By Nick Romano

September 25th, 2006

In another sign this isn’t going to be the same-old-Jets, the team rebounded from a lackluster performance to put an end to their streak of misery in Orchard Park. I read a comment where someone said the Jets outplayed Buffalo, and they most certainly did not, but what they did in abundance was outcoach the Bills and win almost all the critical battles.

Here’s what this season reminds me of already: the 1997 Jets. Remember that model? Maybe not, they didn’t win the Super Bowl, or make the playoffs, but they were still impressive. That was Bill Parcells first year, where he took over a 1-15 bunch of losers from Rich Kotite, got rid of underachieving talent, installed tough, less talented guys who play football, and went 9-7.

Gone was Hugh Douglas, in came the Ernie Logan’s Anthony Pleasant’s and Rick Lyle’s of the world. Neil O’Donnell was our QB and Otis Smith was one of our CBs. The team was short on talent, and I remember Dan Marino in an interview with Phil Simms talking about all the disguises the Jets defense ran. Simms asked Marino what it told him, and he said "it tells me they’re not that good".

That team won whatever way necessary. It set the foundation for a great run the following year, and changed the mindset of everyone who got accustomed to being outcoached with Coslet and Kotite on the sidelines.

Flash forward to present, 2006. Mangini has now won two road games against beatable teams by making them look bad. The Jets can’t run the football against anyone, and in each of their victories it’s been clear in the first quarter the other team could run. Despite a limited pass rush the Jets have forced turnovers, have kept putting seven on the board when their turn came and, despite some close calls later, have enjoyed commanding leads in the 4th quarter.

Gone are John Abraham (I still miss him) and Kevin Mawae, and in have come the Andre Dyson’s, Matt Chatham’s, Rashad Moore’s and Brad Kassell’s. Whereas our QB play and D-Line were limitations in 97, this year it’s our running back situation and inability to stop the run tells us we’re "not that good".

But the team is resilient and well prepared. What we’ve learned so far is Chad Pennington is back to his old self, and the 2006 Jets don’t beat themselves. They take chances when the opportunities arise – putting the Titans away with a TD on the final drive instead of settling for a FG, and going for it on 4th-and-1 against Buffalo instead of punting to score the clinching touchdown. They don’t throw halfback options into the endzone against great defenses (Baltimore) with a big lead either. This team is aggressive and smart. Yes, it feels good to be a Jets fan.

Consider the latest evidence. Apparently the Jets made history by being the first NFL road team to win despite giving up 300 yards passing and 150 yards running. They even had a decisive disadvantage in Time of Possession. But they won the turnover battle, went 3-for-3 in the red zone while limiting Buffalo to 1-for-4, and they played well on special teams.

1. Willis McGahee ran like the wind between the 20’s, but when Buffalo had first and goal from the five, down by 11, he couldn’t pick up the tough yards. His first two attempts must have shown something to the coaches who inexplicably decided to run Losman on a disastrous naked bootleg on 3rd down. McGahee finished the game with no touchdowns.
2. JP Losman was allowed to put up big yardage when it didn’t matter, but when the Bills were trying to seize momentum on their second possession with a chance to go up by 10 or 14 points, the Jets stuffed him and forced an unsuccessful fake field goal attempt. The next series Losman again drove the Bills in striking range of taking command, but Kerry Rhodes blitz forced a turnover.
3. Rhodes later performed Act Two on Losman, creating another fumble which led to a defensive TD by Victor Hobson.
4. There was Bobby Hamilton’s critical play on 3rd-and-1 bootleg at the goal line I mentioned earlier. The Bills needed seven on that play.
5. There was Chad Pennington sneaking for four yards on a big 4th down which lead to the final TD, and Cedric Houston plowing through Buffalo on two consecutive runs to earn the TD. The Jets couldn’t run all game long, but did when it mattered. Exactly opposite of Buffalo.
6. Lastly, there was the entire Team Defense on Buffalo’s final drive. After Losman made a great play to salvage a TD drive that was too easy but for all intents should have been meaningless, the Jets didn’t give the Bills an inch when it mattered.

Yes Losman threw some beautiful spirals in a fierce win – and even connected on a few – but his victories are moral. In the 58 minutes that decided the outcome (after the first minute and before the last) the Jets pounded out a 28-6 advantage.

Pennington wasn’t asked to do more than manage the game, and he did that well. It’s the second game in a row where his stats would have looked a lot less impressive without some impressive run-after-the-catch by his receivers. Great effort on the QB sneak that helped clinch things.

As much as I want to be generous, there was little to praise. Leon Washington made a momentum changing reception early on, and ran with some speed, but still only averaged 3.5 yards a carry. Houston’s two runs were the other notable accomplishment. BJ Askew is begging to be replaced.

Didn’t make any big plays against two rookie safeties, but did a nice job holding onto catches in traffic, which is where most of Pennington’s passes went. Jerricho Cotchery has emerged as a dependable #2 wide out.

Chris Baker contributed a TD and some excellent blocking in pass protection. Sean Ryan showed value as a blocker in protection and on he final TD drive. 

Allowed only one sack to an aggressive front-7 which manhandled the Dolphins last week, and that sack wasn’t any lineman’s fault as it resulted from a Pennington scramble. They got a lot of help, not just from the TEs and RBs, but from Brian Schottenheimer’s gameplan which didn’t have many (if any) seven step drops. Anyone remember a deep pass play?

The run blocking has to improve. D’Brickshaw Ferguson was solid in pass coverage and appears good at walling off his man, but generates no push and doesn’t know how to hit anyone at the second level. On Kevan Barlow’s 8-yard run, London Fletcher chased him down after D’Brick went running by looking for someone to block and chose no one. Nick Mangold looks like a star in the making. Excellent line calls helped keep Pennington clean, and he takes care of his man, always.

DeWayne Robertson is completely out of position on the nose. He usually has his hands full with one blocker let alone two, and Vilma/Barton pay for this. Rashad Moore played a lot better vs. the Pats than against the Bills. Shaun Ellis has been having his difficulties holding ground too, and as a pass rusher seems only capable of pressuring the QB but not sacking him. I didn’t get a good look at Kimo, and Bobby Hamilton made one of the plays of the game, staying at home on the bootleg.

Vilma and Barton led the Jets in tackles, but that was misleading. Most of the damage was done by the time they got their hands on McGahee. There was a play when Vilma stopped McGahee behind the line of scrimmage, and I carefully rewatched it to see what took place – it was one of the few times Robertson shed him man in time to take on the fullback. It made me dream of what things would look like had we signed Grady Jackson. Vilma also blew the first Bills TD with a bad angle to the receiver, Roscoe Parrish. It was a rough day.

Victor Hobson seems to be showing up a little more on the pass rush, he had one sack and almost another (which got flagged for a questionable low hit). This is encouraging, because I don’t see him producing in any other ways out there. He had the huge fumble return, though his pass rush is what I found most encouraging.

It’s hard to give them a higher grade since Losman had such success, but Kerry Rhodes is emerging as a fearsome athlete who knows how to use his talent in key situations. The Bills were looking for him on his blitzes, but were still unable to block him. Another reason the grade is so high despite the yardage is how they responded when Buffalo recovered the on-side kick. Losman on consecutive plays had to dump the ball to his running back, which all but destroyed the Bills hopes, and then no one was open downfield on the 4th down play either.

David Barrett made another great interception – and I keep coming back to a thought I expressed two years ago, that he might make a better safety with his tackling and ball skills. Interestingly, Mangini chose to start another converted CB Derrick Strait over Erik Coleman at the other safety spot. Andre Dyson and Justin Miller experienced a few problems keeping Lee Evans, but Drew Coleman made a couple of nice plays which was encouraging. Following through on a strong camp could result in a lot more playing time for the rookie Coleman.

Here the grade would have been a solid A if not for the botched onside kick. The units did a great job keeping Buffalo’s outstanding group in check, and Ben Graham had maybe his best day as a pro, with a net average of 44 yards per punt. Many of those went into a wind measured at 20mph and repeatedly pinned the Bills inside their own 20-yard line. Outstanding job.

Where was the Bills feared pass rush? The one that sacked Culpepper seven times last week and scored a defensive TD the prior week against the Pats? The coaches came up with a brilliant game plan for helping the all-rookie left side of the line by using quick pass plays and keeping the TEs and RBs in to block. Buffalo never generated serious heat on Pennington. The timing of the blitzes worked well, and the Jets are clearly prepared to respond to challenging game situations.

The way Pennington is playing and Mangini & Co are coaching, I now view this team as one who could easily win 8 games with the schedule they have. With the Colts and Jaguars up next, it’s very possible we could be looking at 2-3 but there’s a winnable slate of games after that with the Dolphins, Lions and Browns. If they can pull of an upset in the next two weeks we could be looking at a 5-3 team at the break. They still have too many problems for me to consider them a playoff caliber team, but the schedule is accommodating so I’ll assess those chances at the halfway point.