JETS CAN ONLY LOOK AHEAD, THE DREAM ENDING AS GREENE EXITED

Written by: admin on 26th January 2010

JETS CAN ONLY LOOK AHEAD, THE DREAM ENDING AS GREENE EXITED | read this item

by TJ Rosenthal for Football Reporters Online

Watch the Video Here

(photo: Bill Menzel/NYSportsday)

The Indianapolis Colts earned their second trip to the Super Bowl in the Peyton Manning era with a 30-17 AFC Title game win over the New York Jets at Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday. The Colts will face the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV, one that pits two teams who held onto undefeated seasons longer than anyone else did in ‘09. Perhaps this is how it was supposed to be.

The Jets had hoped to write their own version of history though. The fifth seed who shocked the world with two playoff road wins, were setting their sights on a third. Their toughest task of all. The Colts. A team who had not lost a game with their starters all season. The Jets came close. Real close. Up 17-6 late in the first half, and trailing just 20-17 with the ball to start the fourth, Gang Green’s Miami Super Bowl dreams truly began to die a slow death when RB Shonn Greene got hurt just as the ground and pound began to start churning in the third quarter.

The Jets had the Colts backpedaling before the Greene injury, trailing at home 17-6 with 3:00 left in the first half. Then future hall of fame candidate Peyton Manning stepped up with a quick strike that stole some Jet confidence away. A long hit to Austin Collie put the Colts in the red zone. Manning then hit Collie again for a 16 yard TD on the next play. Boom! Just like that it was 17-13. In the blink of an eye. Twenty seven minutes of work that the Jets and their number one defense put in on Manning’s Colts, now hung by a thread. Momentum was for the first time all day on Indy’s side.

Still the Jets were the ones getting the ball to start the third. Up by four, on the road, and thirty minutes away. A position that all things considered, had to feel good given the notion that they were winning AND held Manning down for a greater part of the first half. Perhaps a typical Jets grind it out drive right out of the gates in the third could shorten the game, while building their slight lead thus putting pressure on the Colts to play perfect the rest of the way.

Operation Ground and Pound got off to a good start in the second half. No, a great start. There was Shonn Greene (10-41yds), coming off two one hundred yard long TD playoff performances heating up. Breaking a 13 yard first down run through the exposed left side of the Colts interior. The offensive line, one sporting two pro bowlers, appeared to be getting into that downhill time of possession, that has made them one of, if not the top units in the NFL. Three minutes were now off the clock as Gang Green crossed the 50. Marching, patiently. methodically. All while keeping the deadly Manning on the sidelines. You could feel the Jets regaining control of a tempo they had lost when Manning raced the Colts down the field with Collie. Then disaster struck.

Every Jet fan on earth had to feel it in the pit of the stomach when Greene was seen keeling over on the sidelines after his third run of the drive. Kicked in the ribs inadvertently by a would be tackler. Greene, the Jets biggest and most consistent offensive threat since the club began gaining steam over the last month, never returned.

Is it too much to say that the game could have played out differently had Greene not exited for good? Maybe. After all, Manning is the one with the decade long hall of fame resume of destroying teams singlehandedly, unmatched by almost any player in history. Greene was just some red hot rookie but one who had given the Jets offense, along with the growing ball security of Sanchez, a new lease on life lately. As Greene headed towards the locker room with trainers he was replaced by Thomas Jones who had been for most of 2009, the main cog in helping to build the ground and pound from the ground up. However, lately Jones had struggled, and In Greene’s absence Sunday, the hammering style vet finished with 16 carries for just 42 yards.

A 2.6 average against the Colts who were the leagues 24th ranked rushing defense this year.

The opening second half drive that saw Greene exit for good, ended with a Jay Feely miss from 52. An attempt that may have been closer had Jones been able to team up with Greene, who had broken two long TD runs both in Cincinnati and San Diego already in the playoffs.. Feely was 1-3 on the day but many fans felt that it was this final attempt that capped the huge emotional swing that the Jets never recovered from. A field goal try that some argue could’ve been avoided by the safer decision to punt.

Still, the fourth quarter started with the Jets down just 20-17. Braylon Edwards (2-100) who caught an 80 yd TD pass from Sanchez to put the Jets up 7-3 in the second quarter became vocal after the game about the Jets losing their aggressiveness on the play calling end after halftime. Edwards also indicated his frustration at not being more personally involved in the second half.

A Wildcat formation turned bomb from all purpose sensation Brad Smith to WR Jerricho Cotchery had set up a Dustin Keller TD late in the second. The play was an example of the bold maneuvers that offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer had sprinkled into the game plan in the early going.

Later on it was Jones. The Jets decision to play it safer by force feeding Jones instead of winning it through the arm of Sanchez and the high risk high reward Edwards to the Colts, in the end, backfired. A Dallas Clark 15 yard TD catch from Manning with 8:52 left put Indy up 27-17. The play essentially sealed a trip to Miami for the Colts.

Dreams die hard , and there is no guarantee that a great year is any assurance that next year will be much of the same. It will take a while to get over the lost opportunity of being THIS close. Of being one half of one game away from the big game. When the dust settles on 2009 however, this Jet season will go down as a wild exciting roller coaster ride that ended with one glorious straight away. Who know , 2009 may even be looked back upon as the beginning of an even greater run. Safety Jim Leonhard said afterwards ” Maybe this football team needed to get here and have this experience in order to take the next step. We thought we were ready this year. Maybe we weren’t.”

The Jets after all were the team that many felt didn’t deserve to even be in the playoffs. The club with the rookie head coach and QB tandem, a pairing that brought with it, an understandable skepticism from the start. Now that it’s over it’s fair to say that these three playoff road games will help rookie Sanchez’s maturation as a field general. One that the Jets haven’t had for an extended period since the guy with the Llama skin rug was guaranteeing Super Bowl wins. Shonn Greene will be right behind Sanchez in the backfield too. The defense? What fun, what swagger, what characters in this group. Not to mention Revis Island. Yes, the D is missing a few pieces. A dominant pass rusher for one. Still, let’s not forget that run stopping killer NG Kris Jenkins will be back in 2010. Then there is free agency and April’s draft.

Yes it all came crashing down Sunday but seasons do that for every team but one. Finally the Jets have a team that fits the personality of this city. Tough, resilient, brash, and above all, entertaining. In a place like NYC where it’s easy to get lost in the endless sea of options to choose from, the Rex Ryan Jets are of those can’t miss shows now. A show featuring a future marquee quarterback and his quotable, built for New York coach, who along with the rest of the 2009 NY Jets cast, have made Gang Green relevant again.

When Shonn Greene went out, one couldn’t help but already start wondering about what might’ve been. Yet now that the offseason has been forced upon the Jets and their rabid fan base, the only way to look is ahead. A forward moving direction that contains within it, a wealth of postseason experience gained by a team that loves it coach. A team that overcame a ton of “backs against the wall” adversity and injuries to key players Leon Washington and Kris Jenkins. A club that knows it now owns some key ingredients needed in order to one day itself become Super. Sunday’s 30-17 loss was a truly disappointing ending, but maybe, this was just the beginning for Rex’s boys. The boys out of Florham Park.

A LOOK BACK AT THREE KEYS TO BEATING THE COLTS:

SLOW DOWN MANNING: Well THAT didn’t work out too well. Manning carved up the Jet D like a surgeon. he did it mostly on throws to Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie in a matchup that the Jet report’s you tube preview highlighted as the key. Backup CB Lito Shephard was not happy watching most of it from the sidelines, even after the injury to starting corner Donald Strickland, and said so afterwards.

DON’T PULL A RAVENS: We said ” Jet defenders will tire chasing this receiving corps if this week is a repeat of last week’s slow start. Move the chains guys.”

The Jets did that , up 17-6 late in the first half. It put them in the drivers seat. Then Manning and Collie rallied them late to make it 17-13. Shonn Greene then got hurt. Game over. Great start though by the Jets O.

BROADWAY BRAYLON: We said “We’re calling for him again. Jones and Greene will pound it, the O line with lead the way. Can you imagine the back pages on Monday with a shot of Edwards holding up the ball after catching the first of two TD passes though? We can. That’s because we see that as one of the ways that the Jets can shock the Colts again. 41 years after the fact.”

Well, Braylon got the first TD. An 80 yard bomb. Oh and he sure was vocal after the game about not being used more, feeling that the Colts still weren’t rolling coverage towards him after the TD. The Jets chose to pound it with Jones instead. Too conservative? Maybe. Rex even said weeks ago that Edwards was poised to break out soon, but the 2009 Jets weren’t ready to risk their season through the deep air.

follow TJ Rosenthal on twitter @thejetreport

Topics: Add new tag, Blink Of An Eye, Collie, Fifth Seed, Future Hall, Gang Green, Hall Of Fame, Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, NFL, Peyton Manning, Photo Bill, Red Zone, Second Trip, Shonn Greene, Slow Death, Sport, Super Bowl, Super Bowl Xliv, Title Game, Undefeated Seasons, Yard Td

Wags says:

January 26, 2010 at 3:26 pm

“Is it too much to say that the game could have played out differently had Greene not exited for good?”

YES!

It might have been closer than 30-17 with a healthy Greene for 60 minutes, but three reasons the Jets would have lost anyway:

1) The Colts’ D slowed the Jets’ running game down enough and Greene wouldn’t have changed that enough to win the game for the Jets. All the talk about the Jets’ top-ranked D, but where’s the respect for a very underrated, and though undersized, very fast Colts’ D?

2) The Jets had no answer at all for Manning once he made the necesary adjustments and got going.

3) Even with Greene healthy for 60 minutes, you eventually have to give the ball back to Manning, and remember, he needed the ball for just 14:53 in an entire game in Miami (Week 2) to post 27 on the board and beat the Dolphins 27-23. And, one TD drive on Sunday was 80 yards in 58 seconds! No amount of ball control by Greene can prevent that. At some point, Manning is getting the ball back and putting up 7’s in a flash while no amount of Ground & Pound can control the ball the WHOLE game, and the Jets, even with a healthy Greene would have settled for 3’s in some cases, and that wouldn’t have kept up with Manning.
Reply – Quote
MarkChisholm aka Shark says:

February 11, 2010 at 12:24 am

Hey Wags,
After watching the SB, I tend to disagree. Greene was arguably the hottest ballcarrier in the playoffs and who’s to say he doesn’t seal it with a long TD run late, just like the divisional round…
Reply – Quote
Wags says:

February 13, 2010 at 12:44 pm

Mark, Peyton Manning, THAT’S who. He wasn’t being denied in that game.

Not sure how could you disagree AFTER the SB?

If anything, the SB showed the strength if the Colts’ run D that much more. The Saints won the SB with their short passing game because the Colts held them to just 51 yards rushing on 18 carries.

As for Greene, against the Colts, yes, he was great going in to Indy, but he wasn’t exactly tearing it up there. He had a very average 41 yards on 10 carries before getting hurt. MAYBE, if healthy, he helps the Jets control the clock more and keeps the game closer. But, you’re sellong the Colts’ run D short. The Ravens, the Jets, the Saints, no one ran on the Colts in the postseason this year. Thomas Jones can still run it and he only went 16-42 in Indy. The Jets’ strength that game was their passing game. Even if Greene helped, he wouldn’t have changed the outcome because Manning was getting the ball back at some point and he didn’t need very long to score on the Jets.
Reply – Quote