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 Ok, so here we are at the beginning of Week 15 in the season and despite some truly awful performances, the Jets have a legitimate run at the Playoffs this year. In the way in the AFC East are the Patriots and the Dolphins. In the AFC in general are the Jags, Broncos and maybe the Ravens. Tough teams in a tough Conference.
Last night was strange because I didn’t find myself automatically supporting the Colts over the Jags. Sure, Jacksonville remains in the Wild Card hunt in the AFC, but the Jets need to play Indy next week. A win for Indy kept their dream of an undefeated season alive and doesn’t guarantee  that Jim Sorgi et al. will be dressing instead of Peyton Manning next week. That being said, the Jets have the best passing defense and the best rushing offense against a strong opponent. Anyways, I digress.
The win over Tampa was an ‘expected’ one. They were after all an 1-11 team who showed a single flash of brilliance a few weeks ago and have been winless since. In spite of this, the Jets could quite easily have lost this game. It is what we do after all. We beat Houston and Tennessee either side of a win over the Patriots and then proceed to lose twice to Miami and once to Buffalo with another result in the Loss column due to the Jags. Predictable unpredictability.
 Revis showed once more why he is the best cover corner in the league by intercepting another pass in his 3rd consecutive game. Thomas Jones showed once more why he is one of the most underrated running backs in the NFL, Kellen Clemens showed once more why he should not be the starter for the Jets and the Jets showed once more how they get their fans all optimistic before probably folding under the pressure.
Thomas Jones just missed out on another 100 yard game but continues to demonstrate exceptional running ability through the middle and just off the guard position. On his first score, he went basically untouched through to the end zone and his second touchdown was enough to put the game out of reach of the Bucs and the game was over. Different defensive packages and interesting blitzes were the right call against rookie  Freeman. The very first passing play of the game, David Harris picked him off leading to a Jay Feely field goal. Darrelle Revis underlined exactly why he should be taking home the Defensive Player of the Year award and even angry Kerry Rhodes got in on the action. Add 3 sacks and a combined 136 yards for the Bucs on offense and truth be told, Sanchez wasn’t even needed. Rex Ryan made his name with a defense first game plan and I am glad that he is heading back towards this after trying to turn up the gears on a potent but far from finished article in the Jets passing game.
 Tennessee looms for Miami while the Patriots have a fairly straightforward game at the Bills. Atlanta rolls into Jersey this week and debate is whether the combo of Ryan and Turner will start. General consensus points to yes but it is a game time decision in the eyes of Mike Smith. Sanchez had been splitting reps with Clemens this week but took over full time snaps during Friday’s practice which allowed Rex Ryan to let us know what we already kinda knew, Mark Sanchez would play.
This is the business end of the season and the only way I see the Jets not playing golf in January is if they win out. The trickiest game will be at Indy but a lot depends on how hard they want to play. If this is the only thing it comes down to, Ryan will make the Colts earn every yard of the win and I have to feel that Caldwell, Manning and co. would prefer to lose one now than in a few weeks. Tough defense has the Jets winning over the Colts in my eyes. Let’s just hope it works against the Falcons first.
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