I was all set to sit here and write about how nicely the team bounced back from last week's 41-0 beating by Jacksonville. For a while it looked like the offense didn't respond well, but then Chad Pennington had two strikes to Laveranues Coles, and with the defense coming back nicely after allowing 41 points, and holding the Dolphins to 3, the Jets were on their way to a big win.
But - whoa - wait a minute.
There go the Dolphins straight down the field two (and a half) times, nearly coming back to tie the game. (I doubt I was the only Jets fan thinking about Dan Marino in 1994 - the fake spike game.) Olindo Mare missed the long field goal once the defense toughened up and actually stopped the Dolphins' progress. Like the Buffalo game, this is one that shouldn't have been as close as the final score was.
But it's not all the defense's fault - the offense didn't put the Dolphins away. On third down and short on the Jets last possession, they took a shot down the field, but Pennington badly overthrew his receiver. The Jets will say, at least we took a shot at putting the game away, but I say - they shouldn't have needed a third down bomb - they need to develop a running game, get a few first downs, and run out the clock. They need a back like Curtis Martin to do this.
Speaking of which, earlier this week I heard Martin was coming off the PUP list this week, meaning he could return sometime this season. I haven't heard anything about that since. I wonder if it's actually going to happen this year. I think the deadline for that is this week - so we'll see if it happens in the next day or so.
Anyway, it was a win for the Jets in a game they needed to win. And it's the first of the three must-wins these next few weeks before the bye week. Also, it makes the Jets 2-1 in the division, important if the Patriots should slip their hold on the division - and it could make the Jets' first game after the bye (at New England) huge.
Next week the Jets host Detroit. Gotta focus on baseball for now.
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