow me on Twitter (and if you don’t why not?) you’ll remember I mentioned that I turned down analysis on the Broncos at Vikings game this week. I’d seen so much option the last few weeks I thought I’d somehow time-slipped a day and been watching games on Saturday by accident. Well after watching these two quarterbacks define a standard of ineptitude I thought neither of which was capable; I’m seeing Tim Tebow in a completely new light.
To be fair, the Jets won not just because Mark Sanchez was less awful than Rex Grossman (he would certainly have had to have gone some to be even on a par), but because their offensive line looked to be gelling for the first time this year and their defense yet again made up for their deficiencies rushing the passer with sound run defense and excellent coverage. Indeed, what looked like one of the Redskins’ major advantages in the encounter, their pass rush, floundered against the Jets’ offensive line, to the tune of only two hits and three hurries.
Three to Focus on: Jets @ Redskins, Week 13
The 6-5 New York Jets travel to the nation’s capital to take on the 4-7 Washington Redskins. Both field quarterbacks who are as likely to amaze as they are to horrify, and both are coming off close wins.
The Jets saved their postseason hopes with a comeback against the divisional rival Buffalo Bills, who were previously viewed as contenders themselves before falling into a losing streak. Meanwhile, the Redskins, despite being all but out of playoff contention, managed to beat the Seattle Seahawks and their infamous “12th man” home field advantage with a fourth-quarter rally.
The only meeting between these two teams for the next four years has several interesting storylines. Several of them are illustrated below, but it’s also worth noting that Washington CB DeAngelo Hall and Jets’ Head Coach Rex Ryan have a little bit of history. Read the rest of this entry »
Marquee Matchups: Escape from Revis Island
Ordinarily in our Marquee Matchups column we take a look at three of the more intriguing one-on-one matchups that the week’s action threw up. However, this week allowed us to review the matchup between Darrelle Revis and the man who earlier this season put up more yards in Revis’ coverage than any individual receiver has managed in the last four seasons against him, Stevie Johnson.
Back in that Week 9 encounter, Johnson amassed an impressive – for Revis’ coverage – 84 yards on three receptions. In the return game this week at the new Meadowlands Stadium, Johnson put up 75 yards … the second highest mark on Revis over the last four seasons. Read the rest of this entry »
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