Jets must stop Cardinals' Fitzgerald, Boldin http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjets265858676sep26,0,4957931.story BY ERIK BOLAND | erik.boland@newsday.com September 26, 2008 FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - It's not getting any easier for the Jets' secondary. Two weeks ago, it was preparing for the Patriots' potent duo of Randy Moss and Wes Welker, followed by last week's game against the Chargers' Antonio Gates and Vincent Jackson. This week brings the Cardinals (2-1) to the Meadowlands, and a pair of receivers with great numbers. On one side it's Larry Fitzgerald, who has 16 receptions for an 18.3-yard average and two touchdowns. On the other side is Anquan Boldin, with 17 catches, a 14.5 average and two TDs, including a 79-yarder against Seattle. "They're maybe the best tandem in the NFL, but I think individually, they're in the top five of receivers in the league," cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "They play well together. I don't know how they get all those balls to them, but they find a way." Kurt Warner has been doing that this season. After beating out Matt Leinart in preseason, the 37-year-old former MVP is second in the league with a 111.7 passer rating, having completed 54 of 84 for 750 yards, with six touchdowns and one interception. "They're young, dynamic receivers," Warner said yesterday. "They both have great skill sets and can do some things that are extremely special, probably better than anybody that I've been with. It's fun to be a part of that." Fitzgerald, in his fifth season out of Pittsburgh, is 6-3 and 220 pounds. Boldin, in his sixth year out of Florida State, is 6-1, 217. They have put up big numbers throughout their careers. Fitzgerald is four catches away from 350, and if he reaches that plateau Sunday, he will have done so in his 64th game, the third-quickest to 350 in NFL history. The fastest? Boldin, in 58 games. "Both of those guys are highlight films," Jets coach Eric Mangini said. Fitzgerald is used like a traditional wideout, but Boldin presents a different challenge. "It's kind of hard to prepare for Boldin because they move him everywhere," Revis said. "I've seen him in the backfield a couple times going out for routes. When you play guys like that who move around a lot, you just have to know where they're at all the time." Fitzgerald and Boldin have reputations for being physical, and Jets rookie cornerback Dwight Lowery said they are faster than given credit for. Lowery found that interesting because he was stuck with the "not very fast" tag entering last year's draft. "You can't say enough about those guys, and I kind of like it because they're guys that people perceive as not being fast, and I kind of relate to them in that regard," Lowery said. "But they're fast, they're explosive, they're big, they're strong, they go after the ball, they compete, and that's kind of how I see myself. It's a good testament. "They're going to come out and do the things they've been doing in this league for a long time, and as a rookie going against those guys, it really shows you where you're at." Where most of the secondary found itself, Lowery included, Monday in San Diego was beaten. Mangini said Lowery has a "bull's-eye" on his back because teams are staying away from Revis. Lowery, a standout the first two weeks, said the Chargers tape has been instructive. "I feel like I'm still a rookie and I haven't learned everything yet. There's still little things I can do that can make me into a great player," Lowery said. "And it's really up to me whether I want to pursue that or not. People can get complacent with where they're at and don't look to improve. You can't dwell on [last week] or do anything about it. You have to let it motivate you, and that's something that I do."
Another good article by Boland. I don't see anyone "stopping" these guys though. Slowing them down will have to suffice.
The Biggest Matchup will be Revis/Lowery against Boldin/Fitzgerald. We win that battle i think we win the game. Im confident Revis will be in shutdown mode.
We have to be able to pressure Warner - that guy is apt to fumble or throw the pick when he's got guys in his face. If he has all day to throw it could be a long day for the D.
Hopefully we don't try that brilliant cover-0 scheme against the Cards that the fins tried a few times. Washington has laid out the blueprint - Sutton better be copying. Warner was very good at getting rid of the ball quickly when blitzed the one game I watched him in. He was pretty good last year too.
some of his stats are wrong. boldin actually has 4 tds, and they haven't played seattle this year. but i dont see anyone stopping these two. we can only hope to limit them. with jenkins back i dont see any reason why the cards should run on the jets. so it will be up to the passing game. i expect both recievers will get at least 4 catches each. hopefully they secondary can avoid the big play which is what that offense has been living off of the entire year. also it wouldn't hurt to get a few hits on warner. he gets hurt almost as often as chad does at this point in his career, and i would rather see leinart trying to make plays.
Our corners are probably our greatest strength (I'm blaming SD points on lousy defensive sets; witness, Harris supposed to cover Chambers down middle of field)--but its unreasonable to assume they can stop zona entirely. I expect 'zona will score 17-24 pts absent turnover points. Jets need to put the ball into the endzone 4 times. This would require the best offensive showing thus far.
i feel the offense would be helped out a lot if we could win the field position battle this week. we gave the pats and chargers short fields way to often the last two weeks. and our offense had to go 70-80 yards for a td a lot.
Lowery for President. Now I know that would insult Marvin Powell, but is Lowery the only chump who cares? Sorry, I have nothing insightful to add. I hate the Jets. I want to F GSourJr.
im confident revis can almost shutdown any WR in the game...the bad part about this is that im starting larry on my fantasy team this week
I think the key to the Jets being successful against Arizona, will be to bring endless pressure on Warner. He's probably the least mobile QB starting in the NFL today, and when he gets pressure in his face, he tends to make poor decisions with the football. I wish Miami had brought more blitz packages at him because he was slicing us apart once he found his rhythm{early in the game} with Boldin / Fitzgerald.... Offensively, I think the Jets will need to control the LOS better, and not be forced to play catch-up like they were on Monday night against the Chargers. Sure, the Jets offense / Favre did a very nice job of moving the football once they were desperate and went to the spread offense, but you can't expect to win games if that's your best / main weapon.... Your running attack needs to have an identity too, and be recognized as a well functioning part of the Jets offense. If you can come out strong, and show the Cards that you can run on them, things should open for Favre to have plenty of downfield success.... Good Luck, just don't tank early like Miami did....
I wanna say Revis and Lowery will play great and neurtilize the pass but i dont think so. Boldin and Fitzgerald are a pretty fierce tandem. By the way we've played so far this season and on D where probally gonna get torched by old man warner and his army. Maybe Favre will throw a TD though
all i know is, if Sutton calls this 3-man-rush-on-3rd-and-7-bullshit he should be fired immediately after the game; or at least wait until middle of the night, Willie Randolph style.
