Sanchez-to-Holmes flourishing for Jets

MadBacker Prime · Nov 22, 2010

Sorry if it was posted already-

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The situation for the New York Jets wasn't totally hopeless. But it wasn't exactly brimming with promise either: no timeouts, only 49 seconds left and 72 yards to cover after Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez had just thrown a bad interception on the Jets' previous possession.

But now Sanchez was singing to himself, literally "singing to myself," he said, on the sidelines to relax as he waited to get the ball back with the Jets trailing by four. And Santonio Holmes, the receiver who was about to team up with Sanchez to pull out a Jets win for the third time in four weeks, this time after the Jets' defense had pitched in to help blow their 16-point fourth-quarter lead? Holmes was visualizing almost exactly what happened next.

"When we made the [last play] call I was kind of licking my lips," said Holmes, thinking back to how Sanchez saw him cutting toward the left back corner of the end zone and sent a beautiful, looping rainbow of a pass arcing over his right shoulder from 6 yards out with 10 seconds to play, marking the third time in four weeks the two of them combined to lift the Jets to an improbable, electrifying win -- this one a 30-24 comeback over the Texans Sunday at New Meadowlands Stadium.

"Aw, it's just playing football -- just pitching and catching a little bit," Holmes added with a laugh.

Sanchez-to-Holmes wasn't among the most feared passing combos in the NFL six weeks ago. Holmes had just finished serving his league-mandated four-game suspension to start this season, and Sanchez, the Jets' second-year quarterback, was still struggling to keep his completion percentage above 55 percent.

But no passing duo in the league is more dangerous right now.

In little over a month, Holmes has established himself as what Jets linebacker Calvin Pace calls "the home run hitter we thought we're getting" when the Steelers gave up on Holmes and traded their former Super Bowl MVP to New York for a fifth-round draft pick. And Sanchez, now more than ever, looks like the franchise quarterback the Jets projected him to be -- it's just happening faster than even the Jets dared hope.

"You realize this young man, this is just his 25th [NFL] game," Jets coach Rex Ryan raved about Sanchez after the game.

"We'd like to be in the situation where we win these games a little bit easier than we are ... [But] again, if I have to apologize for it every week from here on out I will, all the way to the Super Bowl."
Click to expand...

More here- http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/columns/story?columnist=howard_johnette&id=5836691

I love the line in bold. The Pats can't stop us on the ground, and certainly can't cover all our weapons. SO stop worrying.

grayburn · Nov 22, 2010

I just love the apologizing all the way to the super bowl line. When the jets offense is playing the way they can, I don't believe that there is a team in the league with enough solid cover guys to control them.

Cman68 · Nov 22, 2010

Good thing is, eventually teams will stop stacking the box because if they're daring Sanchez to beat them over the air, Sanchez will accomodate them. This can't help but open up some running lanes for LT and SG23 as long as he keeps the fn ball off the ground..

Sanchez-to-Holmes flourishing for Jets

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Sanchez-to-Holmes flourishing for Jets

MadBacker Prime THE Dead Rabbit

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