By now we all know that Rex Ryan has a big mouth, but by Sunday afternoon he was using it more for smiling than talking.
The New York Jets (2-0) head coach led his team to a 16-9 victory over the New England Patriots at Giants Stadium. It was New York’s first home win against their division rivals since the 2000 season.
New England (1-1) did not look at all like a Bill Belichick-coached team. They committed 11 penalties for 89 yards, several of which took them out of scoring position. The Patriots did get into the red zone three times, but were unable to muster a touchdown. This bodes well for a Jets defense that hasn’t allowed a touchdown in eight quarters of play this season.
Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, who was limited to four catches for 24 yards, believes Ryan is the difference maker. Ryan came to New York from the Baltimore Ravens, where for four years he led one of the league’s best defensive units.
“I think that the biggest thing is having Coach Ryan and bringing his coaching philosophy to the Jets,” Moss said. “You got to give credit where credit is due.”
One person Moss was not crediting was Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, who had an interception off a Brady-to-Moss misconnection. Despite being limited throughout the game, Moss wasn’t ready to anoint Revis as one of the best corners in the league. Instead, he threw praise in the direction of the entire Jets team.
“They played some good football today, even on offense, special teams,” he said. “We did some bad things out there, we did some good things, but overall the Jets won. You got to tip your hat to them. I really give them credit today.”
Moss was targeted just once in the end zone, but the pass was broken up by a diving Lito Sheppard, who left the game a short time later with a quad injury.
On the line, the Jets were unable to sack Brady, but they did pressure him often with Ryan’s array of blitz packages. Limiting his time in the pocket translated into less than stellar numbers for the two-time Super Bowl MVP: 23-for-46, 216 yards and an interception.
“I’m sure somebody’s going to talk about the fact that we had no sacks so obviously we’ve got to improve that,” Ryan said.
It was a battle of field goals heading into the locker room at halftime; the Patriots holding the 9-3 advantage. The Jets offense, however, looked like an entirely different group with their first possession of the third quarter. It started with rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez (14-for-22, 163 yards), who drove the team down the field 56 yards and capped it off with a nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dustin Keller. The Jets would tack on two more Jay Feely field goals for the win.
Receiver Jerricho Cotchery led all Jets receivers with four catches for 87 yards, while Leon Washington and Thomas Jones ran for 58 and 54 yards off 14 carries each.
Similar to last week against the Buffalo Bills, the Patriots had one last drive with the clock winding down to get into the end zone. But unlike Monday night, Brady only completed 1-of-5 passes, ending the game on the Patriots’ 28-yard line.
“I thought we had a chance there. We didn’t execute well in that two minute possession,” Brady said. “It’s something that we’ve been good at, but the Jets were better at it today than we were. It’s frustrating because we had some really high expectations for this game. We didn’t put it together very well. We’ll learn from it and get back to work this week.”
There’s no sugarcoating that this win was huge for the Jets. It was the first home game of the Ryan era and last home opener at Giants Stadium. The scenario couldn’t have been more perfect. But despite limiting the Patriots scoring to just three field goals, the Jets defense is not prepared to call this a “statement game.”
“Every game is a statement game,” said linebacker Bart Scott. “We got the Tennessee Titans coming here next week, and we got the New Orleans Saints. We could win these games and lose next week and you could be calling us a bunch of bums.”
Regardless of what Scott thinks, the statement has already been made.
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