I am by far more optimistic than the average poster here. This is why I'm largely looking past the woes on offense and focusing on the defense. For the most part, I was satisfied. The Pats have a really good offense, so even allowing 27 points (three of which are really the fault of special teams because the Pats had such good field position on the final score) isn't great, but maybe passable.. But on that final drive, the Jets knew Green-Ellis was going to run the ball almost every play, and they didn't stop him. Green-Ellis isn't Jim Brown in his prime, either--he's solid, but very stoppable. And the Jets, a team built around the concept that a great defense and a so-so offense can win you a Super Bowl, allowed him to run right over them. This more than anything tells me we don't have it this year. All day the defense was crossed up on substitutions, horrible on third down, and took tons of penalties, and then when it mattered most they couldn't give their offense a chance to win the game. Now, things can change. Maybe we take care of the Dolphins and use the bye to regroup. But right now, that final Pats drive tells me that this is a team with an above average defense and below average offense, and that just equals one average team.
Brady basically played "pick your poison" game there. Remember, Pouha and DeVito weren't even in most of the snaps during that drive. (when they did go in, they stopped BJGE.) So what would you have done differently? Brady is sitting in the gun, with receivers spread out on the field. Do you defend the pass or run?
eric smith looks terrible this year! how about a shakeup on defense? start wilson and revis at corners, with pool and cromarte at safety? at least cro has size and speed to cover the te down the middle. as for the edge on the run game, move some guys around until you can get two dependable olbs to stop the runs around the edge.
It's easy to play defense when the offense has 7, 3 and outs against the worst D in the league. Certainly, put this game on the defense when there were 4 possessions in the heart of the game where the offense could have taken charge but didn't and the defense held the Pats. Makes sense to me to blame this on the defense.
there was at least three times in the game when the offense scored to get close and the defense could not stop the pats running game. missed tackle were rampant, even is the pass defense.
The Jets' defense allowed the Pats to mount a touchdown drive 5 minutes into the game, and another one to start the half. Your defense should have had plenty of rest, energy, and time to prepare for both of those drives. They simply did not execute. Some of you are way too quick to absolve your defense of all blame with excuses like "they were completely gassed, because the offense couldn't stay on the field".
you are right. your defense did enough to keep our offense in mostly 3 and outs. meanwhile, ours missed tackles and couldn't get off the field enough.
I'm not blaming the defense, but that last drive was more disconcerting than the offense's performance, which at this point is to be expected.
I don't get this notion that only one person gets the blame. "How can you blame Sanchez? Schottenheimer sucks!" "How can you blame the defense? The offense sucked!" etc The defense failed us when we needed them to step up and make a play. We allowed 321 yards passing, and 152 yards rushing. We did force one turnover, if you call Hernandez dropping the ball in the endzone making a play. Give Cromartie credit for catching the ball off the deflection, certainly, but it shows just how close the defense was to allowing 37 points. And the last drive of the game, all we were asking the defense was to make one stop. Not even a three-and-out, just a stop. We could have even allowed them to move 35 yards or so, we had enough time and field to give that. Yet, we had no answer until it was too late. Blame is a shared thing. The offense takes the brunt of it. Anyone who disagrees with that doesn't have a clue. But you win as a team, and you lose as a team. After the Ravens game, if this thread were started, it would be idiotic. The defense more than did its part that game, and if the offense weren't inept, we would have had a chance. The defense did a pretty good job today for the most part. But stop so many making excuses. If the offense were better, would the defense have played better? Yes. They would have been on the field less, be fresher, and have had better field position to work with. Is the offense the primary reason we lost this game? Absolutely. But the defense allows teams to have these late, back-breaking drives way too often for what Rex tells us every year is the best defense in the league. They allowed 500 yards when you include all the penalty yards they gave up. Saying they deserve criticism is completely valid.
Maybe you can't read. The Jets defense was on the field too much. The Jets offense was playing against a shit defense and could not take advantage. I am not absolving anything but I can watch and dissect a fucking game...............So don't give me your bullshit that the defense lost it.
I didn't say that. And maybe I was wrong to specifically quote you, because I haven't really read through all you posts. But the idea that the Jets' defense played a good game, but were just on the field too much seems to be a common theme among posters right now. That simply does not correlate with the a simple analysis of a play-by-play recap. The fact is, the Jets' defense really didn't play much better at the points in the game where they would be expected to be energetic and prepared than they did near the end of the game when you could reasonably use that excuse. The Patriots had drives of 60 yds or longer in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarter. As I just stated, they also scored touchdowns on drives that started 5 minutes into the game and immediately after the halftime break. There is no reason why they should have been worn down at those points in the game. I am not saying this as an "argument" against anything you (Miamipuck) said, just as a general response to what I have been reading. It is easy to use TOP and say that the offense fucked over the defense, but I'm not sure the correlation is really that strong, or that the defense doesn't have its own share of blame in the TOP differential.
Because, in madden...right... when u play defense and let your guys not play. You can get the energy bars up to 100% green. Look, I can't believe that some of you guys actually think that a 5 min. rest will give some 250 -300lb guys energy after running around for a few hrs. Yeah, these guys are incredible athletes but this isn't a video game.... .... and let's not forget the mental aspect of when your offense constantly putting you back on the field after just getting your ass to the bench. Now, we can talk about stepping up to the plate and the will to get it done but at the same time you can't completely ignore what happened previous to the last five minutes.
The last quarter woes on defense is all on the offense. 7 3 and outs is what gets any defense gased. By the last drive, the defense was beyond tired and esentially, couldnt stop a nose bleed. Our defense played well. If it wasnt for a few garbage plays- revis penalty with branch, stricklands penalty on hernadez who was about 5 yards from being able to catch the ball and possibly wilsons penalty- i think they played extremely well
But if I criticize the defense, I need to mention that caveat. Other people criticize the defense without that caveat, and they get killed. It's just annoying. Kind of like how if you criticize Sanchez at all, you have to say "I still believe he is growing and he will get better" or you get immediately flamed.
