SB Nation - Calvin Pace

McGee, Byrd questionable for Thursday night Toronto tussle

Brian Galliford — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:38:46 -0000

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While Terrell Owens puts on his best giddy face for the cameras and scores of reporters covering the Buffalo Bills' latest excursion to Toronto, there's actual news to discuss about tomorrow night's divisional battle with the New York Jets.

The injury reports are out, and two of Buffalo's main defensive cogs are questionable: starting cornerback Terrence McGee and starting free safety Jairus Byrd. McGee, who has missed the Bills' last three games recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery he had during the team's Week 9 bye week, is considered a game-time decision. Byrd is as well, as he deals with a groin injury that has bothered him off and on since before training camp.

Demetrius Bell, John McCargo and Ashton Youboty have all been ruled out. Just like in last week's victory over Miami, Jonathan Scott is expected to start at left tackle.

For the Jets, they'll be without two cornerbacks - Dwight Lowery and Donald Strickland - as well as guard Robert Turner. Mark Sanchez, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Shaun Ellis, Calvin Pace, Jim Leonhard and Eric Smith are all listed as probable, and all will play.

Patriots 31 Jets 14: Bitter Revenge

John B — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:58:22 -0000

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The slide continues. The Jets are 4-6 and now a Playoff longshot. The Patriots dominated them today, winning 31-14 in Foxborough. This is the kind of Jets-Pats game we've come to know and hate. If New England wanted to get revenge for Week 2 and make a statement, they sure did that. This one was ugly and uncompetitive from the start.

More after the jump.

The Bad:

Mark Sanchez: Another ugly day for the rookie. He looked confused and rattled by New England's pass rush all day on his way to an 8 of 21, 5 turnover affair. There were a lot of bad mistakes. He made bad reads, had some horribly inaccurate throws, and threw one interception off his wrong foot, against his body, and into coverage in the face of a heavy pass rush instead of just throwing it away. He just looked lost out there for most of this one. Unfortunately, days like this are part of having a rookie quarterback. The only way to learn is to make mistakes. With the season pretty much lost, I think all calls for his benching should end. At least the last 6 games can be used to get more time under his belt.

Braylon Edwards: Only a catch for 10 yards. He was silent and had a drop that ended a drive early. Who knows how that could have changed the complexion of the contest?

Defensive Approach: I haven't been very critical of the coaching staff, but the first half left a lot to be desired. The Jets played a base 4-3 and send the linemen. In such a scheme, there are three guys whose job is to generate a pass rush. The nose tackle, Sione Pouha, was there to draw a double team. The three responsible for the rush were ends Bryan Thomas and Calvin Pace. These guys were both considered first round busts because of their respective inabilities to rush the passer as 4-3 ends. Shaun Ellis played the under tackle. Remember how Herm Edwards tried to move him there early in his career and how ineffective he was? This scheme put guys in positions they are proven to not be adept at, although Ellis did have a good game. The only way to stop Tom Brady is to get pressure on him. I'm not sure I get why the Jets didn't come out with the apporach that worked so well in the first meeting, sending pressure from all angles.

There was also the time the Jets disguised a blitz, moved everybody to the line, sent 3, and left nobody deep. I tend to believe there's never a good time to rush 3, but the idea of doing that is to minimize the possibility of a big play. Moving everybody to the line and sending nobody is the worst of all worlds. There's little chance to generate a pass rush, and guys are out of position. Wes Welker had a long grab to set up a score.

Speaking of Welker, the Jets hung Drew Coleman out to dry. Coleman is the fifth best corner on the roster and hardly has any cover skills. He has no business playing man on Welker. Coleman was burned as often as any corner I've ever seen play in a single game. Welker had 15 receptions for 192 yards. Couldn't anybody else cover him? Was something wrong with Lito Sheppard?

Drew Coleman: I know he had no business playing on Welker, but I reiterate that was one of the worst performances of all time.

Kerry Rhodes: About the only time we heard his name, he was either missing a tackle or arriving late in coverage.

The Good:

Special Teams: A few weeks ago, we had people calling for Mike Westhoff to be fired. I don't think we'll see that today. There was a blocked punt that gave the Jets life in the second and David Clowney and Dwight Lowery both had returns in excess of 35 yards.

Darrelle Revis: Maybe Randy Moss will give him a little credit now. Revis quieted Moss again to the tune of 5 catches for 35 yards and several passes defensed. Even in the passes Moss caught, Revis was in perfect coverage, and he didn't do much after his receptions.

Thomas Jones: Quietly compiled another 100 yard game.

David Harris: Led the team with 14 tackles and was the one guy to make Welker pay for going over the middle.

Shaun Ellis: Had a pair of sacks.

Effort: I will give the Jets credit for not quitting in the second half like the Titans did in Foxborough a few weeks back. It was clear these guys battled until the end, and they even turned a 24-0 game into a competitive contest for a bit.

There's not really much else to say. The Pats were so dominant today it wasn't even funny. They made a statement about who the best team in the East really is. The Jets are probably playing out the string at this point.

Vernon Gholston Likely Out Sunday

John B — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:00:52 -0000

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It looks like injury is going to knock out Vernon Gholston for the game against the Jaguars.

Jets linebacker Vernon Gholston missed his second straight practice today with a hamstring injury -- which he suffered during Monday's walkthrough practice -- and it's highly unlikely he'll play against the Jaguars on Sunday.

Gholston, picked sixth overall in 2008, has been a disappointment on the field. He has no sacks in 24 career games and has been a non-factor in limited action on defense and special teams this season -- even though he started in the position vacated by linebacker Calvin Pace who was suspended for the first four games of the season.

He's quietly been getting a nice push lining up at tackle on obvious passing downs, but let's be honest. He wasn't making that big of a difference. Marques Murrell and Jamaal Westerman could see an increased workload as a result.

Would you like to see Gholston become a healthy scratch in favor of special teams contributors in the future?

First Half of the Season Shows Jets Have a Solid Foundation

John B — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:52:21 -0000

by Ben Margot - AP

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There's a lot of pessimism in Jets land right now. That's easy to understand. After a 3-0 start, 4-4 seems like a disappointment, especially considering how it has happened. There's only one loss where the Jets were simply outexecuted, the Monday night game at Miami. In the other three, New York registered a ton of self-inflicted wounds. The thing people need to remember, though, is the Jets aren't looking just for this year. They want to build something special over the long haul. They are well on their way.

It's really tough to win with a rookie quarterback in the NFL. Starting 4-4 is a great start for Mark Sanchez. He's played two bombs of games. He had a game against the Raiders where he was asked to do very little. The other five games have been somewhere between good and excellent. He's looked composed beyond his years for the most part. He was developed in a pro system at USC, which is a novelty in today's college game with everybody going to a spread offense. He played against pro caliber competition at practice every day. It shows. He looked special in a second half comeback against the Patriots after struggling in the first half and when he twice shredded Miami's secondary trailing in second halves. I think everybody would agree Sanchez has looked like he has belonged, which is pretty incredible for a rookie quarterback. The number don't look that great, but they don't tell the whole story. The two bad games killed the stat sheet. In those games, he did things with the ball that experience and coaching correct (locking onto receivers, leaving the ball exposed for pass rushers, forcing throws).

Quarterback is one of the two most important people on a football team. A team with a good young quarterback is in good shape over the long term. A team with a good quarterback and a good head coach is in great shape, and it looks like the Jets have found a good head coach. You have to be thrilled with the job Rex Ryan has done to this point. He's instilled a lot of confidence in the locker room. It would be one thing if he was just popping off to the press. He's not. When players make big comments to the press, it's an indication they believe in their head coach and want to help him back up the talk. These guys went into a Week 2 game against the Pats expecting to win and broke New England's long domination of the Jets at the Meadowlands. Winning over a locker room is only part of the job, though. The hard part is coaching a team to reach its potential. Ryan has improved the Jets to the second ranked defense in the league. Their pass rush is one of the fiercest in football. They hit Tom Brady around half the time he dropped back in Week 2. They totally confused Matt Schaub, who has played great football the rest of the season. When the Dolphins ran all over them in Week 5, Ryan adjusted his scheme to get bigger and run blitzed his secondary more to shut down their rushing attack. He's shown great acumen for X's and O's. When a coach wins a locker room and shows he knows how to game plan and adjust, he's a good one.

Let's not forget about Mike Tannenbaum. He's shown himself to have a bright football mind since he took over running the team. Look at all of the successful moves he's made through the Draft. He's hit on D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold, Leon Washington, Darrelle Revis, and David Harris, all of whom look like Pro Bowl caliber players in the Draft in his four years. He's also added Dwight Lowery, who appears on the verge of developing into a quality starter. Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene look like hits also. He's made bold moves for Alan Faneca, Kris Jenkins, Calvin Pace, and Bart Scott, all guys who fit a need in the system. There's a big difference between doing what the Redskins do, accumulating names without regard for age or how they fit, with what the Jets do, wisely shop for guys in their prime to fill needs in the system. He signed Tony Richardson. Even the ill-fated Brett Favre trade showed something good about Tannenbaum. He's not afraid to make a bold move if he sees a weakness and isn't afraid of having something blow up in his face. He's shown himself to have a firm grasp of the salary cap from the job he did getting the Jets out of cap hell in '05 while fielding a Playoff team in '06 to making moves like giving Kerry Rhodes and Calvin Pace roster bonuses in their contracts to make the cap situation better in '08 which could be converted into signing bonuses a year later for cap flexibility then. He knows how to work the cap.

What does this mean? The Jets have a good young quarterback, a good head coach, a good nucleus, and a general manager making good moves to suppliment the talent. I wouldn't write off this year. There's a decent chance the defense just lifts this team on its back and carries it to the Playoffs. Even if that doesn't happen, don't get too upset. This club is building a foundation for long term success.

Should Vernon Gholston Have Been Active?

John B — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:08:54 -0000

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Pelzman asks that question:

Linebacker Marques Murrell, one of the Jets’ best special-teams players, was a healthy scratch Sunday, while Vernon Gholston was again active. Gholston has 12 tackles on defense this year, and one tackle on special teams, while Murrell has eight special-teams tackles. Gholston has only four tackles since Calvin Pace returned from suspension.

When asked why Gholston was up instead of Murrell, special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff said, "That’s a good question. You’d have to ask the defense that, to tell you the truth."

It’s understandable that the Jets would want to get a return on their $21 million investment of guaranteed money in Gholston, the sixth overall draft pick in 2008, but they also must think about the bottom line of winning down the stretch, now that they are in a playoff battle. And if Murrell or someone else gives them a better chance to win that day than Gholston, then that decision must be made — no matter how it looks publicly or how it hurts in the wallet.

Nobody is more disappointed that Gholston has not developed into a defensive force as I am, but I don't think I agree with this thinking. Vernon has been solid against the run this season, and the biggest focus heading into Sunday was on stopping the run. We're not having this conversation if special teams standouts like Jay Feely don't kick a line drive, Wallace Wright takes a better angle, or Larry Izzo doesn't totally whiff on a tackle.

New York Jets Run Defense vs. Miami Dolphins Run Offense

John B — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:16:04 -0000

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Nobody needs a reminder of what happened three weeks ago. The Dolphins ran all over the Jets with the Wildcat. That's what the Dolphins do. They run it and run it often. Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown are both on pace to go over 1,000 yards this year. They do this even with a fairly punchless even if efficient passing game.

In the first meeting, the Jets got whipped up front. There was only one guy in the front seven consistently winning his matchups. He wears number 77 and is now on IR.

How do the Jets combat this rushing attack? I think they need to go as big as possible. That means a lot of 4-3 sets with Shaun Ellis and Marques Douglas at end, Sione Pouha and Howard Green at tackle, and Bart Scott, David Harris, and Calvin Pace at linebacker. Pace looked very rusty in the first game, constantly overpursuing the play. He's rounding into form and should be much more effective this time around.

I think the approach the Jets took in the first game was flawed. They showed a lot of different looks. The problem is there is very little adjustment necessary in a power rushing game. You aren't going to fool the other team. You aren't going to get them to change what they're doing. You need to find something that works and stick with it. It's all about execution. The Dolphins execute well, running for 6.6 yards per play out of the Wildcat.

The Saints contained the formation last week. What they did was run blitz from the secondary. That's the way to stop it. Part of why the Wildcat works so well is numbers. There's no quarterback handing the ball off. That means the spot the quarterback occupies in a normal offense can be used on an extra blocker. The defense has to bring extra men into the box to combat this.

This means leaving receivers in man coverage. I'm fine with that. I know Brown completed a pass on the first drive of the first game. That seemed to soften the Jets defensively. I think they should leave the corners against those receivers on an island all day. I think they can handle it. Even if they can't, I'm fine with Brown throwing it. He may hit some passes, but he's a running back. He's not used to throwing it. He can't be totally comfortable. The way to force mistakes in the National Football League is to get guys doing stuff they're not used to. Dare Brown to throw it even if it means giving up a big gain or two.

Pace Backpedals From Comments

John B — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:33 -0000

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After the first game against Miami, Calvin Pace made some uncomplimentary comments about the Dolphins. He backed away from them on Thursday.

Jets LB Calvin Pace, who after the 31-27 loss called Miami’s QB Chad Henne a "clown’’ and called the Dolphins’ "wildcat’’ offense "nonsense,’’ explained his comments today when I aksed him about it.

"I’m not much of a talker, and I said some things kind of out of character,’’ Pace said. "I meant them, but that wasn’t the right time to say them. Moving forward, we’ve got to stop them. They made a valid point (after his comments). If you don’t like it, stop them.’’

Pace said "emotion and embarrassment’’ caused him to lash out like that after the game.

"When you go out in any game _ especially Monday night in a division game _ the level that the defense played before I got back (from a four-game suspension) really wasn’t there,’’ Pace said. "For whatever reason we just looked rattled. We lost a lot of our poise in that game.’’

Talk about blown out of proportion. The media hits this guy after a heartbreaking loss to a bitter rival. It's ridiculous how much talk those comments generated.

Dolphins vs Jets: Miami's Keys to Victory

Matty I — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:15:15 -0000

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Hey Jason, this team needs a vocal leader to step up. Who better than a guy who everyone knows despises the Jets?

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On Sunday, the Dolphins will head to the Meadowlands looking to sweep the season series against the Jets for the first time since 2003. More importantly, though, the Dolphins will look to avoid falling to 2-5, which would seemingly all but ruin their postseason hopes in 2009.

For the Dolphins to exit Jersey with a win on Sunday, they will have to play much better than they did during last week's second half collapse. There are a lot of keys to this game. But the three below are, in my opinion, of the utmost importance.

Put last week behind them
This can't be easy for them. Hell, it hasn't been easy for us fans. It's always difficult to put a tough loss behind you and move on to the next game. When you take into account the caliber of opponent that the Dolphins almost knocked off last week and the way the game unfolded in the second half, I'm sure this week hasn't been the most enjoyable for both the players and coaches.

That's why I think it's a good thing that the Dolphins get to head to the Meadowlands and take on a hated division rival following that loss on Sunday. There's no better way to put a heart-breaking loss behind you than to knock off a hated rival. It would provide some healing for both the players and the fans.

That's also why I think that the Jets are doing the Dolphins a favor by continuing to open their enormous mouths and talk trash about the Dolphins over and over. Among other things, we've heard Darrelle Ravis say he thinks the Jets are the better team and Shaun Ellis complain about the Dolphins going overboard with their celebration of the game-winning touchdown. And let's not forget how dismissive the Jets were moments after getting beaten by the Dolphins back in week 5, with Calvin Pace and Bart Scott showing disrespect to the Wildcat and calling Chad Henne a "second-year clown quarterback."

Yup - all that talking the Jets are doing is only helping Miami get over their tough loss last week and focus on the job at hand on Sunday.

But even so, make no mistake about it. Sunday's game will test this team's mental toughness. It would be easy for a team to roll over on the road following that tough loss last weekend. We're going to learn a lot about how this team and this coaching staff handle adversity. Let's hope they show the kind of fortitude that I think this team does indeed possess.

Take early lead
There are a number of reasons why this is important. Some of them include gaining confidence following a disheartening loss and not allowing a sense of doubt to creep into their heads early on. You don't want a potential "quick sand" situation to occur on the road in a hostile environment. By "quick sand situation," I'm referring to what happens when one thing goes wrong, and then another, and then another. And the harder you try to battle back, the deeper you get sucked in. If you've seen the movie The Replacements, you know what I'm talking about.

But more importantly, this will be the first time Chad Henne is starting on the road in the NFL. Yes, he's played in some hostile environments before - like in Columbus, Ohio against Ohio St., for example - which was obviously great experience. But it's different on this level. The Dolphins have got to take the crowd out of the game early on. It'll only make things easier on Henne.

The Dolphins also can't afford to have to play catch-up against the Jets. This would allow the Jets to pin their ears back and get after Henne. That defense felt embarrassed by their performance rushing the passer last time and I'm sure we'll see new wrinkles and a more tenacious pass rush on Sunday. If the Dolphins fall behind early, they are going to be putting themselves in a very tough situation in a hostile stadium that will be rocking.

Stop the run and stop it early
Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that the Dolphins were ranked in the top two for stopping the run? It was. And while the Dolphins are still ranked pretty high - 4th in the NFL against the run, allowing just 87 yards per game on the ground and just 3.7 ypc - they haven't been nearly as dominant defending the run in their past two games.

It all started against the Jets, too, giving up 138 yards rushing to the Jets during that Monday night classic. Then last week the Dolphins let Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell and company gain 138 yards on the ground, averaging over 5 yards per carry.

Meanwhile, the Jets have been very committed to the run recently and have put up back to back 300 yard rushing performance - passing the Dolphins last week as the top rushing team in the NFL. While it's definitely true that the Jets have put up these two huge weeks against two of the worst rushing defenses in the league, 634 yards rushing in two weeks is impressive no matter how you slice it.

The Jets have also seemed to re-commit themselves to the run last week. Two weeks ago against Buffalo, Mark Sanchez was intercepted five times over 29 pass attempts as the Jets lost at home to the Bills. But last week, the Jets showed a commitment to the run and took the pressure off their rookie quarterback. Sanchez only attempted 15 passes en route to a 38-0 win in Oakland.

On Sunday, I expect more of the same from the Jets. They will look to take pressure off of Sanchez and look to the ground for their offense. The Dolphins need to shut down their rushing attack early on and force Rex Ryan and NY's coaching staff to abandon the run in favor of the passing attack. Yes, the Dolphins are starting two rookie corners. But I'll take my chances with them considering Sanchez is a mistake-prone rookie as well.

My Monday Musing

David_Wyatt — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:14:09 -0000

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Oakland Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski (5) is brought down by New York Jets linebacker Calvin Pace

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Bitter sweet. Really couldn't enjoy the victory all too much last night with the news of Leon Washington. Not just the fact that we will be missing our most dynamic player for the rest of the season, but because this is not your run of the mill, when will he be practising again injury. Not as bad as Joe Theisman's but for a running back who relies on his quick cuts and speed to make plays, this recovery is not going to be easy. I have heard some people say that it is a potential career ender, and while I hope it isn't. Their certainly is that possibility. So first thing is first, wishing Leon a healthy and full recovery. No need for it to be speedy.

Right with that covered, let's move on to the positives after the jump

I can't say enough about Sanchez. Was it a perfect game? absolutely not, far from it. He was asked to do little and he managed to do just that. He did have another fumble that he managed to recover on a play that looked ugly straight from the snap. However he was asked to throw 15 times, he completed 9 and he threw a nice TD to Clowney. Slightly under thrown but you expect your receivers to go up and make plays in that situation. Ran in for a TD on a nicely designed play. (Again this is why I find Schottenheimer so frustrating, one week his play calling is a head scratcher, the next he plans pretty much to perfection)

Shonn Greene was just fantastic, and that is what we have been waiting for. He fights for those extra yardage, players think they have brought him down and when they look up he is 10 yards down the field and you can forget about it. He runs hard, he hits the hole hard, and keeps his leg churning. He has a very bright future ahead of him. With himself and Jones running wild at the minute, it is sure to wear down any interior line. We could of extended that game, and I doubt the Raiders stop either of them.

I was pretty critical of Keller last week, but this was a better game from him, he wasn't excellent by any means, but he took a pass from Sanchez and turned it into a 26 yard gain. I'm not sure why we don't see more roll out plays like that. He was open on one other pass that I remember and Sanchez over threw him, and on another he made one cut, Sanchez thought he was making another and the ball was noway near him. I have no idea who was at fault there. Did Keller make the wrong cut or did Sanchez make the wrong read. One thing is for sure, they need to get on the same page, as we can use Keller a lot to beat a team like Miami.

Defensively we were pretty solid all around, I actually liked the line, I thought it performed pretty well without Jenks. Howard Greene in particular caught my eye on a couple of players, and Mike Devito is a lot better than I ever remember him being under Mangini. He holds his containment and then gets off the block pretty quickly. Saw him a couple of times, hold the outside and as soon as the run came inside he closed it up. It obviously is a work in progress, and there were times where we were vunerable to the inside run but luckily Oakland decided to pass a lot.

Calvin Pace was fantastic, and that's the guy that we remember. I think it is safe to say that he is back up to speed. He is a menace when he is in there, he works until the whistle, liked the play where he caused the 2nd fumble. Gets pushed completely out of the play, never takes his eyes off the QB, and then runs him down from the back. Game ball goes to him without a doubt.

Tackling this week was better although not perfect, Rhodes missed a couple but it didn't hurt us at all, so no need to dwell on those as Rhodes is usually pretty solid in that regard.

Offensive line was tremendous for the second straight week, just over powered the Oakland defensive line, which allowed us to rush for over 300 yards for the 2nd week in a row, and I think we are only the second team to do that since the merger after the 1975 Bills. Before the season they were widely regarded as one of the best units in the league, it has taken time to materialize but they are finally showing their talent.

Braylon was a little quiet this week, but you can expect that when you ask the QB to throw just 15 times, and Sanchez did a nice job spreading the ball out more, and not trying to force it. Was night to see Wallace Wright get a reception to his name and Clowney with his first NFL TD catch, thought he ran good crisp routes all day, hoping that he still gets work when Cotchery and Smith come back.

Cotchery is expected back this week, but not so sure about Smith.

Finally we can't have a Monday Musing without a Danny Woodhead update, nice to see the guy get some touches, obviously was to run out the clock and everyone was pretty much winding down, but he got some tough yardage.

Next up the grudge match with Miami.

Jets 38 Raiders 0: Back on Track

John B — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:36:11 -0000

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All is well again. The Jets are back over .500. They finally got a win on the West Coast and totally dominated their opponent. Sure, it was an opponent that couldn't have looked less dangerous, but a win is a win in the National Football League. It sure beats losing to the Bills (or the Raiders a year ago). The Jets can go into next week's showdown with the Dolphins feeling good about themselves.

More after the jump.

The Good:

Commitment to the Run: Some of us have been begging Brian Schottenheimer for over a year to just use his terrific stable of backs and his big offensive line and just pound opponents with the ground game. All it took was a rookie quarterback meltdown to finally deliver it. I love the 55-15 run to pass ratio. In future weeks, not every team will be as outclassed up front as the Raiders. That disparity will have to go down. It's just nice to see the Jets finally focus on the ground game. The tendency in the past has been to start putting it up when things don't click early. Today it was a bit of a struggle early, but the Jets kept with their gameplan of pounding it and eventually worked into a groove and wore Oakland out up front. The end result is a second consecutive game with over 300 yards on the ground.

The Offensive Line: Just a dominant performance up front one through five. The guys had holes to hit all day long. Things are finally clicking for this unit with a physical opponent coming up.

Shonn Greene: For whatever reason, some talented rookies don't get a chance to shine until the team has no choice. I think back to a pair of promising inside linebackers the Jets had earlier in the decade. Jonathan Vilma couldn't sniff the field until Sam Cowart got hurt. Ditto David Harris three years later until Vilma went down. Enter Greene. Shonn looked really good in limited action prior to today. The coaches still wouldn't give him much playing time. Today Leon Washington's injury forced the Jets to play Greene. The result? 19 carries, 144 yards, and 2 touchdowns. He looked like a complete runner. He showed he had the vision and burst to hit the holes, the power to break tackles, and a second burst running away from defenders that frankly took me aback. The book on Greene is that he's a power runner. I know the opponent stunk, but we have something special on our hands.

Thomas Jones: Struggled early but got stronger as the game went on and wore the Raiders out. A second straight big outing, 121 yards on 26 carries.

David Clowney: We're seeing this guy mature as a receiver. The knock on him has always been he's a one trick pony, a guy who can run the vertical route. What I saw today really impressed me. He showed a lot of intelligence breaking off his route on a third down when the Raiders brought heat on Mark Sanchez. He run a good comeback route on one of his receptions. He made a great adjustment on the football on his long touchdown reception. This is a guy who is improving in front of our eyes. With Leon Washington out, the Jets need to find a new homerun threat. This could be an answer.

Wallace Wright: For the first time, this is not for his special teams play. He had a pair of catches and looked pretty quick in short space out of the slot. A possible replacement for Chansi Stuckey?

The Fake Punt: Three for three this year. This was clearly the Jets scouting out the Raiders and Oakland not correcting what it's been doing wrong. There was no way that was ever going to fail the way the Raiders just immediately released down the field, not even looking at the punter. Give the quality control coaches a game ball.

Calvin Pace: Nice to see Pace being the difference maker this defense needs him to be. 7 tackles, 3 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles. As teams use more maximum protection schemes against their blitzes, the Jets are going to need guys to win one on one matchups. Pace is going to play a big role. It's great to see him swatting when the quarterback leaves the ball exposed. His strip sack on the first play was huge. It seems like the Raiders just resigned themselves to a long day after that.

Darrelle Revis: He's in here every week. He dominated his assignments and had a great interception.

Dwight Lowery: It looks like he's passed Donald Strickland on the depth chart, and it's easy to see why considering all the plays he made when the ball came in his direction. The Jets have to be thinking twice about the Lito Sheppard trade given Sheppard's inability to stay on the field and Lowery's return to his early 2008 playmaking form.

Total Defense: There were some outstanding individual performances, but the defense pitched a shutout. Three of the four turnovers were forced by intense pressure. Always great to get the other quarterback benched.

The Bad:

Leon Washington's Injury: As great as it was to find out about Shonn Greene, there had to be a better way than losing Leon. He's going to be missed big time, especially next week. He always gives the Dolphins fits.

Howard Green and Sione Pouha: And I could put the other defensive linemen there. They weren't getting off thier blocks well enough and allowed too many big runs. That's scary with a physical offensive line and the Dolphins up next week.

Bart Scott's Injury: What's a guy that valuable doing on the field with 3:00 left in a 38 point game?

Mark Sanchez's Antics: I know a lot of you will disagree with me, but I really was upset with what I saw out of Mark Sanchez today. You stunk last week. The team took the keys from you. Stop showing up your opponent by throwing the ball through the goal post after a 3 yard run in open field or eating a hot dog on the sidelines. Show some respect for the other team. Act like you're totally focused. You still have a lot to learn. You're not good enough yet to be doing that stuff.

Other Thoughts:

The next time you call an NFL player greedy for complaining about his contract, think of Leon Washington. Leon did everything right. He didn't hold out. Now because of his serious injury, he may very well lose out. I know. He's making way more than you are or I am. We're not also playing a violent game for a living that will affect us for the rest of our lives at a position when a career span is under 10 years.
Nice touch pouring the Gatorade on Bill Callahan. Great to see Rex leading it. It's stuff like this that makes the team love its coach, and it's why I believe these guys are going to keep battling for him. Keep the faith with our coach.
Braylon Edwards' hidden effect was shown today. He was constantly drawing double teams, opening things up for David Clowney. Look out for Jerricho Cotchery once he gets better.
This was the original formula, pound the ball, let the defense dominate, and don't ask too much of the quarterback. It's kind of a credit to Sanchez it took the Jets this long to get to it. He showed he was capable of handling more up to last week.

Great way to bounce back. The Raiders weren't much of a test. In fact, they seemed content handing the Jets the game. Still, a nice confidence builder heading into the Miami game.