This ball was on a rope and was the kind of pass Jets fans have not seen very often. Chad Pennington did not have the arm strength to make this throw and Kellen Clemens has not yet shown the recognition skills to spot an open receiver down field and deliver the ball with decisiveness.
Favre also dropped a nice touch pass to Brad Smith with a defender all over him. The play went for 29 yards but was called back due to penalty as well.
This was a great play by Smith who was one of the few offensive standouts. He used his 6-2 frame to establish position and did a nice job of fighting for the ball.
Smith also did a good job of setting up his blocks on a screen pass he took for 20 yards on the Jet’s second series. Chansi Stuckey, Alan Faneca and Brandon Moore provided the blocks.
Favre also did some nice things that typically go unnoticed during the course of the game. On the Jet’s first series he made a nice scramble to his right to avoid pressure and ran for a 10-yard gain and a first down. Favre, sensing the pressure, escaped the pocket as soon as he felt the play breaking down. This is one of those plays that come directly from his experience that younger QB’s just don’t make.
On his third series, Favre also made a nice play by checking down to his TE (Bubba Franks) for a modest gain when he saw a CB bearing down on him on a blitz. Good decision making by Favre who avoided a negative play and took what the defense was giving him.
One of the primary reasons the Jets had such bad field position was the punting of Jeff Feagles who consistently pinned the Jets inside their own 20 in the first half.
The Jet’s offensive line gave Favre good protection throughout the first half. The Justin Tuck sack was Tony Richardson’s fault who did not chip Tuck sufficiently before getting into his pass pattern. The Umenyiora sack was on D’Brickashaw Ferguson who otherwise did a good job holding off the Giant’s sack leader.
The offensive line really struggled in the run game. There weren’t a lot of creases for Thomas Jones to run through but this is a part of the Jet’s game that is still a work in progress. Through three preseason games, the starting offensive line has yet to come together as a unit.
Jets fans should still be patient with this unit as offensive line chemistry is one of the slowest components to come around. Jones has also not looked very good so far. Like last year when he started slowly, he is not displaying much change of direction and elusiveness. He is running very straight line and not making defenders miss. Jones and the offensive line should get better as the season progresses.
As in most preseason games, the offensive play calling was pretty vanilla. The Jets ran a number of screens (a few to Leon Washington), dump offs to RB’s and short out patterns to RB’s, WR’s and TE’s off of pre-snap motion. There were not a lot of plays down the field from the starting unit, which can be expected during preseason.
One of the real standouts on the Jet’s offensive line this preseason is Brandon Moore who has been one of the more consistent blockers on the entire unit. Moore shows good power in the running game, usually getting movement on his side. He is also one of the better pass blockers and consistently sustains his blocks. Look for the Jets to run between him and Mangold a lot this season.
Dustin Keller saw a great deal of action again. He led the Jets in receiving with 3 catches for 43 yards and a 14.3 yard average and stayed on the field after the starters had come out. Keller has logged significant minutes and his # of catches and yards/catch have gone up each week.
Jesse Chatman got a lot of carries this game and made a nice statement in his bid for the Jet’s last RB spot. Chatman ran hard and showed some nice wiggle. You can feel the energy he brings to the offense when he is in there.
Brett Ratliff continued to impress the coaching staff. Despite throwing an INT when he was under pressure, he showed good mental toughness by shaking off the bad play and leading the offense down the field for the game-winning TD on the next drive.
Ratliff threw two passes right on the money on consecutive plays. The first, a strike to Jason Pociask for 27 yards over the middle and the second was 24-yard rope to Paul Raymond for the TD. Ratliff is playing with a lot of confidence and making Mangini’s decision on the back up QB spot a tough one.
On defense, the Jets played a solid all-around game. They were pretty stingy, did not give up many big plays and came up with some nice plays themselves to get off the field in critical spots.
Kris Jenkins was an absolute beast and at times, was unblockable. Jenkins could turn out to be the Jet’s best off-season acquisition. Despite getting double-teamed (and sometimes triple-teamed) he still found a way to make the play in the back field or disrupted it enough for others to clean it up.
Calvin Pace had a really good game as well. He put a nice spin move on David Diehl to get a key sack on Manning and then, later in the half, dropped Manning again. This time for a loss of 16 when the Giants were knocking on the door. Pace showed a nice bull rush and overpowered Diehl. Pace is showing a nice array of pass rush moves.
David Harris has impressive closing speed. On a missed block by Brandon Jacobs, Harris exploded through the middle of the Giant's line like he had been shot through a cannon and dropped Manning for the loss. Look for the Jets to use him consistently in blitz packages.
The Jets are also doing a better job of disguising their blitzes. Both Harris on his sack and Kerry Rhodes on his, did a nice job of delaying their blitz to avoid tipping off the offensive line. This will be really important since the Jet's 3-4 system relies heavily on bringing pressure from positions other than the defensive line.
Calvin Lowery had another nice game and is probably one game away from locking up the other starting CB job. He shows great awareness, toughness and football smarts. He made a nice play on a CB blitz and timed his jump perfectly to knock down an Eli Manning pass.
Lowery has great athleticism and instincts. He made a good read on a screen pass and was able to come up and make a nice tackle for a minimal gain.
The Jet’s secondary overall did a pretty nice job. The Jet’s 8 sacks on the night were caused, in large part, by the coverage in the defensive backfield. Manning was forced to hold the ball much longer than he would have liked and the completions he did make were nice throws through very tight windows.