A total team victory – offense, defense, and special teams last night on Monday Night Football defeating the Atlanta Falcons! This was a game on the “big stage” for rookie QB Geno Smith and his composure was startling. He always walks slowly onto the field with the same expression and after scoring still doesn’t call attention to himself. Totally refreshing and unusual and intriguing. His interviews after the game are the same, win or lose – thoughtful, credit to teammates, and looking honestly at himself good or bad. Never seen anyone quite like him and in New York/NewJersey, I love seeing the growth of this young man as a person as well as a QB.
There will be ups and downs and unforeseen happenings as Geno continues, but I am really excited to watch our Quarterback with a great arm and a great Coordinator Marty Mornhinweg to guide him.
Like all Jet fans I was up for hours after the game, listening to radio after game shows, watching ESPN and NFL network interviews and hi-lites and tweeting fellow joyful Jet fans. We all agreed on the improvement of the offensive line protection for Geno Smith, the emergence finally of TE Jeff Cumberland at TE, and clutch catches by Stephen Hill, Clyde Gates, and Jeremy Kerley. Bilal Powell is so dependable and tough and I saw a glimpse of speed by Mike Goodson that the Jets haven’t seen in their backfield in a long time. Kellen Winslow came through with a beautiful TD in corner of the end zone on a ‘touch pass” by Geno.
The defense came to play. No question Mo Wilkerson is All Pro and he got lots of TV pub last night! Sheldon Richardson is a future star and no wonder we chose him in first round. David Harris is paying best in years and Demario Davis and Antonio Allen made crucial plays. Overall they hit hard and played with emotion, but again we still need to be able to make the big stop at the end of a game that great defenses do so Geno doesn’t have to save us.
Special teams were fantastic. Quigley punting and coverage of kicks with Nick Bellore making tackles was awesome. Jeremy Kerley makes the crucial punt return to put us in short field to score. And Nick Folk again wins it for us!
The biggest thing to me was when the Jets got the ball back with 1:57 left, we have all three timeouts left! That is rare for us and what a difference that made. Geno could use the whole field, could run or pass and time was on our side. Keeping the timeouts till the end made the drive so much easier and kept panic out. Great job Coach Rex!
Now we face a winless, hungry Steeler team coming off a bye. We are working on a short week.
Can Geno keep the same focus? Will team play with same emotion? It’s a home game and we cannot live on “pats on back” from last night. Fans need to show up and drown out Steeler fans and those towels! Jets are giving us something to build on.
This is more already than any Jet fan expected. How far can we go?
