Jets 27, Bills 11: Three Good and Three Bad

As usual, solid post DJ. However, where is play-calling on the bad list? I know you only can list three bad things, and there were about 7 that come to mind, but play-calling to me was a big factor in the loss. Especially once we actually got into a rhythm, and could have scored a couple of times (at the end of the first half, and in the second half). Drives stalled because of strange play-calls, and not opening up the playbook. As you mentioned, Fitz had time to throw for most of the day, so they could have probably opened up the passing game a little more than they did.

there was good?…wow I didn’t see that…

It sure looked like it was their first time..

More than a big time TE. If you look at the difference in why teams win games, it comes down to big plays a lot of the time. Gamebreakers that can make huge plays to allow their team to win. The Jets have Santonio Holmes, and he showed his abilities even with the limited throws that came his way. That TD catch was unbelievable.

Look at the Lions, Ravens, Bengals, Texans, etc. Guys like Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, AJ Green, and Andre Johnson make huge plays that on many occasions are enough to get the team a win.

Stevie Johnson is very good. But we need another guy. Nelson should be on this team a long time. But he’s a possession receiver. We need speed, and athleticism. Donald Jones and Naaman Roosevelt are not going to do it for us.

I hope we draft a WR high next year.

Non-existent. We used to be one of the best in punt and kick returns. Now we don’t get past the 20 on KR, and we never have a punt return over 10 yards. This needs some major improvement. Especially with talented guys like Smith and Spiller on this team.

I would like to see Chandler sent out as a receiver keeping the back in to block more it seemed the Jets could not match up with his size. I also think our recievers need to watch tape of the Giants receivesr to learn better positioning to make the catch or get more pass interferences called. I am amazed in at least 4 games the team we play gets the PI called and either just prior to or after the same thing happens to our receiver and nothing gets called. It ends drives. I also don’t like taking the back out on short yardage cause it allows the D to play pass only unless Fitz runs. Where was the wildcat? I am sure Smith would have liked to make a few plays out of that formation against his old mates.

not for us.

Yds/carry in itself means little. If they ran 35 times, it means they were being effective running. Running that many times means that they felt they could push the pile and wear the defense down and then strike later. It also opens up play action.

I don’t understand how this team is built to win. I still think this is 2008 redux. We beat up on the easy teams, win a couple of nail-biters and lose a couple of nail-biters and think we are just a player or two away. When we are in fact a less than average team who needs good breaks to win.

There were way too many runs right up the gut, that didn’t work at all. Gailey called a slow developing run on 3rd (or maybe 4th) and short early in the game that was easily stuffed. With the Jets bunching the interior in obvious run situations, I don’t know why there weren’t more outside runs or quick throws behind those bunches. The calls were just so predictable with little chance of success barring Freddie busting through a small crevice or breaking some tackles. We needed more out of Chan’s calls. Dial up some creativity if the simplistic stuff isn’t working…at least try something different, right?

It’s painfully obvious that this offense needs more playmakers, especially at WR. There’s no deep threat (Jones isn’t one) and nobody to stretch a defense. On the deep throws yesterday, which was nice to see again at least, only Stevie had any sort of separation. Jones was blanketed all day long, per usual. Fitz’s inaccuracy deep doesn’t help, but neither does the lack of separations.

I agree that Fitz looked confused and uncomfortable all game long. I don’t know if his chest/ribs were bothering him, but he just didn’t look right out there. It may be due solely to the Jets and the lack of open receivers, but he needs to be a whole lot better.

So what’s the plan with Brad Smith? We’re halfway through the season and all we’ve seen are a handful of Wildcat snaps and tentative kick returning at roughly 20 yards a pop. They gave him a nice contract and there still doesn’t seem to be any semblance of a plan to use him consistently. They already have a player in Spiller that they heavily invested in and wasn’t good enough to produce much…is Smith another player like this now? It may be time to get Spiller the kick returns at this point, IMO.

Speaking of Spiller, the team just continues to use him less and less. Here’s his offensive touch total by game this year: 6, 5, 2, 4, 4, 5, 2, 2. I don’t remember him getting any targets in the passing game yesterday and he only received the carries when Jackson was banged up. It was no surprise he fumbled when he got hit on his first carry. I’m not advocating more touches for Spiller because I continue to believe he’s a bad player, but the usage of Smith/Spiller, two guys that were brought in to inject life in an offense that still needs some playmakers, is just alarming. So far, both look like wasted additions especially when the team could have simply added more traditional players (Ryan Mathews, Dez Bryant, so on so forth). If the team was going to add gimmicky players, at least use them!

I have a feeling this game starts a major slide. With three roadies coming up, the team needs to regroup quickly and start playing good football again. They are already in big trouble with this loss having games in NE and NY still, along with the AFC North continuing to chug along. It’s looking more and more likely that this team will need to finish 6-2 to have a legit shot at the playoffs. A loss in Dallas Sunday makes it extremely difficult to envision any scenario with the Bills in the playoffs. It’s a must-win game and the team needs to come to play.

But Chan killed his team with that stupid dive out of the challeneg, the Jets had everyone including the kitchen sink up on the line. Chan or Fitz need to make sure there is an option to get the heck out of that type of situation. The Bills D I felt gave a better than good effort against a team that wanted to dominate them. But I agree DJ, we need to make our team into something that can beat the Jets, once we do that, we can start being serious about playoff talk.

Chan Gailey’s offense had more success running with tight ends on the field, particularly when Lee Smith and Scott Chandler played together. Nix and Gailey need to re-think this position. Chandler has been good and Smith holds promise, but both are probably better reserves than starters.

I am confused…. Does this mean that because we did better with those guys on the field, they aren’t good enough? I mean, last time I checked (two seconds ago) CHANDLER LEADS THE LEAGUE in TDs for a TE. I don’t understand how this means that he isn’t a starting caliber TE, or that he should be a reserve. That makes ZERO sense to me. I realize you are speaking to “the run game” but there are plenty of NFL offenses that feature a pass catching TE who is only ok or average in run fits… but the fact they can score in the redzone or that they can get that clutch third down reception, surely offsets the fact that they may not offset an ineffective lines’ inability of blocking all by themselves. i don’t know what kind of production you expect from a TE, but I personally am MORE than happy with a league leading 6 TD’s from a free agent. Seems as though your expectations are for a TE to be some sort of unstoppable superhero. With that kind of view, you are going to be disappointed with every single tight end between now and the end of time. IMO.

I liked it a lot, thanks.

everything with yesterdays game, makes me incredibly sad

But we need a big fast outside receiver, not so much a TE. Donald Jones is not good enough, not tall enough or fast enough or strong enough. That is our #2 need IMO, behind OLB, but if there is a good WR available in the first round on our pick, Floyd, Jeffery, Blackmon, and a couple more. Also we NEED to use SPILLER, when he gets the ball everyone sees his quickness and ability. Especially with a defense like the jets or the Bengals he can be very effective.

What it comes down to is the same as every year with this squad. They need a truckfull of talented players to be relevant long term and are years off from getting close to that.

I had been getting down on Stevie over the last few weeks and starting to think that he really couldn’t handle the #1 spot. Going against Revis and putting up decent numbers I would call a win for us and Stevie.

While I still doubt he will ever be an elite #1 who can take over a game, I do have faith again that he CAN win any 1 on 1 battle.

has to be how Mangold completely neutralized Dareus. I know Mangold is very good but I was hoping Dareus was also very good. Dareus has a long way to go before he can hold his own against the likes of Mangold.