So Much For The Jets

No, not those jets, these Jets.  The New England Patriots dispensed with their New York/New Jersey AFC East rivals by 37-16 in the first round playoff matchup.  The score was not indicative of the competitiveness of the game, but it was indicative of who was in control throughout.  The Patriots ran the ball effectively, grinding out yard when they had to.  Tom Brady had open receivers and time to throw, unlike the teams' earlier meeting at The Razor.  This time he had it all the way.

After all, when it comes to rating current quarterbacks on pure physical ability, other names will always be mentioned before Brady whereas only one, Peyton Manning, might come up ahead of his when we're talking about the mental aspect of the position.

While the Jets did run up some yards they were stopped repeatedly in the red zone, settling for three field goals.  The lone Jets touchdown came on a 77 yard catch-and-run by Jerricho Cotchery, more of bad tackling and bad coverage than a great play.  Take away that play, and a useless 23 yard gain on the final play of the first half and the Jets were held to 247 yards of total offense.  Okay, I hear you.  "How can you just arbitrarily remove the yards from those plays?"  Doing so gives a better picture of the game's nature, that's how.

And what was that nature?  The Patriots put together a touchdown drive of 10 plays and 65 yards to start the game.  The second quarter saw a 10 play, 56 yard drive for a field goal, then a 15 play, 80 yard drive for a touchdown that used up all but 10 seconds of the second quarter.  The fourth quarter saw a clinching touchdown drive of 13 plays and 63 yards that took 6:32 and left only 5 minutes left for the Jets to try for two touchdowns to tie.  Thats four 10 play drives for scores, three of which were touchdowns.  The Jets had only one 10 play drive for the game, a 13 play drive that ended in a field goal starting off the third quarter.  They were 3 for 4 on third down in the second quarter, but did not convert on third down in the first quarter or the entire second half, 3 for 11 for the game.  The Patriots?  Eleven for 16, including 4 for 4 in the fourth quarter.

That was the game's nature - the Patriots in control, the Jets trying to step up their level, and never quite climbing as high as was necessary.

So it's on to San Diego for the second round, and an afternoon spent chasing the incomparable LaDainian Tomlinson.  They'll have their hands full dealing with him and with Shawn Merriman on defense.

Eh, no worries.  Bill Belichick and Tom Brady will figure out something.

1/7/06 1005: Allah at Hot Air has the video of those final two fateful plays for the Cowboys against the Seahawks.  For what it's worth, it looked to me like the officials got the spot right after Witten's catch in the review.  And it's been some rollercoaster for Tony Romo, hasn't it?

Comments

[Hoodlumman]

I'm not going to whine about officiating but 'conclusive' and 'inconclusive' seem to be objective terms, sometimes.

I'm also not going to whine because that was all Romo on the muff.

I'm also not going to whine because Dallas doesn't deserve playoffs after their last four games of the regular season.