This loss stung. There was plenty of good to take away from it, since it wasn't supposed to be a game, and the first half made it look like it wasn't going to be a game, but the Jets nearly came all the way back to tie. But it's still a loss, and it stinks to lose...especially to the Patriots for the 7th time in a row.The Jets are getting killed by the fact that they have no running game. Honestly, they got lucky that they got so close in the end, because Chad Pennington got to the point where he was just tossing the ball up, and Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles made outstanding plays to turn short gainers into quick touchdowns, while Pennington was just avoiding a blitz. Pennington sells a play-action fake as well as anyone in the league - but the Jets have no running game at all, and teams are going to do what the Patriots did on Sunday - play the pass constantly, because the Jets' running game won't hurt you. I'm not even going to make a case for Cedric Houston this week, because there's no way he can be effective either, the way the Jets' O-line is playing. (And I forgot to mention this, but the Jets lost Pete Kendall to an injury last week in Tennessee - that doesn't make matters any better.)
The running numbers this week:
Barlow: 14 rushes, 42 yards
Blaylock: 6/7
Washington: 1/0
Askew: 1/0
The Jets' defense played well again, but allowed the Patriots to march down the field and score a little too easily a couple of times. The worst thing that happened to the Jets this week was the Ben Graham punt right before halftime, which went about 10 yards, and allowed the Patriots to add 7 instead of pinning them deep, going into halftime down 10-0...it became 17-0, then 24-0 early in the 3rd.
There's definitely reason to feel this could be a promising season, especially with how bad some of the other supposedly good AFC teams have looked. Miami fell to 0-2, playing an awful game against Buffalo, who the Jets will match up with next week (and the Jets have looked better than Buffalo - they need to make a statement and win that game handily next week). Denver, for the second week in a row, looked horrid, squeaking out a win against the Damon Huard-led Chiefs at home in overtime. So there's hope that the Jets could put together a decent season - but I'd feel a lot better about things if the Jets didn't give up so many points early - and instead of coming back from a huge deficit were able to keep pace with the Patriots throughout the game.
By the way, Tom Brady made some uncharacteristic mistakes in this game - mostly in the second half - throwing an interception to David Barrett, and losing the ball on a sack late in the game. The Patriots are a shaky 2-0 right now...but they're still 2-0.
Chad Pennington had his second 300-yard passing day - mostly thanks to the yard-after-catches by his receivers - but he was a (mostly) mistake-free 306 yards, with 2 TD's and 1 INT. He was sacked 4 times, but that's due to the offensive line, which still has a lot of work to do. The Jets NEED to beat Buffalo next week.
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