Jets Go For 3 Straight in Tampa

As Ronnie from MTV’s “ Jersey Shore” would say the Jets “pounded out” another victory last week. Fortunately for the Jets it was against the Bills and not with Shnickehs so they escaped disease free. This Sunday the Jets look to build on two straight wins in Tampa against a one win Buccaneers team. There are people in the media marking this game as a potential let down for the Jets and they will have to show up on Sunday to avoid that fate.

Last week the Jets won by doing what they do best, namely putting the viewing public to sleep. The Jets banged out another snoozer, running the ball at a Gerhart-ian pace, notching up almost 250 yards on the ground. Even though the Jets were able to impose their will on the Bills defense with their rushing attack, they only scored one touchdown AND made a ton of mistakes on the offensive side of the ball. I probably would have noticed more problems, but I nodded out sometime in the second quarter. Braylon Edwards caught the Jets lone touchdown, but it failed to make up for the embarrassment he caused himself by letting a touchdown pass hit him in the face instead of the hands. What a trade. Then, to add injury to insult, the quote unquote Sanchise, dove head first making a first down instead of sliding causing Rex Ryan to call him a “knucklehead” and creating a story out of NOTHING.

Let me make a quick statement here about Sanchez and sliding. We all know Rex Ryan brought in retired catcher and Yankee Manager Joe Girardi to teach Mark Sanchez how to slide. When he didn’t slide Thursday night and ended up with a strained knee a couple of plays later it created a tiny controversy. As a Jet fan I’m all for Sanchez trying to get a first down, which he did, but I guess I have to side with Ryan on this one, because if that “knucklehead” can’t get a first down without dinging “a knee” as Al Michaels would call it then he should slide and avoid injury. The last couple of weeks Sanchez has looked pretty good. I know they are reining him in to a certain extent, but it is working and as we saw Thursday night Kellen Clemens playing will only boost the sack statistics of the other team. The guy spends more time on his back than the cast of “ Tool Academy” at a meet and greet with Tiger Woods.

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For the sake of the franchise and the Sanchise, I hope Sanchez is okay. To be honest I don’t care if this team makes the playoffs because they’re not going anywhere if they get in. Without Sanchez in the game, the level of intrigue would go down considerably even though it is pretty low already.

This Jets-Bucs game seems like a snoozefest. However, I will be watching in anticipation as Rex Ryan’s attack defense takes on a one win team with a rookie quarterback. The Bucs put up 469 yards of offense last week and yet only scored six points. Now that is pathetic. After losing Kris Jenkins for the season, the Jets defense struggled mightily, but the past couple of weeks have come on strong. Darrelle Revis pretty much cemented his all pro status the past two weeks and a matchup against Josh Freeman gives him an opportunity to increase his interception total.

This Sunday the Jets need to exert dominance for a third consecutive week in order to come away with another W. However, everything changes if Kellen Clemens is in the lineup. Oh God, please don’t let that happen.

The Prediction

Bucs 21

Jets 12

Let’s pray that I’m wrong

VIVA SANCHEZ!

By Daniel Rein
ProFootball-fans.com New York Jets Correspondent