Patriots know these Jets are no pushover
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – For crying out loud, if you think the New England Patriots were scuffling after their latest loss, how about the New York Jets?
After losing their fifth game in last six tries, Gang Green appears in chaos. Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez decided to read a bizarre post-game statement to reporters. The day after, rookie head coach Rex Ryan was in tears in his address to his team.
Add to this the woes of losing heralded defensive lineman Kris Jenkins and explosive third down back Leon Washington for the season, and you’ve got a 4-5 team on the edge of falling off a cliff when it comes to Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
A far, uh, cry from the club that physically whipped the Patriots 16-9 almost exactly two months ago.
“We’ve found different ways to lose,” said Jets coach Rex Ryan, who made light of his tear jerker with a box of tissues next to his podium microphone at his press conference a couple of days ago. “One week it’s been a defensive breakdown at the end of the game. One week we gave up three returns for touchdowns. One week we threw six interceptions.
“The thing that’s amazing to me is that we still had opportunities in every one of those games to win games. We’ve basically been beat on the last play of the game in four games. So, if people think we’re going to be pushovers, they have another thing coming.”
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick concurs.
“They’ve lost a couple of games here, but they’ve all come down to the last play,” he said. “They’ve been right there with everybody and had their chances, so I’m sure they’re frustrated with that. One or two plays here and there and you’re talking about a team that could have easily seven wins, maybe more than that, maybe eight.”
How much has the loss of Jenkins hurt? The Jets, like the Patriots, are in the middle of the pack against the rush (18th, 111.6 rushing yards allowed per game).
“We have good enough players inside,” Ryan said. “(Sione Pouha) is doing a great job in there and Howard Gren is doing a good job as well. So we’ve got some tough guys and obviously you can’t replace Kris. The type of player he is – there’s very few Kris Jenkins’ out there. I mean, he’s probably the best (defensive) tackle in football. We have guys that can play, so we have no excuses.”
What about Sanchez?
He’s looked much more like a rookie since his poised play vs. the Patriots, and has now thrown more picks (12) than TD passes (nine) and has a QB rating of 66.5.
His post-game meltdown last Sunday shows the whole deal of being a rookie QB in the media mayhem of New York is starting to get to him a bit.
“He’s had some great moments,” Ryan said, “but obviously he’s had some other times when you could say he’s played like a rookie or he played like other quarterbacks. I mean, Jay Cutler (of the Bears) threw five picks the other night. Things like that are going to happen. This guy is a great competitor, I think he can make all the throws, a very confident guy. He’s a leader. I just think he’s going to get better, you know?”
Indeed, the Jets players certainly can’t say Ryan doesn’t have confidence in them throughout all that’s gone on negatively the last few weeks.
Ryan’s breakdown proved that to them, they say.
“It just shows that he believes in us and he believes in this time,” Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said. “Right now, he just doesn’t believe that we’re putting 100 percent effort in to him, and that’s for him to see, and bring to us, and bring to life, and make us focus on that and make us work harder.”
“I’ll say this,” Ryan said. “We believe in each other. I know we believe in ourselves. We believe in each other and if that’s swagger or whatever – you know, we expect to win. That’s all I’m going to say.
“We expect to win every game. It hasn’t gone away in five of these last six weeks. But again, we are daring to be great.”
It’s a dare the Patriots are more than willing to take up this Sunday.
