No doubt. Injuries affect every team. However, we had the uphill battle to climb, and many of our injuries occurred during the game. For example, when Greene got hurt, we only had one other back on the roster. At least when Powers was out, you knew to dress a replacement. We can blame injuries because they took away our two strengths: running the ball and stopping the pass. Is it the only reason why we lost? Of course not. Is it an excuse? Yes and no. Yes because the injuries clearly hurt our team. No because great teams can overcome them. Whether it was malicious or not, it was a late hit. Any other quarterback in the entire playoffs (except maybe Flacco) gets that call. Well, the Colts were the better overall team. Some people who say take out the quarterback position and the Jets are better, and they might be true, but that's irrelevant because Manning is in, and Manning is a god. The Jets just weren't ready yet. Had Greene and Strickland stayed healthy, we would have had a MUCH better chance of winning because really as soon as Greene left, I was resigned to losing. It doesn't mean we would have won though. We just aren't there yet. We will be very soon, perhaps as soon as next year. Let Ryan add a few more pieces, let Sanchez develop, and give him another tight end and another receiver, and the offense will be solid as well. We didn't have a big margin for error, everybody knew that. When Greene and Strickland went down, that was essentially it.
The hit on Sanchez was blatant AND late. It's not even close. Sanchez looks directly at the backfield ref with his arms open saying "WTF is that" ? If the hit was on Manning, it's a penalty and the NFL Office today issues a press release fining the Jets $25,000 for a deliberate late hit. Manning gets hit by guys who are already off their feet and in the air and it's a roughing call. The guy took 3 or 4 steps and then hit Sanchez. This isn't even debatable. Maybe you could have lied about this 35 years ago when most of us had 19" black and white TV sets but anybody with a 50" HiDef TV saw it clear as day. Not even F****** close.
Totally agree with this post plus what abyzmul said in that first response post, and what Jet Blue said about analysis of the game and nobody getting it.... all
And thank you for that. The part of this that you don't get, and we can't really expect you to get as a Colts fan, is that 9.5 out of 10 of us here knew that we were in trouble when Strickland went down, and knew the game was over when Greene left the game for good.....even though we were leading. This isn't complaining or whining, it is just a simple fact that any Jets fan knew at that time. Colt fans probably didn't think anything of it...Jets fans knew we were done right then and there. The Colts are too good for that not to be the case. What happened? Manning lit up that right side and the #1 rushing team had no running game. Game over. So now you understand our perspective. Does that mean we would have won without these things? Hell no...but it sure would have been a lot more of a fight, and we would have had a chance. Once these happened we didn't. See you next season, cause you can take it to the bank......We'll be back....
No it wouldn't have..... It would have been 15 yards for roughing the passer AND 15 yards for unsportsmanlike contact. I saw the Jets lose a f***** playoff game because Mark Gastineuau hit Bernie Kosar 1/4 second after the ball left his hand. Sanchez didn't have the ball for 2 seconds when he got hit.
We're not dissing your team....we're just trying to make sense of the loss and make ourselves feel a bit better, OK ? We haven't been to the SB in 41 years......we have had a string of QB's who were the 'next Namath' flame out......we had an owner who valued clean toilets over a good team and a homefield advantage....we played in an NFC team's stadium for 27 years.....we see kids coming out of college all the time early and the 1 year when we have the #1 overall pick and PM is a Junior, the SOB decides to get more schooling....Shula and the f***** tarp in '83......Victor Green and Cover-2 in Denver '99......Vinny breaking his ankle 8 months later.....Belichick quitting on us....Vernon Ghoulston..... You get the picture now. LOL
You don't understand their mentality. By not giving the Colts all the credit in the world you've deeply offended their fans. As fans of a team that got no credit for its 2 playoff upsets, we really shouldn't be the ones to give them any credit.
Their imaginary girlfriends have headaches, so they have to do something that constitutes mental masturbation.
Well said and great initial post from Br4dw4y5ux. Thinking about how far we got with a rookie QB, losing Jenkins and Washington early in the season, and everyone doubting the team, I think you're right SOJ is gone. We lost a game we could've won but losing Greene killed us and so did the injuries in the secondary and having multiple players hobbled on the D. Hard enough to beat Manning with a healthy squad, especially when he's on so you have to give the Colts their props, but like others have pointed out for the so called "experts" to say how the Colts stopped the run and not take into account losing Greene who was averaging 4.1 years per carry I believe before the injury is just the usual forgetting the actual facts to make their story sound better. Won't touch on the D because even with healthy DBs, Manning can pick you apart but as it was said, some of the injuries changed our ability to pressure Manning like we did earlier in the game. I'm upset about the loss but very excited about the potential this team has. They not only have talent but chemistry and attitude and with a few good off-season moves we can be even better.
All this injury talk simply highlights the fact that the Jets MUST secure a first round playoff bye next year. This will accomplish two impt things: it'll provide us extra rest and guarantee a home playoff game. Ideally, the #1 seed would be huge. I am TIRED of watching us lose the AFCCG on someone else's field ('83, '99, '10). What type of record do you guys think can give us a #1 Seed? I believe we can get it at 12-4. 13-3 would virtually make us a lock.
But it was what happened away from the football that had Rex Ryan so hot. Melvin Bullitt popped Mark Sanchez as the quarterback carried out his play fake. "You can't see if Mark Sanchez hands the ball off or not," Bullitt explained on the live 'Indy Sports Nation OT' show. "Now what do I look like if I don't hit him and he gets another bomb on us for a touchdown?" I went back and looked at the 'late' hit. Bullit is unimpeded to the QB. He took 3 and 1/2 steps after the ball was handed off. Bullit was watching the handoff and turned his head towards Sanchez after the handoff. Even Phil Simms said it "could have been a penalty". I think he played the game some...
The Jets did a fine job this year with some fairly limited personnel We didn't have a legitimate pass-rushing OLB, heck most of the QB pressure came from our amazing ILB (David Harris) and our safeties! Pace was alright in bursts this year but to become truly great this defense needs an elite pass-rusher like Ware, Abraham (healthy), or pre-injury Merriman. The Jets just need some more pressure off the edge for the long run. Second, as was alluded to in the OP, the Jets need a durable corner opposite Revis. Injuries were common at the #2 CB position and thus there was very little continuity throughout the season. Everybody from Shepard, Lowery, to Strickland had been injured this year. You know the #2 CB is going to see a ton of action with Revis Island shut down, so continuity would be great. I have high hopes for this team in the future- I'm sure the lapses of the defense (particularly through the air) this season will have Rex working hard to make this a defense that even the best QBs will fear.
IMO, Bart Scott's injury was the second biggest setback of the game (next to Greene's). Scott's value isn't in tackles and sacks, mot of us understand that. He knocks the snot out of blocking running backs. He knocks the snot out of tight ends, left tackles, even some guards. That's a pretty rare commodity. Most linebackers, even Ray Lewis, just want to get free so they can make some plays. I think one of the reasons our blitzes were so ineffective was because frankly, the Colts o-line, tight ends and backs had nothing to fear. Pick up this guy, pick up that guy, so on and so forth. Nobody was really thinking, "Bart Scott's gonna knock me out if I don't get in good position." I don't know how to find another Bart Scott; I think he's that rare. He seems like the defensive equivalent of a big power back. Hopefully his will and his body can stay strong for the next few years. I'm convinced the former isn't an issue, but the latter definitely is. Power backs don't last; neither do power backers.
