Friday Morning Quarterback: New York Jets vs New England Patriots

Sep 12, 2013; Foxborough, MA, USA; New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) drops back to make a pass against the New England Patriots during the first quarter at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

It’s the morning after, gang. It was a tough night in Foxboro for our New York Jets. They hung in there, and to their credit, did not quit all night. However, they couldn’t get a play when they needed one, and fell to the New England Patriots, 13-10. Here’s the recap.

This was a game of missed opportunities, folks. We all know that was the case. It’s not often that Tom Brady is off the mark with his wide receivers that badly. His guys were zigging when they should have been sagging. The reads they were making were not the same as Tom was making, and frustration was setting in with Tom Brady.

The Patriots could not convert on third down either. They were 4-18 on the game, which is about as non-Patriot like as ever. The defense did stand tall, and kept the team in the game, but the Patriots’ offense was not in sync at all. The Jets had opportunities to win this football game. They were there.

But the Jets could not capitalize. Geno Smith was not helped out by his wide receivers last night, period. Clyde Gates had a drop in the end zone. Ryan Spadola had one taken away from him. Stephen Hill had a fumble after a completion out to mid-field. There were drops all over the place, and that never helps, especially with a rookie quarterback out there.

It was a rough night for Geno Smith as well. This was a game where we saw how much of a rookie that Geno really is. The drops affected his decision-making, making him hesitant to throw to these guys at times. He held the ball far too long in the pocket. Geno’s internal clock has to be more consistent than that. He also had some bad throws on his INT’s. The first one, being in the red zone, was a killer. The other two were bad throws as well, not well placed at all. In this league, underthrows are going to get picked off. Regardless of the weather conditions, he has to put more air under those throws.

No doubt, Geno Smith will get better, but throws like that cost the team last night. He took the blame during the post game, to his credit. He finished up 15-35 for 214 yards and three interceptions.

Don’t get me wrong, there were positives last night. We’ll discuss them on the next page.

Sep 12, 2013; Foxborough, MA, USA; New York Jets running back Chris Ivory (33) carries the ball during the first quarter against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Ivory got his game going last night, which was great to see. We saw him running downhill, and he began to look like the guy we wanted to see coming over from New Orleans, running the ball 12 times for 52 yards to lead all running backs on the night. Bilal Powell added 13 carries for 48 yards and one touchdown. As a whole, the Jets recorded more than two times the rushing yards of New England, 129 to 54. It is a great sign moving forward if Ivory and the running game are starting to roll.

Did anyone notice that we didn’t hear Vince Wilfork’s name often last night? Amazingly enough, the reason behind that was Vladimir Ducasse. I have been as big of a critic of Vlad’s as all of you have been, but we have to give credit where credit is due. Vlad took Vince out of plays, often in one-on-one matchups. Great job out of Vlad, improvement is always good.

Aside for a couple of blown coverages, you have to take your hat off to the defense as a whole. They fought the entire night, and continued to give the ball back to the offense with the chance to tie or take the lead. The offense just couldn’t capitalize. Any time, I don’t care about the weather, that you hold the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots to 13 points, you must win that football game.

By the way, good job out of Rex for benching the young Dee Milliner.  He is right, as he said in the press conference, sometimes it is helpful to watch.  He will get better, but right now he is getting beaten badly and needs to not play as many snaps.  Let him alternate with Kyle for a while.

Just as an aside, bad move to lose their cool by D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Willie Colon. Yes, there should have been penalties against New England during the fight as well, but there are no excuses for losing your cool like that, and throwing a punch or touching an official. We can only hope they aren’t suspended for next week’s game against Buffalo.

Fact is this, we are going to endure games like this with a rookie quarterback. Miracles cannot be expected, growing pains are the norm. Geno Smith will have great moments this year, and he will get better. But, he will have bad moments, and three interceptions in the fourth quarter will be up there among the worst.

But, that doesn’t make it any easier to stomach a game against the Patriots that we could have won. Well, onward to next week, where we bring our 1-1 record home to face the Buffalo Bills next week.