J Schil's Blog

You have to give it to the Miami defense.

While the Jets were able to move it late in the game, and stay in this game as a result, the Dolphins D made the stand when the Jets had it on the 12 yard line, when they needed to most.

The Jets couldn’t get it done, and the Dolphins could.

Two things:

1) The Jets special teams seem to have a game like this about once a season — where they give up 1-2 kickoff returns for touchdowns. It’s horrible — but Mike Westoff is so good you can’t really get mad at him, and he seems to have it fixed by the next week.

2) All those two-point conversions, especially the last attempt…that was a controversial, questionable penalty call there on the successful conversion which could have made it 30-27 and completely changed the play calling and expectations on that final drive.

So the Jets go to 4-4, and into a bye week, which some tuning to do, because they need to attack this 2nd half of the season with fervor if they want to get a playoff berth and basically go 6-2 for any sort of chance.

Shut Up and Win!

My Prediction:

Miami 14

Jets 21

It’s hard, as a diehard fan of a team, not to feel horrible when one of your star players, one of the really good guys around, gets seriously hurt. So reading this blog post from Rich Cimini was very sickening, to be honest:

Jets RB Leon Washington is out for the season after breaking his right leg today against the Raiders. Washington suffered a fractured fibula that required emergency surgery. According to players, the bone broke through the skin. One player said, “I could see blood spurting out. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” It could be a career-threatening injury.

….

If he’s sideline for a lengthy period, Washington will be second-guessed for not accepting the Jets’ proposed contract extension. The deal that was on the table at the end of the preseason included $5 million in guarantees, plus another $5 million guaranteed for injury protection.

Washington rolled the dice, deciding to play out the final year of his current deal ($535,000). Under the current CBA, he will be a restricted free agent.

Rex Ryan just confirmed what Profootballtalk.com had reported:

A league source tells us that Washington suffered a fractured fibula in the first half of the Jets’ Week Seven game against the Raiders. Washington will have surgery in Oakland because the bone broke through the skin, raising fears of infection. He’s expected to be back to full strength in 2010, with a projected recovery time of 12 weeks.

The running game will probably be OK, but the receiving and return game will be very negatively affected. It’s going to be a long rest of the year for the Jets. They can still win — we saw how good Shonn Greene can play today — but this injury probably cost the Jets 2-3 wins.

Leon has a murky contract situation — he’s playing in the final year of his rookie contract making $553,000 — and his prospects for free agency are affected by what happens in the labor situation.

All I can say is let’s just hope for the best for Leon and his family.

The Jets need to win tomorrow. It’s a must-win situation. You can’t go to 3-4 after starting 3-0. This Jets team is too talented (yet banged up, I’ll admit that) to do that. Rex Ryan knows he’s been running an undisciplined, underachieving team of late, and seeing another game like that may be the end of any playoff hopes.

Look for Mark Sanchez to have a big game, the defense to get pass rush, and a victory to come — hopefully.

My Prediction:

Jets 31
Oakland 17 (I wish I could make this winning margin be bigger, but it is the Jets unfortunately.)

1) Jerricho Cotchery and Brad Smith are both out for the Jets on Sunday against the Raiders. Lito Sheppard is out as well on the defensive side of the ball. That leaves Braylon Edwards and David Clowney as the only full-time wide receivers for Mark Sanchez.

2) The two players involved in the overtime skirmish, James Ihedigbo and Marques Murrell, have both been fined and benched for Sunday’s game.

3) According to Rich Cimini:

Ryan is fed up with the unusually high number of penalties and he’s cracking down. If a player commits a penalty in practice (there are officials on hand, in case you’re wondering), he gets pulled out of the team drill and is required to run a sprint or perform up-downs.

I hope it works.

Can it really get any worse? Can it really get any worse?

From the Daily News’ Rich Cimini:

The early indications are that NT Kris Jenkins has suffered a season-ending knee injury. Rex Ryan said after the loss that it’s “probably severe,” but he didn’t want to say anything definitive until an MRI exam is taken. But people familiar with Jenkins’ injury say he suffered ligament damage and the fear is that he’s done for 2009.

Worst game ever that I’ve seen where my team actually had a chance to win.

Need I say more?

Time is short, here’s the prediction

Bills 20
Jets 31

Just what you want to see from your head coach after an embarrassing loss (especially on the defensive side of the ball) on Monday night. From the NY Daily News:

Rex Ryan, taking the fourth-quarter meltdown as a personal insult, lashed into the defense behind closed doors, according to several players.

“When you see him emotional that way, you know you were pretty pathetic,” said safety Kerry Rhodes, who described Ryan’s rant as “PG-13 . It wasn’t R-rated, but there were a few more expletives than PG-13.”

You can read more at the link given above but I think you can get the picture: they aren’t happy.