Jets football blog

Jets win! Jets win!

Darrelle Revis got the Jets' defense in the end zone for the first time this season and helped New York keep its slim playoff hopes alive.

Revis returned one of the Jets' four interceptions 67 yards for a touchdown and New York overcame an injury scare to quarterback Mark Sanchez before holding on to beat the Carolina Panthers 17-6 on Sunday.

Thomas Jones had a 3-yard touchdown run as the Jets (5-6) won at home for the first time since beating Tennessee in Week 3, sending the Panthers (4-7) to their second straight loss.

Carolina had a chance late to make it a one-score game, but Dwayne Jarrett's 28-yard touchdown catch was wiped off the scoreboard when he was called for offensive pass interference. Kerry Rhodes, demoted in favor of Eric Smith, picked off Jake Delhomme on the next play for his second interception of the game to all but seal the win. Continue

Rhodes not starting for Jets

After coach Rex Ryan told Kerry Rhodes that he was demoting him from the starting safety spot he has held with the Jets since 2005, Rhodes did some serious soul searching Tuesday night.

"When I [was told] my mind was going into, 'Well, maybe I should go do some other stuff,' " Rhodes said yesterday. "You just think about a lot of stuff. If your coach doesn't think you're doing enough for your team then you start to question yourself as a player."

Rhodes was signed to a five-year, $33.5 million contract extension in April of 2008, so don't look for him to be transitioning into a new career anytime soon, despite the fact that he's dabbled in some modeling and movies off the field. Continue

Ryan wants hands on approach with Sanchez

Another loss, another shakeup by Rex Ryan.

In a move designed ostensibly to rein in his turnover-prone rookie quarterback, Ryan said Monday he will take a hands-on role in the development of Mark Sanchez. At the same time, the Jets' coach declared he will be more active with the offense, fueling immediate speculation he's unhappy with coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

Ryan said he will be "standing shoulder to shoulder" with Schottenheimer, but he emphasized his new approach "isn't a threatening deal" and is "by no means a slap in somebody's face." Ryan said he was encouraged by Schottenheimer and line coach Bill Callahan to get more involved. Continue

Jets can't right ship vs Pats

The defense Bill Belichick didn’t want to put on the field a week ago kept the offense of the Jets off it Sunday.

Leigh Bodden had three of the four interceptions thrown by Mark Sanchez and the Patriots defense allowed just one touchdown and 226 yards in a 31-14 win. The victory gave them a two-game lead in the AFC East and sent the Jets to their sixth loss in seven games.

Now the critics of the Patriots coach can take a week off.

They questioned Belichick for going for it on fourth-and-2 at his 28-yard line rather than punt to the Colts and hope his defense could stop Peyton Manning last Sunday night. The play failed and Manning and the Colts moved 29 yards to Manning’s scoring pass and a decisive extra point in their 35-34 win. Continue

Different Patriots team this time around

CryGate meets SpyGate.

Sunday is another big Jets-Patriots game and, once again, the focus is on the two coaches. But this time, it isn't about feuds or handshakes or ring-kissing. It's about two polar opposites, Rex Ryan and Bill Belichick who polarized the media and their fan bases by responding unconventionally in two different settings.

Ryan wept in front of his team, Belichick cost his team a game with his bizarre fourth-down decision against the Colts. The critics screamed. Suddenly, Ryan isn't man enough and Belichick is too Manning-obsessed (Peyton, that is). Unwittingly, the two coaches may have galvanized their teams, ratcheting up the emotions for the latest chapter in the Border War.

"We're (ticked), they're (ticked)," tackle Damien Woody said. "Should make for a good game." Continue

Jets as motivated as Pats for rematch

This has not been the most pleasant week for the Patriots.

The fourth-and-2 in Indianapolis has been replayed on TV more than "I Love Lucy," Bill Belichick has faced more bullets than Jack Bauer, and their AFC East lead is just one game over Miami after losing to the Colts.

All this adds up to an even more hostile environment than usual when the Jets travel to Foxborough tomorrow when Gang Green could be catching a very angry 6-3 Patriots team.

"They could be catching us at a bad time," Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards said. "We know what this represents. This is it. It's like the Michael Jackson movie, 'This Is It.' " Continue

Revis ready for round 2 with Moss

Put yourself in this situation: You have a great day at work, maybe your best day ever. You're feeling good, but your competitor questions the performance, calling it misleading. There's no let-up, and you start to wonder if it's a smear campaign.

Now you know how Darrelle Revis feels.

The Pro Bowl cornerback held Randy Moss to four catches for 24yards in the Jets' victory over the Patriots in Week 2, but Moss refused to acknowledge that Revis got the best of him. Now, with the rivals preparing to meet again Sunday in Foxborough, the message from the Patriots is the same. It's like they have affixed an asterisk to Revis' performance. Continue

Sanchez regrets statement

The Jets rookie quarterback was criticized by some members of the media after opening his postgame news conference Sunday by reading from a statement he prepared after losing to the Jaguars.

“I just changed things up a little bit,” Sanchez said Wednesday. “I thought I had everything figured out, of course, as a 23-year-old rookie would, but probably not the best way to go about it. It didn’t go over very well, so, trial and error and hopefully a one-time mistake.”

Sanchez said he sat at his locker after the 24-22 loss and wrote out his thoughts in anticipation of what he might be asked. He then went to the podium and quickly read from the sheet, rattling off specific key plays and offering a summary of what happened in the loss before taking questions. Continue

Leonhard to have surgery on thumb

NY Jets safety Jimi Leonhard was scheduled to have surgery on his broken right thumb Monday night.

Coach Rex Ryan was uncertain of the nature of the procedure, or whether Leonhard might be sidelined this weekend or longer.

"They said when they go in, they'll have a much better idea," Ryan said of the doctors. "They don't even know if they're going to put screws in it, what they're going to do.

"When I heard it, surgery, that doesn't sound good to me." Continue

Ryan pulling out all the stops vs Pats

Who said there's no crying in football?

The Post has learned that Jets coach Rex Ryan, with his team gathered before him for the morning meeting yesterday in the wake of the previous day's devastating 24-22 loss to the Jaguars, delivered an impassioned speech to his players that was so emotionally-charged it brought him to tears.

The memorable moment simultaneously stunned his players and made them want to run out of the auditorium right then and there and board the bus to Foxborough, Mass., for Sunday's last-stand game against the Patriots. Continue