Jets vs. Chargers final thoughts
January 18, 2010 in Uncategorized by Steve Shoup
-Its true what they say ‘Defense wins championships’: Not one time this season did the Chargers fail to score 20 points until yesterday. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a less meaningful 300 yards passing by San Diego. Sure they got that last touchdown by driving down through the air, but there was no consistency in the passing game. This was a passing attack that many thought was the best in the league, given their combination of weapons.
-Size doesn’t matter: Usually when size is referenced regarding a game with the Chargers on the field, people are talking about Darren Sproles, but the true “Small Wonder” yesterday was Jim Leonhard. Leonhard at 5’8″ was covering guys 9 inches taller than him and making plays all over the field. He had one interception and a forced fumble that was ruled incomplete (not sure if I buy that call). Leonhard’s play epitomizes the Jets defense and their attitude, and is so fun to watch.
-Revis Recount: I realize that Player of the Year awards are based solely on regular season performance, but I think Darrelle Revis is the rightful winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award and not Charles Woodson. No disrespect to Woodson, but these playoffs have separated the two corner backs by a wide margin. Woodson could do nothing to stop one of the greatest playoff passing performances we’ve ever seen, including some big catches by his man (for most of the game) Larry Fitzgerald (and those were with some safety help as well). Revis shut down Chad Ochocinco in week 1, with his only real catches coming when the Jets went into prevent (Revis also had a big interception). Yesterday Revis was just as dominate, he didn’t shadow a single receiver but took away which ever player he was on. Despite giving up 6-7 inches he made a great play on that deep jump ball to Vincent Jackson, and had the wherewithal (plus a little luck) to intercept the ball and pick up a few return yards. Revis also made a great play on that screen to Tomlinson in the 1st quarter, stopping him for a four yard loss. And he was just one block away from returning that missed field goal for a touchdown before half, on a great heads-up play.
-Rookie leads the Jets to victory: Nope not Mark Sanchez, their top pick and the guy that is so hyped in the media, 3rd round running back Shonn Greene is the real offensive hero (well him and the offensive line). Greene averaged 5.6 yards a carry for 128 yards, including that big 53 yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter. Greene has been huge down the stretch for the Jets and runs like a veteran, not some rookie.
-The ‘need’ of a Franchise Quarterback?: Every April when the draft comes along we hear how teams NEED to draft a franchise quarterback to be successful. Well the Jets listened, but their success is IN SPITE of their ‘franchise’ quarterback, not because of it. He was just plain awful this season, and really can’t handle anything 15 yards plus down the field. He doesn’t do well with pressure, can’t scramble around, and can really only succeed with three types of throws: screen passes, sideline passes, and short to medium throws off play-action. Now I’m not trying to beat up on Sanchez. While I’ve never been a fan, I think there is a chance that he could develop into a very good QB down the road, but right now he is a well below average quarterback and the Jets are winning. Back-to-back weeks New York has gone into a ‘franchise’ quarterback’s home stadium and made them look silly.
Speaking of looking silly: How big of an idiot is Phillip Rivers? How can he go up and yell at the Refs, who you know are actually watching the play and in position to see it. Rivers is 20 yards away and has about 19 bodies between him and the ball, yet somehow he thinks he knows what happened and can disrespect the officials. The worst part about it, is its not an isolated incident. Year in year out, week in week out, Rivers constantly yells and screams at the officials for any calls he doesn’t like or ones they don’t make. Funny I never see him scream at them when his players aren’t called for holding or offensive pass interference (I guess he only wants the refs to call a perfect game in his favor). Look from home we see that the refs aren’t perfect, they’ll miss calls, and they will blow some calls, but it does even out in the end (not to mention they were 100% right with this call). And if you have an issue with their calls, there is a system in place to deal with it. First there is this thing called instant replay, also after the fact a team can always appeal to the league if a call was really blown. Its one thing to voice your displeasure at a call, but quite another to yell and scream at them. If this was baseball, he would have been thrown out of the game, and if it was basketball he’d be called for a technical (and potentially thrown out of the game). Why does the NFL, (and media) allow Rivers to get away with this childish behavior? I hope next year they start issuing unsportsman like penalties on Rivers (I mean they do it on coaches and other players). And Phil as all your yelling and screaming EVER reversed a call? NO, why because officials aren’t going to let the players run the show. So grow up and leave your attitude back in preschool where it belongs, its time to be a man and a role model for all those out there watching.
















Agree with all your points – especially the one about Rivers. I have never been a Rivers fan (although he did win me a Fantasy League championship this year!) but I was resigned to him matching up with Manning next week. So I really wasn’t rooting for anybody in that game since I’m not a big Jets fan either. But once Rivers pulled his antics I rooted against the Chargers and enjoyed seeing him throw that awful interception and watching his frustration on the sidelines near the end of the game. I would be interested in knowing what the media REALLY think about him. He strikes me as being a narcissistic Ryan Leaf-type, albeit with a bit more talent.
Rivers is a good QB and wish we had his talent level at QB for the skinnies! HOWEVER, he truly looks like a little kid (and not in a good way) when he pouts to the refs. You’re right, when has that worked and reversed a call? He should have learned from years of playing football as a kid, that it doesn’t work! He just looks plain ridiculous when he does that!
It really shocks me that the media doesn’t criticize him more. We hear all this talk of T.O. or Moss and his antics. We hear about the “Favre Locker room issues” 24/7 or the Romo situation, but no one seems to seek out Rivers individually except to praise him. I haven’t seen one reporter question Rivers for the loss, we hear about Norv’s decision to onside it, or LT’s lack of production, and how Kaeding choked, or their costly penalties, but nothing about Rivers. At the end of the day he had as many turnovers as Romo in yesterday’s playoff losses. While the Revis interception might not be his fault (other than the fact he tried to challenge Revis), the Leonhard one falls squarely on his shoulders. That was a worse pick than Romo’s, because it wasn’t pressure induced. Also Romo’s two turnovers inside his own 20 (which both are partially to blame on the offensive line) produced only 6 points for the Vikings, one fewer than the TD the Jets got off Rivers gaffe. While a lot of things contributed to the Chargers loss, Rivers should take some heat for the way he played. The Colts played a great defense and (a much better offense) and Manning and company were able to get the job done, same with Favre against the Cowboys and Warner against the Packers the week before. I think its time Rivers stops getting a ‘pass’ for the way he plays.