Last week against the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Jets escaped. They played a pedestrian game, and were dominated in many aspects until the fourth quarter when quarterback Tony Romo gift-wrapped a couple of turnovers, rung the bell, and left them at the Jets' doorstep.
So, the question remains…do the Jets realize they tiptoed out of MetLife Stadium last Sunday quite fortunate to be 1-0, and thereby redouble their efforts? Or do the Jets maintain they'll figure out a way to emerge on top, as they do often, when the ante is raised and the game is on the line? Oh, they say all the right things. When you allow a team to torch you for 390 yards, you can't take a public position that reflects a dominant defense. When your rushing game nets less than 50 yards, even the most confident can't point to the ground and pound legacy. And, beyond the punt block which garnered all kinds of praise for the special teams, the Jets looked deficient on kickoff returns. The three areas of play in which the Jets are most secure were soundly thrashed last week.
So, in march the Jacksonville Jaguars, a decidedly unspectacular team with few expectations. But they do possess a defense capable of suffocation. They rendered one of the league's best rushers, Chris Johnson, invisible last week. And they have a punishing back in Maurice Jones-Drew that can make a defense that's not paying attention suffer.
The Jets seem to depend on obstacles, manhood challenges, and adrenaline rush for their success. Here's hoping they take the Jaguars seriously, and we're not struggling through a 13-10 game midway through the fourth quarter. Eventually, those games will end up biting you in the backfield.
Glenn Vallach has been a football fan for most of his lifetime, but never played organized pigskin unless you consider the thousands of youth hours running slant routes on city streets with a friend serving as Joe Willie. Don Maynard was his idol, an adulation he took seriously, complete with a number 13 stitched to his sweatshirt. In later years, he modernized his admiration and included Wayne Chrebet. Receivers—always receivers. He remains a New York Jet fan through so much disappointment and embarrassment over the years. Coach Rex Ryan has rekindled a dormant fire, but sometimes he feels as if he doesn't understand the likely end result of all his efforts. It has been 42 years, after all.
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