EAST RUTHERFORD – Everyone knew coming in, that the Jets secondary would be the storyline of the game to follow. Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery are the weapons that Cutler utilizes the most, and knows how to get them the football where they want it. If the Jets were to have any chance of beating the Bears on Monday Night Football, they needed to find a way to contain either, and not commit costly turnovers.
Ready pregame is Marshall, although was ineffective in the game Monday night
The only one that was accomplished was containing Marshall. He left the game due to injury, but came back in the 2nd half. He only caught one pass on six targets, which was his lowest reception percentage of the year. One of his TD catches however was called back due to a penalty. Jeffrey picked up his slack by having a monster game. He had 8 receptions for 105 yards. Martellus Bennett scored both of the Bears TD’s and had 5 catches for 54 yards. On a night when Marshall was basically not present, the Bears got a huge lift from their other receivers.
This was huge due to the fact that the Jets nullified the Bears rushing attack led by Matt Forte. The Jets did a great job of stuffing the run game early of Chicago. Forte was held to just 33 yards on 13 carries. The same could be said for the Bears defense as well, because the Jets prized rushing attack of Chris Johnson and Chris Ivory only combined for 78 yards rushing on 10 attempts each.
The two main components as to why the Jets would fall to the Bears 27-19, would be the lack of red zone efficiency by the Jets, as well as the poor play by Geno Smith in key moments. All game long the Jets showed great ability in moving the football downfield and keeping the chains moving. The problem was that they were unable to punch the ball in for a TD countless times. They made it to the red zone six times and only came out with 1 TD, which was a TD catch by Jeremy Kerley. One of the five times they didn’t make it in, Smith had a terrible interception in the end zone, that should have never been thrown.
Smith on the second play from scrimmage of the game, had a broken up screen play that he still tried to force. The pass was intercepted for a TD by Ryan Mundi. Smith still needs grow and mature as a quarterback in key situations, because this football team only will go as far as he leads them. He needs to not airmail throws on critical third down situations, and know when not to take a sack and just throw it away. It’s not a good thing when you are known as a “Turnover Machine” as Steve Levy referred to him on ESPN. Still Rex Ryan backed his quarterback up in the press conference, voicing “I feel good about this football team, and I feel good about Geno Smith.” This put to rest any of the calls for Michael Vick to take over the duties.
The Jets will look to rebound back against the Detroit Lions (2-1) at MetLife Stadium, Sunday the 28th at 1:00 PM. They will face a different type of gunslinger in Matthew Stafford, and arguably the best receiver in the game, Calvin Johnson.
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