Jets Already Exceeding Expectations After Two Dominating Wins

Darrelle Revis (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

I’ll be the first to admit it, I was wrong. I completely under estimated this Jets team. Before the season, I predicted that the Jets would fly under the radar and surprise a lot of people with a 9-7 record. But after their 20-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night in dominating fashion, the Jets are better than what even I had expected.

Before the season started, I think most people had the Jets losing this game. Even coming into the week the Jets were six point underdogs. The Jets had no business winning this game as it was the Colts’ home opener and they were still looking for their first win.

This win was huge for Gang Green because it was arguably their hardest non-divisional game all season. Let’s take a closer look at how the Jets were able to come away with the victory.

1. Defense – The defense was just unbelievable. Five turnovers in back to back games for a total of ten turnovers in their first two games. And in case you were wondering, the Jets forced 13 turnovers all of last season. The defense obviously won Monday’s game. They were in the backfield on what seemed like every play; putting pressure on Andrew Luck and forced him to make very difficult throws. After they forced five turnovers against the Browns last week, people thought it would just be a one game thing because it was Josh McCown followed by Johnny Manziel. But this one was for real. Andrew Luck is the most talented young quarterback in the NFL and the Jets made him look like a backup. Just a very impressive performance by the defense.
2. Ryan Fitzpatrick – I think we all under estimated Ryan Fitzpatrick. He has had two above games this year. Granted the first was the Browns and the second was against a depleted Colts’ secondary, but impressive performances nonetheless. In Monday night’s game, he was 22/34 on passing for 244 yards to go along with two touchdown passes. Was it a dominant performance? Absolutely not. But he scored when he needed to. When the Colts opened up the 4^th quarter with a touchdown to cut the Jets lead to 10-7, the feeling was that the Colts were going to complete the comeback and the Jets’ offense was going to come up short. But on the next drive, Fitzpatrick and the Jets drove down field and scored a much needed touchdown to go back up by 10. He scored in gut-check time which was a very good sign. The only complaint I have about Fitzpatrick is that I think he got a little too greedy at times. He threw the ball downfield a lot on Monday and there were a few that were close to interceptions. He has to remember that he does not have to be a playmaker. He just has to keep things simple and settle for shorter passes so he does not throw interceptions.
3. Marshall/Decker – Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker had exceptional games on Monday with similar stats. They combined for 15 receptions, 198 receiving yards, and they each had a touchdown pass. These two receivers are a huge part to the success of Ryan Fitzpatrick. 3^rd and 9 is no longer a throw away play because these two receivers are legitimate play makers that make a quarterback look good. They take a lot of pressure off of Fitzpatrick and you are seeing the good results from that.

The Jets have another tricky game next week as they come home to play the 0-2 Eagles. Despite their record, I still think the Eagles are better than what their record shows but they are clearly far from where they want to be. The Jets cannot take this game lightly. But with the way the Jets are playing and with the way the Eagles are playing, I think the Jets should be fine next week.