Wednesday, February 24, 2010

About over a month ago it was the start of the NFL Pro Bowl in Miami. It was the first year where it was the week before the Super Bowl and not in Hawaii and in the city where the Super Bowl was played.

The Jets had 5 players participate in the Pro Bowl this year. They were lead with 3 Offensive lineman and 2 defensive players. Alan Faneca (guard), D'Brickashaw Ferguson (offensive tackle), and Nick Mangold (center), completed the offensive side for Jets. Darrelle Revis (corner back), and Shaun Ellis (defensive end) completed the defensive side for the New York Jets.

Alan Faneca and D'Brickashawn Ferguson were chosen to be in the Pro Bowl because of there great blocking and creating huge holes for their explosive running backs, in Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, and Shonn Greene. They lead Thomas Jones in having another year over 1,000 yards and helping him to gain 14 touchdowns. Both Alan Faneca and D'Brickashaw Ferguson stayed healthy through out the season and started every game in the regular season as well as the playoffs.

Nick Mangold was chosen to be in the Pro Bowl because partly to his great leading skills in leading the offensive line for the New York Jets, and as well as his toughness, playing with a messed up hand and still playing all 16 games of the season Nick Mangold has to be considered one of the toughest players in the N.F.L. He also was a big part of the Jets being named as the number one rushing team in the N.F.L in the past year and a big part of Mark Sanchez staying healthy through out the whole year.

Darrelle Revis was chosen for the Pro Bowl because of his great athleticism and his lock down defense. Locking down wide receivers as in T.O., Chad Ochocinco, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, and Randy Moss makes him one of the best corners in the league. But locking down receivers is not the only thing he does, he also is a for sure tackler when receivers catch and in open space making receivers yards after catch averages go way down. He also is known as one of the best because of his ability to stay healthy through out a season, never missing a game yet in his young career.

The Jets big defensive end, Shaun Ellis also made the pro bow because of his great leadership, and toughness, helping the Jets becoming the number one defensive of rank in the N.F.L. Even though he did miss one game, he still was up there in tackles and did still have a solid 6.5 sacks, with one forced fumble and one pass deflection. He also came up big in division games, having 20 of his 53 tackles against either the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots, and the Miami Dolphins. He also had 6 out of his 6.5 sacks against those teams as well.









Thursday, February 11, 2010

Over two months ago the New York Jets season came to an end. It was ended when they were defeated by the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game.

The New York Jets lost a heart breaker to the Indianapolis Colts, and was not able to finish their remarkable Cinderella story season. The score of the game was 30 to 17 in favor of the Colts. The score does not reflect on how good the Jets played and how tough the game was for the Indianapolis Colts, and to believe it or not most people were shocked when the Jets took a lead into the second half shocking most of the world.

The first quarter was a great quarter for the Jets, not allowing the Colts to score at all with their explosive offense and their great quarter hall of fame quarterback was a huge confidence booster. Going into the second quarter the Jets shook off their nervousness and began playing with their "swag" again. Even though allowing a Matt Stover 25 yard field goal for the first points of the game, the Jets weren't rattled. Wasting no time, Mark Sanchez and the Jets threw a 80 yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards to give them a 7 to 3 lead. But yet again the Colts marched right down the field, but came short again of a touchdown, which was a great stop for the Jets, and only allowing them to another Matt Stover field goal, from 19 yards out. But yet again the Jets weren't affected by this, every time the Colts were to score it seemed that the Jets always played a little bit harder and had a spark in which they were determined to always score back. So the next possession Mark Sanchez found Dustin Keller, for a 9 yard touchdown pass on a crucial third down and goal. That gave the Jets a 14 to 6 lead and yet again shocking every body in the Colts stadium. And after a Jets defense stop of the Colts on their next drive the Jets took it down the field on the Colts once again but fell a little bit short of a touchdown but capped it off with a Jay Feely 48 yard field goal. But with time still on the clock Peyton Manning drove right down the field in 58 seconds and threw a 16 yard touchdown pass to Austin Collie for the last score and giving the Colts their confidence back going into the second half.

With the start of the second half both the Jets and the Colts had confidence, the Jets in which they had a lead and the Colts, in which they scored to end the first half with last second touchdown pass. But the third quarter was the Colts quarter. With a quarter that involved great play of defenses from the Jets and Colts, both teams found it hard to find their rhythm that they had in the second quarter, but with a late quarter touchdown, by a Pierre Garcon 4 yard reception from Peyton Manning gave the Colts a huge confidence booster and was probably the turning point of the game. And now the Jets were trailing 20 to 17 going into the final quarter of the game.

The Jets started the fourth quarter on the offensive side, but yet again getting stopped with no points, and their offensive struggles continued. Meanwhile the Colts were on fire and the Jets had no answers. On their first offensive series in the fourth quarter, Peyton Manning caped off a 3.33 minute drive by throwing a 4 yard touchdown pass to P. Garcon. The Jets were down now by 10 with a score of 27 to 17. And now you can tell the young New York Jets were in deep trouble and were in panic mode. With their defense tired and their offense very flat, the Jets had no answers. With another 3 and out, the Colts got the ball back, and yet again the Colts caped off another long possession with points by a Matt Stover field goal, which put the game out of reach with a 30 to 17 lead. This made the Jets and Mark Sanchez in desperate mode and were forced to try and make big plays but the Colts stopped that with a interception late by Hayden to end and crush the Jets dream.

Peyton Manning was 26/39 with 377 yards passing, with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. With that Peyton Manning has thrown for 300 yards for 7 post season games, which passes Kurt Warner and Joe Montana for the most all time. With his top wide receiver, Reggie Wayne being on lock down by Darrel Revis, Peyton Manning completed 22 of 26 passes to WR's Pierre Garcon ( 11 catches, 151 yards) and Austin Collie ( 7 catches, 123 yards) and Tight End Dallas Clark ( 4 catches, 35 yards).

Mark Sanchez was 17/30 with 257 yards passing, with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. With that Mark Sanchez had one of his best games throwing wise and making big plays. With his powerful runners in Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones getting stuffed, Mark Sanchez was in a position to play big and he did not disappoint, with a red zone touchdown pass to Dustin Keller on third down and a 80 yard touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards, Sanchez only made one mistake by throwing a interception late, but had no choice where the game was pretty much over. All in all, it was a great learning experience for Mark Sanchez and the Jets, and will hopefully have better luck next year.