W2W4: Pittsburgh Steelers vs New York Jets

behindthesteelcurtain

By Nick Ziegler (@Ziggy26x)

October 13^th, 2013

W2W4: Pittsburgh Steelers vs New York Jets

The New York Jets will be back home on Sunday afternoon after a great win on Monday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons to host the (0-4) Pittsburgh Steelers, who are coming off a bye week from their loss in London England against the Minnesota Vikings.

- Barnes to IR

In the win against the Falcons the Jets did suffer a pretty big loss in the fourth quarter, as Linebacker Antwan Barnes had his knee buckle while rushing Matt Ryan, and will be out for the rest of the season. Barnes has played in 41% of the Jets snaps this year, as they have been using him as a pass rush specialist, and he was producing quite well in the role, with two sacks, and a team-leading 12 hits on the Quarterback. To replace Barnes the Jets resigned Linebacker Ricky Sapp, who was waived by the team on Saturday.

Jets Take Advantage of Bucs Mistakes

By Ryan McDonald (@RonnieMac90)

The New York Jets defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 18-17 on Sunday. Nick Folk kicked a game winning 48 yard field goal after the Jets capitalized on Lavonte David's personal foul penalty. As Geno Smith ran out of bounds, David unneccessarily pushed him, drawing a 15 yard penalty which put the Jets in field goal range with 7 seconds left.

-Positives:

The Jets defense picked up where they left off last season, stiffling the Bucs offense. They held Doug Martin to 24 rushes for 65 yards. Josh Freeman completed less than 50% of his passes for 210 yards. This is the type of defensive performance the Jets would like to see every game but it's worth noting that the Bucs offense didn't look stellar to begin with.

Geno Smith started and won his first NFL game. Smith went 24-38 with 256 yards and one touchdown and interception. Smith also scrambled 6 times for 47 yards, which made him the Jets leading rusher. Smith wasn't known for his running ability but he proved he could gain some yards if left unattended. Smith did seem to struggle with pressure but what rookie doesn't, with experience he'll hopefully get used to it. It's also worth noting that the Bucs secondary, with Revis, looks to be one of the best in the league.

Kellen Winslow recorded 7 catches for 79 yards. Winslow was Geno's favorite target as he was targetted 8 times. Winslow played well, and was able to separate himself from the Bucs linebackers fairly easily. It's a good sign and as long as Winslow stays healthy they'll have a satisfactory receiving tight end.

-Negatives:

One of the question marks to begin the season was the running game of the Jets. After week 1, those questions remain. Geno Smith, their rookie quarterback, was their leading rusher. Bilal Powell ran the ball 12 times for 29 yards and Chris Ivory had 10 rushes for 15 yards. The Jets could be one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL this season. It certainly doesn't bold well for Rex Ryan's mentality of ground and pound. This will also put additional pressure on rookie quarterback Geno Smith.

Santonio Holmes only caught one pass for 13 yards in the entire game. Holmes simply didn't look the same as he used to pre-injury. He was only targetted 3 times, and couldn't lose his defender often. Hopefully Holmes will improve with time.

Antonio Cromartie struggled against Vincent Jackson. Jackson had 7 catches for 154 yards and beat Cromartie for big plays on 3rd down especially. It's a glaring concern as Cromartie is now the Jets best cover corner and if he cannot take away the opposition's best receiver, it will be a long season. Cromartie did well last year as the Jets best corner after Darrelle Revis went down. It was hoped he could repeat that performance, but he is off to a shaky start.

-Expectations:

Geno looked much better than expected giving hope to Jets fans everywhere. However, this isn't the team that dragged Sanchez to two AFC title games. The talent around Geno simply isn't there. Geno doesn't have the weapons around him like Sanchez did in 2009, nor the running attack. If the defense doesn't hold the opposing team to under 20 every game, it's going to be a long season.

The Jets play at the New England Patriots on Thursday.

2013 NFL Previews: New York Jets

By Kenneth Teape (@teapester725)

With training camps opening throughout the NFL the past week we will take a quick look at previewing some teams for the upcoming season; giving a rundown of the 2012 one, some off-season moves and an outlook of this season. It is time to get excited as there will not be another Sunday without NFL football until February 2014. Here is the 2013 preview for the New York Jets.

New York Jets AFC East (6-10)

2012 was a rough season for the Jets as they looked to have hit rock bottom. They made headlines before the season by trading for Tim Tebow, the second consecutive time they traded for a big name quarterback following a New York Giants Super Bowl victory. The Jets were able to stay in the limelight during the season but not for anything positive.