Pats roll over bitter "rival"
"I'm gonna have to start winning some of the matches to call it a rivalry!" -Andy Roddick on being asked whether he and Roger Federer had a rivalry that would last for years
I kept thinking of this quote every time the sports announcers and analysts tried to hype the Patriots-Jets game as a "bitter division rivalry." Since 2002, the Patriots have won 9 out of 11 matches against the Jets!
Though I admit many of those contest over the years have been reasonably close affairs, today's was far from it, as the Pats stomped the Jets 38-14 and pretty much dominated throughout. The game was hyped as a matching of wits between coaches Belichick and Mangini (aka "Mangenius"), but there didn't seem to be a ton of scheming or trickery--the Patriots just had more talented players.
Thoughts from the game:
-Randy Moss did not disappoint. The Pats took their time, gashing the Jets with the run until they got one-on-one matchups on the outside, then hit Moss for big plays. Though the 3rd quarter catch where Moss pulled away from 3 defenders has made all the highlight shows today, it was his second catch down the right sideline that caught my eye. I have not seen the Patriots hit that play in several years, probably because they never had the tall, fast receivers to do it with. Amazing stuff...it will be interesting to see if he can dominate like that against a good defense.
-Ellis Hobbs has a nice 108-yard kickoff return for a TD. While it was a nice play, this likely means that sometime in the next few weeks, a cocky Hobbs is going to run one out of the end zone and get popped at the 10 yard line. I guess it was worth it tho.
-I was really surprised by the Jets' lack of blitzing. It seemed like the game plan was to fake the blitz and drop back in coverage a lot. This reminded me of the Pats strategy in the 2001 Super Bowl against the Rams and the 2003 AFC championship game against the Colts. This clearly didn't work against Brady, as he simply sat back in the pocket and waited for his guys to get open. When the Jets did choose to blitz, Brady read it and exploited it. Brady didn't look like he got touched all day.
-You gotta feel for Chad Pennington. Though he didn't really play that well, he certainly didn't deserve to hear the Jets crowd cheer his exit as he limped off the field with what looked like a badly twisted ankle. The crowd seemed happy to see QB-of-the-future Kellen Clemons enter the game, and to his credit, he didn't let the Patriots' pressure faze him too badly. But he certainly doesn't look like any sort of saviour for what ails the Jets offense.
(As I write this, Keith Olbermann on NBC is calling out Jets fans for this exact same thing. I'm going to have to reconsider my position here, as I don't really want to agree with Keith Olbermann on...well, anything).
-I'll agree with Blogman that the Jets O-line protection is going to be a serious problem this year, regardless of who's behind center...
-...but I'll disagree that the Jets did a good job against the Patriots running game. The Pats established the run early in the first quarter, forcing the Jets to commit more men to stop the run, opening up the passing game for Brady. Classic "run to set up the pass." And once they had the lead, the Pats ran all over the Jets to kill the clock in the 4th quarter. This was a Jets weakness last year, and it looks to be a problem this year as well. (Note: According to Pro Football Prospectus advanced metrics, the Jets actually had a worse run defense than the Colts in 2006).
-As Belichick says, it's only one game, and it doesn't really mean anything, so despite the score, the Pats have a long way to go if they are going to be any good. Hey, if the team buys into it, why shouldn't I?
3 Comments:
Rivalry - It's considered a bitter rivalry because of all the personnel and coaches going back and forth since Bill Parcells left the Patriots for the Jets. There wasn't much of a rivalry before then. Obviously recently the Patriots have had the Jets number, but does anyone really have a good record against New England over this span?
Pennington - I'll disagree here - he played pretty well in this game. He had no protection and no running game, and the drive for the second Jets TD was while he was gimping around on that bad ankle.
Jets run defense - This was definitely a weakness last year, and there was not much in a way of personnel changes to improve it for this year. Yes, New England was very successful with the run in the 4th quarter, but the game was pretty out of reach by that time. I was trying to find the stats by quarter, but just from memory it seemed like at the half, the Pats really hadn't done much on the ground.
In the first half, when it was 7-7, before the Patriots went up 14-7, I definitely had the feeling the Jets were lucky to be even close in the game at that time. At that point it was sort of a typical Patriots winning the time of possession and physical game yet somehow it not showing up on the scoreboard.
Well it didn't take long -- Selena Roberts of the NY Times calls out Mangini on the lack of protection for Pennington, and his call for a QB sneak after the leg injury in her column for Monday's Times.
In the column, she tries hard with references to "Mandubious" and "Mandevious."
(Times Select can be accessed for free if one has a .edu email address)
I'll soften my stance on Pennington, but the Jets run defense was clearly not having a good day. Patriots first drive included runs of 11, 4, 6, 6, 1, 13, and 2 yards.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/playbyplay?gameId=270909020&quarter=1
Jets tightened up a bit, but they likely committed more men to the run game, allowing the explosion in the passing game. And in the 4th quarter, the Jets knew the Pats were going to run, and couldn't stop it. Jets allowed the Patriots to run for 134 yards.
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