Patriots vs. Jets Recap
by Jitesh Gandhi on September 21, 2009 9:22 PM, under Football, Patriots, Sports
I’m disappointed with that loss. It looked like Super Bowl XLII out there. The Jets walked the walk.
There was a lot said about Bill Belichick versus rookie QBs. I wasn’t really buying it. Usually rookie QBs are playing on a bad team. Belichick’s only loss to a rookie QB was against Ben Roethlisberger. Aside from the fact that he has proven to be a play maker, he was playing for a good team. (I can not call him a good QB when the passing playbook consists of 1 play per formation: Run the drawn route, then scramble.) I think Belichick strives when he has more film, not less. Same thing with Mark Sanchez. There is very little film on the guy. Let’s see how he looks in the second half of the season.
Tom Brady was a pinball back there. He wasn’t sacked so much, but he was hit and it seemed like he had little time to throw the ball. Despite that, the game was close. The difference was basically the way the Jets came out to start the second half. They got that quick TD (missed tackle on the long play) and it was enough of a gap. The Patriots could not get it done when they had the chance. Settling for FGs instead of TDs. It probably hurt not to have Wes Welker out there. His replacement for the game, Julian Edelman, had 8 catches, but I heard this morning that he was targeted 16 times. I’m sure they weren’t all drops, but I saw some for sure. Joey Galloway is supposed to be a really good WR, but it seems like his hands are worse than Ben Watson’s have been over the years. Isn’t Galloway a former Seahawk? That could explain it.
The defense did a good job for the most part. They were stopping the run and did well on third down. It certainly is better than was predicted. I would have to put the blame on the offense. They looked like the guys who played the first 54 minutes of the Bills game last week. They won’t be as prolific as 2007, but right now there is a chasm between how they look now and 2007. Surely they can only get (a lot) better going forward. And if the defense is better than expected, this could be a better all around team than 2007.