Jets vs. Patriots: Earning Their Wings

Thanksgiving night was not one for the books for the Green and White.

Bilal Powell: Once again Powell showed that he is and will hopefully continue to be a valuable part of the offense. The term “three headed attack” was heralded in the game that saw the Jets win in St. Louis with a (finally) effective use of all three RBs in the proper way. Greene was serviceable in the horrible loss to the Patriots on Thanksgiving night. He found lanes and ran. But Powell was serviceable in a way that shows how the two backs differ: Where Greene throws his shoulder down and runs while falling forward, he usually ends up running into people whereas Bilal Powell runs with force that ends up bringing a few guys with him as he fights for a couple of extra yards. He created the lanes. To me that says something. Whether or not it says anything to the coaches so that we see even more of him and at the appropriate times remains to be seen. Of the three backs, as McKnight was fairly ineffective and even caused one of the many turnovers we saw (Greene was responsible for another), Powell was obviously the back in control last night and had Jets fans screaming for him to be used more. Did I mention he got yet another touchdown? Well, now I did.

LaRon Landry: In an offseason that saw the Jets front office completely fail to address almost all problems and areas in need, there have been just a few shining lights. Landry, known to fans as Dirty 30, is one of those few. A player that is so large and was so injury prone was a big question mark but said mark has turned into a giant exclamation point for a team that was desperately lacking in aggression, especially at the Safety position. Not only is he actually fun to watch on the field, his quotes are media gold and not in the manner that we’ve become slightly used to in terms of reading and then rolling our eyes and saying that the player needs to back up the talk. When it comes to Landry, whose by some grace of glory remained healthy this year, he backs up the talk with his play on the field. The name may not get mentioned all that often but any fan who watches the field can see what 30 has done to change the scope of the defense in almost every game. Add to that Yeremiah Bell who was another pickup at the Safety position that has proven to be an actual good call. Now if only the team had addressed other needs and holes as well as they handled the often-depleted and under-performing Safety position, maybe we’d be seeing another set of stories after every game.

Dustin Keller: Why am I putting anyone from the Offense on here? Honestly, nobody on the team had a stellar game but the O wasn’t as terrible as the score leads people to believe. The turnovers were horrible — and horrifying — but I can’t help but keep coming back to Dustin, who is in a contract year. After a series that led to a 3 and out toward the end of the game, Dustin was seen walking with his quarterback and friend to the sideline. Was he pep talking Mark Sanchez or were they coming up with a plan of attack to put some numbers on the board despite the fact that the Patriots had sealed the fate long before the 4th quarter? We won’t ever know. It also needs to be said that on the bench after that series, when it’s usually only QBs and the QB coach and maybe OC going over the past plays and designing what will be used in the next set, Dustin Keller was sitting in on the little pow wow. The next time the offense took the field, Dustin fought for catches and ended up with a TD in the end zone that slightly lowered the gap and put a teeny tiny band-aid on the gash that wouldn’t stop bleeding until the final seconds ticked down. I’m also putting Dustin here because he took to Twitter to defend Sanchez against the people that were classless enough to boo when the quarterback took an extremely hard hit that had him shaken and limping to the line of scrimmage to continue the series that put those final 7 on the board. Dustin’s a team player and sometimes, especially when all the chips are down, that’s got to count for something.

Honorable mention: D’Brickashaw Ferguson. He blocked his you-know-what off last night and looked like the Pro Bowler we know he is. On a night where we saw big Center Nick Mangold get a little manhandled and thrown around, seeing Brick hold his own (and the men he was assigned to) was refreshing to say the least.

✈ SydneyFind me on Twitter at @SydneyKira1; email: confessionsofajetsfan@gmail.com