Video: What's wrong with the Jets?

November, 23, 2009
Nov 23
8:18
PM ET
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By Tim Graham


Trent Dilfer talks about what the Jets need to do to turn things around.

Braylon Edwards still glad he's a Jet

November, 23, 2009
Nov 23
6:06
PM ET
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By Tim Graham
The New York Jets' season has gotten away from them, but at least they're not the Cleveland Browns.

[+] EnlargeBraylon Edwards
Jim McIsaac/Getty ImagesBraylon Edwards has had to endure a lot of losing this season.
Jets receiver Braylon Edwards arrived in a Week 5 trade with the Browns. He wasn't able to enjoy the atmosphere when the Jets started 3-0. He personally has gone 1-9 in his two stops this season.

"I think frustration lies in the fact that I know what is here," Edwards said. "I know what this team has. Coming from Cleveland, where -- I love those guys to death over there, the players -- but they are not a good team right now. They are not in a good situation.

"So leaving that situation, I knew what it was like to be in a bad situation. Coming here, I saw a team that was focused, playing well together, coached by a great man and have a lot of role players and coaches. There is a lot of positive energy in here."

The Browns lost all four of the games Edwards played in. The Jets have gone from a No. 5 position in ESPN's Power Rankings to losing five out of their six games since the trade.

Edwards has 17 receptions for 281 yards and two touchdowns for the Jets. The New England Patriots held him to one catch for 10 yards Sunday in Gillette Stadium. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez completed three times as many passes to Patriots cornerback Leigh Bodden.

"We have the potential to be a good team, but potential is nothing without reality," Edwards said. "We haven't met that potential since I've been here. We've been up and down and inconsistent. That is why we lose.

"What we have to do, it gets repetitive. I’ve been making this speech for five years for me. We have to find a way to come out and finish games. Start fast, maintain and then finish. We have to find a way to do that.

"It has to happen now. It had to happen last week, it didn’t. Who knows what will happen these next six games. We need to take it a game at a time. We have Carolina coming up and that’s our focus. We have to get it together somehow."

Sparano not crying for his Dolphins

November, 23, 2009
Nov 23
5:12
PM ET
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By Tim Graham
Everything broke right for the Miami Dolphins last year to help them pull off the greatest single-season turnaround in NFL history. Chad Pennington fell into their laps. They capitalized on a favorable schedule. They tied the NFL record for fewest turnovers.

Perhaps most importantly, they avoided serious injuries.

This year has been an uphill battle from the start. Miami admirably has ground its way to a 5-5 record to stoke playoff hopes and could have a winning record with a victory Sunday over the Buffalo Bills.

But mounting injuries keep dousing the mood.

The Dolphins have placed another captain on injured reserve, losing nose tackle Jason Ferguson with a torn quadriceps. They previously lost Pennington to a shoulder injury, star running back Ronnie Brown to a broken foot and top cornerback Will Allen to a knee injury.

"Nobody is going to feel sorry for you, and if you start feeling sorry for yourself you are going to be on the wrong end of a real good butt kicking," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. "We are not going to do that."

Other starters who have missed games include tight end Anthony Fasano, left guard Justin Smiley, outside linebacker Joey Porter and inside linebacker Channing Crowder.

Center Jake Grove and defensive tackle Paul Soliai also are hurt but could play Sunday.

"We are in a situation right now where we fought our tails off to put ourselves in the best situation that we can be in at this time," Sparano said. "We got some pretty important games coming up. So we are getting ready for Buffalo."

The Dolphins placed only three starters on injured reserve last year. Rookie right guard Donald Thomas missed 15 games, receiver Greg Camarillo missed five and Smiley missed four.

Do you hear what I hear?

November, 23, 2009
Nov 23
1:39
PM ET
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By Tim Graham

Jim Rogash/Getty ImagesGive us your best caption for this Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan postgame handshake.
So much has changed in two months.

In Week 2, the New York Jets were feeling pretty good about themselves for knocking off the New England Patriots. They'd backed up rookie head coach Rex Ryan's bravado, underscoring his words of ring-smooching defiance.

There was little for Ryan and his boys to gloat about after Sundays rematch in Gillette Stadium.

Take a look at the above photo and provide your best caption.

Keep it clean, but more importantly, bring the funny.

Dolphins, Jets rooting for Titans tonight

November, 23, 2009
Nov 23
10:48
AM ET
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By Tim Graham
If you're a Miami Dolphins or New York Jets fan and still harbor hopes your team can make the playoffs, you should be rooting for the Tennessee Titans to knock off the Houston Texans on Monday night.

The Titans are creeping up from behind in the standings, but the Dolphins and Jets desperately need some teams ahead of them to fall back in the pack, and the Texans are one of those.

A Texans loss would move the Dolphins up a spot to ninth in the AFC standings and put them one game behind three teams -- instead of four -- that are tied for the conference's fifth-best record.

Below is an AFC snapshot entering Monday night. Teams are listed by overall record (with division and conference records). The No. 1 tiebreaker divisional and conference standings is head-to-head results, when applicable. After that, ties are broken within the division-by-division record and for the wild card by conference record.

As mentioned before on this blog, don't just look at the records and how many games back a team is. Just as significant is the number of teams it must leapfrog to get into sixth place.

1. Indianapolis Colts 10-0 (3-0, 6-0)
2. Cincinnati Bengals 7-3 (5-0, 5-3)
3. San Diego Chargers 7-3 (4-1, 5-3)
4. New England Patriots 7-3 (3-1, 5-3)
5. Jacksonville Jaguars 6-4 (2-2, 5-2)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers 6-4 (1-2, 4-3)
7. Denver Broncos 6-4 (2-1, 5-3)
8. Houston Texans 5-4 (1-2, 4-3)
9. Baltimore Ravens 5-5 (2-2, 5-4)
10. Miami Dolphins 5-5 (3-1, 3-3)
11. New York Jets 4-6 (1-4, 4-5)
12. Tennessee Titans 3-6 (1-3, 2-6)

Video: Remembering Flutie's big play

November, 23, 2009
Nov 23
10:28
AM ET
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By Tim Graham

The moment didn't occur in an NFL game, but it involved one of the most recognizable players in Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots history. Doug Flutie sits down with Brent Musburger to relive one of college football's legendary plays: the Hail Mary touchdown pass in Miami that won Flutie the Heisman Trophy.

The interview is presented in two parts, with more reminiscing from Flutie here.

Wood injury another awful blow to Bills

November, 23, 2009
Nov 23
7:47
AM ET
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By Tim Graham
The Buffalo Bills are falling apart.

But this post isn't about their fired head coach, bad quarterbacking or personnel blunders.

Their latest bad news is wicked happenstance.

Wood
Rookie guard Eric Wood, drafted with the 28th overall pick acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles for Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, suffered a broken left leg in the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Wood's gruesome compound fracture was reminiscent of how Lawrence Taylor ended Joe Theismann's career.

Wood was focused on trying to block Jaguars defensive end Derrick Harvey from tackling Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Jaguars defensive tackle Montavious Stanley was charging from Fitzpatrick's left. Stanley tried to wrap up Fitzpatrick, but his momentum sent him crashing into the unsuspecting Wood.

The impact buckled Wood's lower leg in a place that doesn't bend. He underwent surgery in a Jacksonville hospital and didn't return to Buffalo with the team.

Buffalo's offensive line opened the season inexperienced and loaded with question marks. The tackle positions have been decimated by injuries, but the interior trio -- center Geoff Hangartner and guards Andy Levitre and Wood -- had started every game.

Levitre started Sunday's game at left tackle for the injured Demetrius Bell, with reserve Seth McKinney playing in Levitre's usual left guard spot. McKinney suffered a torn meniscus Sunday. That forced Levitre back to guard and jumbled the line even more.

For the second time this year, they finished the game with no O-line backups.

Welker's day one for the books

November, 22, 2009
Nov 22
11:40
PM ET
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By Tim Graham
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots have had some great receivers over the years. Randy Moss, Troy Brown, Terry Glenn, Irving Fryar and Stanley Morgan all were more than capable of producing a monster game.

[+] EnlargeWes Welker
Jim Rogash/Getty ImagesThe Patriots' Wes Welker set career highs with 15 receptions for 192 yards.
None of them ever had a game quite like Wes Welker did Sunday.

The gritty slot receiver was dominant in helping the Patriots thump the New York Jets 31-14 in Gillette Stadium.

With Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis handling Moss, Welker had 15 receptions (club record in a non-overtime game) for 192 yards (third in team history). Welker also ran for 11 yards, making him just the sixth NFL player since 1990 to notch at least 15 receptions and 200 yards from scrimmage in a game.

"He's like the Energizer bunny," Revis said. "He keeps on going and going, even if he gets knocked down. That's what we wanted to focus on this week, getting up in his face and making it hard for him. He's shifty in there. He's very fast. He does it week by week."

Brown holds the franchise record with 16 receptions, but that was in an overtime game and he didn't have as many yards as Welker did Sunday. Glenn had the two best days in yardage with games of 214 and 193 yards.

ESPN Stats & Information tracked every play and determined 10 of Welker's catches came across the middle for 116 yards, with 32 yards coming after the catch. That's the highest YAC total he's had in the middle of the field this year.

"He played big, and he always does," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. "He's a great player, and he's working the middle of the field, and when the coverage goes to Randy, Wes has some opportunities. He played a great game. What a performance."

Sanchise putting Jets in default

November, 22, 2009
Nov 22
11:25
PM ET
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By Tim Graham
Mark SanchezAP Photo/Charles KrupaNew England picked off four of Mark Sanchez's passes. Sanchez also lost a fumble.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New York Jets squeezed tears out of their coach, but they couldn't squeeze production out of their rookie quarterback.

A quick scan of the box score will suggest the reason the New England Patriots won Sunday was Wes Welker's sublime performance. Maybe your eye will pick up Tom Brady's numbers, or the gargantuan discrepancy in first downs, total yards or time of possession.

But the problem that doomed the Jets, what eliminated any chance they had of winning in Gillette Stadium, sweeping the season series and keeping their playoff hopes from flatlining was Mark Sanchez.

What a donkey performance Sanchez turned in. He threw four interceptions. He committed three turnovers -- two picks and a fumble -- in the fourth quarter alone.

The Patriots converted Sanchez's giveaways into two touchdowns and a field goal. They won 31-14.

Patriots cornerback Leigh Bodden intercepted Sanchez three times, returning the first one 53 yards for a touchdown about nine minutes into the game. The play cast a pall over the rest of the game, and aside from a brief stretch in the third quarter where Sanchez appeared to collect himself, the Jets had no legitimate shot.

"They scored 17 points off of four turnovers by the quarterback, and that's how we lose," Sanchez said.

The Jets are 4-6, three games behind the Patriots and one game better than the last-place Buffalo Bills in the AFC East.

The tone surrounding the Jets' season has gone from inspiring to depressing, and their quarterback's performances have been corollary. He played like a veteran in the first few games yet has seemingly regressed.

After the game, Sanchez could be heard softly singing a song to himself as he buttoned up his dress shirt at his locker stall.

And maybe Jets coach Rex Ryan was whistling in the graveyard when he insisted he won't consider inserting veteran backup Kellen Clemens to give the rookie a break from what has turned into an unremitting series of disheartening displays.

"I don't think he's going to get any better sitting on the sideline," Ryan said of this year's fifth-overall draft pick. "Without question, he made a lot of mistakes today. There were some other guys that made a lot of mistakes as well. But he's got to learn from them.

"You can visualize all you want, watch tape and all that kind of stuff, carry a clipboard. But unless you get on the field, you're not going to get any better."

Sanchez has committed at least four turnovers three times this year.

He threw three interceptions (one for a touchdown) and lost a fumble (for a touchdown) in a 14-point loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 4. He threw five interceptions in a sudden-death loss to the Buffalo Bills in Week 6.

Over the seven-game stretch in which the Jets have won one measly game and crumbled from Super Bowl contenders to AFC flotsam, Sanchez has thrown 14 interceptions and lost two fumbles.

That's more giveaways than a feel-good Oprah show. Of course, she leaves her audience giddy. Sanchez makes Jets fans queasy.

"I just tell him to pick his head up and keep playing football," Jets fullback Tony Richardson said, "because, obviously, he is very talented and can help this football team win.

"We are going to follow him 100 percent because he is the leader of this football team. When we watch the film, all of us could have done something to help win this ballgame. It's not just him."

Sanchez didn't have many answers Sunday. He said the first two interceptions were proper reads, but bad throws. He said the last two were the result of trying to do too much on plays that didn't work.

"Sometimes you just need to say 'Uncle' and end the play and be smart with the football," Sanchez said.

But he claimed he was prepared, said he was coming off his best practice week all year and threw only one incomplete pass Friday.

"I was feeling good about the gameplan," Sanchez said. "I knew it frontwards and backwards. But when you miss, a great defense like this will make you pay, and when you get down and try to create too much then they'll make you pay again.

"I've just got to progress and play smarter and not put the ball at risk."

Progress has been undetectable to anyone outside the organization.

"Would I say he's regressed? It's easy to say that when you compare to Week 2, but I think he's getting better," Ryan said.

Sanchez managed the Jets to a victory the first time they played the Patriots. He completed 14 of 22 attempts for 163 yards and one touchdown with zero interceptions at the Meadowlands in Week 2. He posted a 101.1 passer rating.

On Sunday, he was 8 of 21 for 136 yards and one touchdown -- a gorgeous, arcing 29-yard throw to Jerricho Cotchery. But those four interceptions left Sanchez with a 37.1 passer rating. His first half stat line was atrocious: 2 of 9 for 15 yards and two interceptions for a 0.0 rating.

"I'm learning a lot," Sanchez said. "It's hard to say by the stats that 'This kid's really improving,' but ... I've just got to take it one game at a time and then at the end of the season just look back at my performances and how I'm going to improve for next year."

Ryan admitted after the game he, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh might have to reassess their approach with Sanchez.

"Obviously, we've got to look at what we're asking him to do," Ryan said. "We've got to look in the mirror and see what we can do to help this guy.

"He's got all the tools. I think everybody sees that. We've just got to be patient with him. I think he's going to be an outstanding quarterback. I don't believe he's regressed to point where I would even consider ever benching him. He's our quarterback for the future, and he's our quarterback now."

Despite TD, Revis wins rematch with Moss

November, 22, 2009
Nov 22
9:06
PM ET
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By Tim Graham
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- With 30 seconds left in the game and ahead by 17 points, the New England Patriots tried to deliver a sucker punch.


AP Photo/Charles KrupaAside from a 4-yard touchdown grab, Bills cornerback Darrelle Revis was successful in defending Patriots receiver Randy Moss.
Tom Brady loaded up and fired a bomb toward Randy Moss down the left sideline. The intention was clear. They wanted to sting New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis.

Revis, as he had throughout the game, was in Moss' back pocket. The pass fell incomplete.

"We know the Patriots don't quit," Revis said with a laugh. "They want to keep on adding points up on the board. I knew it. I was ready to go. It's just a play, and I did my job on that play."

The Patriots won Sunday's game 31-14 in Gillette Stadium, but Revis won the hotly anticipated rematch with Moss.

In Week 2, Revis limited Moss to four catches for 24 yards at the Meadowlands. Moss made some dismissive comments afterward about Revis having coverage help. Revis insisted he stopped Moss one-on-one. Moss on Friday said Revis better put up or shut up.

Brady targeted Moss 11 times Sunday. Moss caught four passes for 28 yards and was called for an offensive pass interference penalty with Revis guarding him.

"Randy is a great receiver," Revis said. "I give him a lot of respect. When me and him battle, it's great battles."

Moss did beat Revis for a touchdown on a nearly indefensible 4-yard timing pattern in the first quarter and caught a 6-yard pass with cornerback Drew Coleman covering.

"Revis did a great job on Randy Moss, just like he did the last time," Jets coach Rex Ryan said. "That's one guy that actually won his battle."

The Patriots tried to surprise Revis with a flea-flicker early in the first quarter. Revis didn't bite. That pass also hit the ground.

"Moss tried to catch me sleeping," Revis said. "That's football. They bring the best out in you. I enjoy the competition. I'm expecting the ball to come my way when you're covering a guy like Randy Moss."

Moss didn't speak to reporters afterward, but Ryan was quick to declare Revis the victor for that individual matchup, at least.

"We got the best corner in football," Ryan said. "He's going against Randy Moss. This is one heck of a football player in his own right, a Hall of Famer, the best vertical receiver in the game. Revis never flinched one bit.

"Out of 11 one-on-one matchups, we know we got that one. But we've got to worry about the other guys, too. It's unfortunate to have that kind of effort from Revis and come up short."
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