I’ll start with the early evening game I didn’t get to watch – Jacksonville at
Oakland. I expected the Raiders to win, and they did. I didn’t expect
Jacksonville to make a game of it, and I certainly did not expect so after MJD
went down early in the first quarter with an injury. Jones-Drew may miss
extended time, and despite a close loss to Oakland, they should be worried.
Oakland did not play very well. They should have blown Jacksonville out of
California. They let the Jaguars stay close and it took a QB sneak by Carson
Palmer late in the game to even force overtime.
The game I got to watch was, thankfully, the good one. As
always, the Jets proved that Rex Ryan builds his team specifically for this
matchup. It hasn’t worked consistently against anyone but New England. The Patriots escaped. Giants’ players said that’s
how they felt against RGIII and the Redskins, and the Patriots should feel the
same way about the Jets. Mark Sanchez played a really good game, but a couple key
drops killed drives and kept New York from putting the game out of reach.
Predictably, the Jets held a lead late in the fourth quarter and Tom Brady let
his team on a drive to a game-tying field goal. As in Oakland, an overtime
field goal gave the home team the victory.
The late game was pretty exciting during the first half.
Cincinnati showed up in the first half after being the Browns’ first victim of
the 2012 season. Pittsburgh also seemed spurred on by their embarrassing Thursday
loss against Tennessee. But the second half was all Pittsburgh. They stuck with
Jonathan Dwyer, who broke several big runs to keep dives going. Roethlisberger
didn’t play great, but he made enough plays and took enough downfield shots to
keep the running game open. After a decent first half, Andy Dalton did nothing
in the second half as he continues to be inconsistent.
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