Playing to Win1. Some Jets fans will surely lament today's 26-10 victory over an awful Raiders team. While the victory, along with another Houston Texans' meltdown (today with second left they missed a 31 yard field goal that would have sent the game into overtime), ends the Jets hopes for Reggie Bush, I'm a strong believer in winning as many games as possible, especially since I am resigned to Herm Edwards' return as head coach in 2006.
2. Before the game, the Jets announced that Curtis Martin is out for the season as a result of the knee injury he sustained in week 2. All season, I've called on the Jets to allow their backup running backs - namely Derrick Blaylock, Cedric Houston and B.J. Askew - to get some meaningful playing time. But the Jets kept handing off to Martin, despite his obvious ineffectiveness.
3. Playing mostly in the late 4th quarter, Askew - a 2003 3rd round pick who weighs 235 pounds - looked very good today. I've long called on the Jets to give the ball to Askew in short yardage situations. Instead, they've never given him a chance, either because he was another bad pick by GM Terry Bradway, or because the coaching staff always lets their young backs languish on the sidelines. Probably a combination of both.
4. Mike Nugent's first four kickoffs were horrible. Three didn't make it to the 15 yard line, while the fourth was a wobbly kick that went out of bounds.
5. Herm's terrible game management was again on display, this time late in the second quarter. With all three timeouts, the Jets started at their own 47 yard line with 40 seconds left. The first play was an 8 yard completion in bounds, but instead of immediately calling timeout, the Jets allowed an extra ten seconds to go off the clock, finally calling a timeout with only 24 seconds left. They failed to score on that drive.
posted on 12/11/2005
