I've been sick the past few days and I have a ton of work to make up this afternoon, so this will be a shorter game review than usual. First thoughts though- the Jets are legitimate! We worked our butts off to beat them today. Let's start with the defense. It's amazing how we keep generating pressure with a four man rush and it's the story of the season so far. A good recap of the entire game is with about 20 seconds left, we rush two players with Suh standing a few yards off the LOS as a make-shift linebacker. Even with our two man rush in a prevent defense, the Dolphins get a holding call because the Jets couldn't contain Wake. That's just insane....I think Wake is better today than he was 3-5 years ago. And Reshad Jones? Good lord, the guy is everywhere on the field lighting people up. Tank got beat twice for a TD in the first half and our front seven turned up the pressure to compensate, which is the true story of this game. Wake, Suh and Jones all deserve player of the year awards for our squad....I have no idea how you'd pick a winner from the three because they're so far past the next level of competition. Now onto the offense- it was a tough day for Gase because the field was not in good enough shape for the J-train or the typical screen passes. I did like seeing Cutler coming out loose and firing downfield, but he still looked awkward at times in his movements and throwing motions. Hopefully he's okay...it looked like a bruised rib to my untrained eye. I do think he took a decent step forward this afternoon as well. The fans got what they wanted today with Matt Moore. I haven't seen his stat lines yet but he played darn near a perfect game...I loved how he bounced back with the BS call that stripped away Still's TD catch. Matt shows pure confidence in the huddle and in the pocket though and it felt like the offense almost instantly changed- our players continue to love Moore and they play their hearts out for him. The circus catches alone in the 4th quarter was enough to bring a smile to any Dolphin fan's face...and we just didn't see that effort in the first half. By the way, neither INT was the QB's fault today- Fasano never looked on Moore's pick and the ball darn near hit him in the back of the helmet...it was a perfect timing throw. Cutler fell victim to a weird tip so that wasn't on him either. It will be interesting to see what happens next week though- especially if Cutler is not at 100%. I have a feeling that if we give Moore the start next week and we put up some real points, Gase is going to have a tough time backing his favorite. As it stands already, Moore outscored the Dolphins game average in a single half....and Gase looked perfectly comfortable telling Moore to go win the game with his arm. We've yet to see him trust Cutler to that degree but again, there was no running on that field today. It will be very interesting moving forward and I'll try to stay unbiased since you guys know I'm a huge Moore fan. It would be hard to debate that he didn't outplay Cutler today though....his passes were crisp and on point. A few other quick points- Grant needs to stop dancing and just get upfield on kick and punt returns Our linebacking corp is looking so darn impressive...we should be very thankful Timmons is on the field and not sitting at home. Stills is making a case to be a legitimate WR1 option. Huge day from him! We beat the stinkin Jets on a day where turnovers at the worst possible time made it almost impossible. This is a very good team and they'll only get better once Parker is back and our starting QB (to be determined who) gains some confidence. Great win today Dol-fans! We're in very good position overall tying the 2nd best record in the AFC (five teams have two losses). Somehow we've weathered the storm and remained relevant despite a brutal start to the year.
Decent summary, but I'd mention that the Jets D did a good job stopping our run and their run game gashed us a lot. Maybe it was the turf, but it felt like our tackling issues were back again until the 4th quarter. As for the interceptions I have to disagree about Cutler's tip, he threw it directly at a rushing defender. Stupid, stupid throw. If that INT was luck in terms of a bad deflection it's the sort of luck teams make for themselves by doing the right things, and which opponents help create by making stupid decisions.
The Jets D was very good today minus their corner who couldn't stop holding Stills...but to his credit it likely saved three TD passes. They did do a great job smothering the run and making Ajayi bounce outside, and the turf just wasn't in good enough shape to cut effectively. As the announcer said, the leading tackler on the day by a wide margin was the grass. And the Cutler throw- that's tough to blame the QB when a defender at the line gets vertical. I agree with you that it was a bad throw, but you'd have to have laser-like vision to see that at the last possible second. The high arc on the tip was what I was calling lucky though, and we were lucky it wasn't run back for a TD (not that it mattered since they scored anyway, but still). I do feel better...thanks! I have a tooth that needs a root canal, but the meds luckily kicked in fast. I swear, I think I'd rather be bit by a Rottweiler than to deal with a serious toothache. =)
