(Photo Credit: Adam Hunger/USA Today)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ- Coming of an eight game losing streak New York(2-8) finally started to turn things around by picking up a win vs the Pittsburgh Steelers(6-4) at home on Sunday. Yes, I just said the “Jets Won.” Thats something many New Yorkers have been waiting to hear for quite a while, including Rex Ryan himself.
“Finally!” Ryan shouted after the game. “This team deserved to win, man.”
Indeed they did. The Jets again decided to start QB Michael Vick this week after the teams decision to bench Geno Smith a few weeks ago and Vick thrived. The former star quarterback showed flashes of his old self on Sunday as he became the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for 6,000 career yards. He completed 10 of 18 passes for 132 yards, two touchdowns and added 39 yards on eight rushes.
(November 8, 2014 – Source: Al Bello/Getty Images North America)
Vick set the tone early with a 67-yard touchdown strike to T.J. Graham and then later on by throwing another touchdown pass to the back of the end zone where he found rookie TE Jace Amaro. Count in a first drive field goal and the Jets were up 17-0 early in the game. That apparently was all that was needed for the Jets defense to hold on for the win.
One thing that stood out was that Vick had no turnovers. That is something Geno Smith couldn’t say. Vick was simply reliable and provided his team the chance to win the game. That’s why many people ask the same question: Why hasn’t he been named the starter earlier than this?
Vick added fuel to the fire by admitting after the game that he thought the Jets could have won more games with him running the offense.
“In my heart, yes,” Vick said. “In my heart, I feel like on any team, I can be the starter. As long as it’s not Aaron Rodgers or Ben Roethlisberger. And I’m not saying those guys are better quarterbacks. I’m just saying that I’m confident in my abilities. If there’s an opportunity there, then, yeah.
“But, I do feel like at times, the opportunities were there but the coaches made the decisions not to do it. I totally understood everything that was taking place. It was all about developing a young quarterback, mentoring a young quarterback and giving him every opportunity to succeed. And now he has a chance to do it from afar and I think it’s going to help him.”
Ryan also admitted that he made the mistake to wait on switching the quarterbacks, but stood behind Smith as well.
“Yeah, I should have,” Ryan said. “(Vick) played great. There’s no question. But you know what? I believe in Geno Smith as well and that’s the truth.”
That wasn’t the only interesting thing that happened though. The team caused 4 turnovers on defense, two coming as picks from Jaiqwuan Jarrett who replaced first round pick Calvin Pryor. That raised many questions about Pryor’s production lately.
“You never know if someone’s going to get hurt. Always prepare the same,” Jarrett said.
That makes sense, but the interesting thing is Pryor wasn’t injured he was simply pulled put of the game. Rex said after the game that he was simply playing the hot hand and Pryor stated that Rex wasn’t the one who made the switch, but rather the secondary coach. Ryan however, did address this after the game.
“We were trying to line up guys that we think deserve it,” Ryan said. “Whether it’s in the classroom, on the practice field, or in meetings, being on-time for meetings. The guy does a great job. He’s dependable and has been playing well. Those are the reasons we do that. We thought we were going to play all of them, but it really never turned out [that way]. We just played the hot hand.”
Whatever the reason is, Pryor certainly seems to be standing on shaky ground after this one.
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Bobby O’Hara: PureSportsNY