The New York Jets showed some signs of life un Sunday, as they earned a road win against the St. Louis Rams, 27-13. Just when most experts and fans, myself included, had written them off, QB Mark Sanchez and Co. finally played a mistake free game. Granted, it was against the lowly Rams, but considering the team's disarray just a week ago, this was definitely a step in the right direction.
After letting the Rams score on their opening possession, Rex Ryan's team slowly but steadily took over the game, scoring the next 27 points. Sanchez did not put impressive numbers, just 15 of 20 for 178 yards, 1 TD, but he did one thing that he'd failed to do in all recent games - he did not turn the ball over. That was all that the Gang Green needed from their signal caller, as the defense generated three turnovers, all of which gave the ball back to the offense in St. Louis' territory. The Jets were also impressive on third downs, converting 47% of those.
Two of these turnovers led to Jets' touchdowns. First, Sanchez connected with WR Chaz Schilens on a 25-yards touchdown pass that put the Gang Green on top for the first time in this content. Then, in the fourth quarter, S LaRon Landry's forced fumble led to RB Bilal Powell's 11-yard touchdown run that put the game out of reach for the Rams.
On the negative side of things, the running game averaged just 3.0 yards per carry, Sanchez was sacked 3 times, while the Rams averaged 5.7 rushing yards per attempt. WR Stephen Hill continued struggling, as he had another dropped pass. Special teams, once the best unit on the team, struggled again. PK Nick Folk had a field goal attempted blocked in the second quarter.
On Thursday the Jets will take on the red hot New England Patriots (7-3), who just scored 59 points against the Colts and have not lost a game since beating the Jets in overtime on October 21st. The early line has the Pats favored by 6.5 points despite being the road team and without their star tight end Rob Gronkowski.