Jets Win, Bring Life to 2024

Edition #734

Good morning!

For 30 minutes the Jets looked exactly how we thought they’d look this year.

The coverage was tight, the pass-rush was ferocious and the passing attack was finding the end-zone. For 30 minutes the Jets allowed us to believe.

I don’t know if this is a small blip in a season of disappointment or if the Jets will go on a run for the ages. I said last week they’ll need to win 3-4 in a row before I start believing again, well they have that first one.

"For this team to have the resiliency to come back and play the way they did against a really good opponent... I'm proud of them." - Jeff Ulbrich

They’ll now face the 4-4 Cardinals, 4-4 Colts, 4-4 Seahawks and 2-5 Dolphins.

Is it possible? Absolutely. But they need to show more before we start believing it’s likely. We also need to get healthy and the 10 day break will give us an opportunity.

But let’s celebrate today, it’s a victory against a good team. A flawed team, but a good team. Remember we lost against potentially the worst team in the league last week, so why not celebrate these victories.

We don’t get to celebrate victories very often, so I’ve opened this post up to everyone.

You can’t start anywhere else but Garrett Wilson and his two ridiculously good catches. Wilson has been carrying this offence and he continued his strong season last night with a 9 catch, 90 yard performance with two touchdowns out the top drawer.

"Oh, my goodness," interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said. "I mean, I was talking to the ref when they were reviewing it. I'm like, 'Just for the sake of posterity, you have to let it stand just so it goes down in history.' It would rival the Odell catch. It was amazing."

One shin = two feet according to the NFL.

Which came shortly after this absolutely stunning one handed catch to get the Jets on the board.

I’m not sure what Ulbrich and Downing said at half time, but the offence came out with a lot more energy. They ran the ball well, they used some mis-direction, Rodgers wasn’t missing the passes he was in the first half and dare I say it…it looks like a cohesive unit. Which is strange considering we had Max Mitchell in there at the end and Olu Fashanu playing guard for the first time in his life. Outside of the one holding call which was soft, I thought Fashanu looked outstanding inside. The way the offensive line picked up that blitz on the final touchdown (below)…

When it’s working it looks damn good. Adams and Rodgers haven’t been on the same page since the former Raider headed east, but last night you saw signs that connection was regaining its signal. 7 catches, 91 yards and that touchdown that put the icing on the cake.

It could have been even better had Corley not dropped the ball before breaking the plain. He’s not the first young player to do that and he won’t be the last. It doesn’t matter how many times it happens, players still let the ball go before the line. That negated a Jets touchdown and the first touchdown of Corley’s career

Here’s what Ulbrich had to say "definitely frustrated, to be honest -- and angry at the same time. But what an amazing opportunity for this kid to learn and grow from. I promise you, 10 years from now when he's still playing in this league, that will never happen again."

But enough about the offense, they put in a good 30 minute performance. The defence stood on its head, and kept the Jets in the game when the Texans could have broken it open in the first half.

Joe Mixon went for over 100 yards but the Jets kept Stroud to under 200 yards passing and sacked the star QB 8 times, and the pressure came from absolutely everywhere. 2 sacks for Sherwood, 2 sacks for Clemons, 1.5 for Quinnen, 1 for Reed, 1 for Thomas and 0.5 for Haason Reddick.

But that 0.5 for Reddick really doesn’t do him justice, he was in Stroud’s face all night. He and Quinnen Williams combined for 2 sacks and 13 pressures, that combination was near impossible for a porous Houston line to deal with. ]]

I know Reddick is not a well liked man around these parts, but he’s starting to show his value. Which makes you wonder what could have been if he was in from the start. You also think what could have been had the Jets got by the Broncos and Patriots by making a couple of kicks. Sitting at 5-4 instead of 3-6.

The coverage on the backend was good, although Sauce got called for 2 more holds. That’s six flags on #1 this season through 9 games, he got 5 all of last season. He also gave up another big completion and missed another tackle. I’m not sure what’s wrong with Sauce this season, the expectations for him are so high and he’s struggling to hit those heights.

But DJ Reed continued to stake his claim to the CB1 title with the Jets,

We’ll leave that one there for now. I’m keeping it positive today, how often do we get to enjoy a victory. This is the first one in over a month, so let’s enjoy it.

• Jeff Ulbrich confirmed the focus coming out of HT was to establish the run game - "We came in at halftime and we knew the run game was rolling, and we just came out and tried to establish that," Ulbrich said. "Once we got that going, it just opened up the pass. It lightened up the box and gave Aaron a chance to operate, and he did what Aaron does."

• I think we’re starting to see the best of Tyron Smith as the season progresses and I’ve got a lot of time for the job the offensive line did last night, at one point we had four tackles and a centre on the line - "The performance by the O-Line is a testament to Keith [Carter] and a testament the guys that we have," Ulbrich said. "And the fact that guys were able to play as well as they did. Olu practiced at guard very very little, so for him, especially as a rookie, to play a position that he isn't familiar with it was exceptional."

• Aaron Rodgers was awful in that first half, he matched a career low for passing yards and missed on a number of throws, he wasn’t hiding from that after the game - "I mean, I was terrible, We had a touchdown called ... you know, taken off the board, silly play [Malachi Corley's 'fumble' as he crossed the goal line]. But I feel like the energy was good at halftime. Morgan [Moses] gave a little speech, which was good. We all kind of were positive talking. Nobody was isolating at halftime. And we just knew, hey, let's go out and score every possession."

• Rodgers also reserved a lot of praise for the offensive line who held the #3 ranked sack defense to just 2 sacks of Rodgers despite fielding 4 tackles - "I got to give Max a lot of credit," Rodgers said. "Max played a ton of tackle for us last year, and I believe he played, I remember he served maybe a little bit of right guard. I don't know if he ever played any left guard. So for him to step in like that was fantastic. And Olu, I don't know how many reps at guard and can't, but it can't be many, if any." He added: "And he's with an absolute legend of a human being on the right side in Morgan Moses. I mean, Morgan and [LT] Tyron Smith, I thought played really well, but more than that, their energy and their confidence and their leadership was really special tonight."

• It’s one step in the right direction - "We needed to, and we really wanted to, get in the win column," Wilson said. "Losing that many games in a row, it felt exactly how you'd expect it to feel. We are better than we have played and tonight was the time to go prove it. It is a good win because it gets us started on what we have been preaching and talking about within the facility."