Jets In The Greene, Yankees Singing The Blues

In Week 6, the Jets finally found their identity in a 35-9 win over the Colts. All you need to do is read Shonn Greene's stat line: 32 carries, 161 yards, 3 TD. I don't know if it was his season wakeup call that was late, or his offensive line's, but it's hard to argue with the results. What have you done for me lately? Quite a bit, thank you.

The Jets combined for 252 rush yards including a 61-yard "jet" by Joe McKnight, who injured his ankle on the play, and now Jets nation sweats another Monday MRI.

The run game set up the pass game, which is the way it's supposed to work. Mark Sanchez's totals were way down, but he had a couple of nice TD strikes to the Hill boys. And Tim Tebow completed a brilliantly-designed 23-yard pass out of punt formation on 4th and 11.

So despite the Jets' bipolar start, they are an even 3-3 along with the rest of the AFC East.

While one New York team was finding its way, another just two crossed rivers away, looked completely lost.

The Yankees can't hit, and they really haven't the entire postseason. They scored 5 runs in the 9th inning of ALDS Game 1 vs Baltimore and 4 runs in the 9th inning of ALCS Game 1 vs Detroit. In the other 70 innings they've played this postseason, the Yankees have 11 runs.

While A-Rod is the lightning rod, at least he's occasionally hit the ball hard.

It's Robinson Cano who has disappeared from the face of the earth. In the season's last 9 games, he  was absolutely flammable at 24-39 (.615). In the playoffs, he's hitless in his last 26 AB. You just can not figure out baseball, Suzyn.

After another brilliant pitching performance, Hiroki Kuroda could only shake his head at the outcome.

Now the Yankees head 0-2 to Motown without Derek Jeter, and are in desperate need of some run support. They can't count on the level of pitching they've gotten, and it's time for the bats to pick them up.

I think they need to slide Eduardo Nunez right in at the leadoff spot. His bat is live and he's a terror on the bases. Even though he's a butcher in the field at shortstop, it has to be worth the risk at this point.

Game 3 is Tuesday night, Hughes vs Verlander. Haven't we met somewhere before? Oh yes, June 3rd. It was Hughes's only complete game of the year in a 5-1 Yankees win and A-Rod took Verlander (very) deep.

Then there's the more recent August 6th game when Verlander struck out 14 and the Tigers dominated. So there's always that to look forward to.

Green Day!

"2.0" is the new overused update description. HBO's The Newsroom was all centered around their new mission and "NewsNight 2.0." I can't tell you how many referred to The President's most recent convention speech as "Obama 2.0." I even relaunched this site after 20 months off and casually dropped a "Backtime 2.0."

How would The New York Jets 2.0 work out with Tim Tebow in the mix? Well, they had hired Tony Sparano as offensive coordinator to make sure everyone was on the same page, and make the best use of both quarterbacks while constantly switching offenses and changing tempo. I identified this as the key to their season on August 3.

And after a Jets preseason that yielded no victories and only one touchdown, it didn't look too promising. Not that it meant anything, but there was certainly nothing pointing to what we saw today.

I'm not keeping score by the final score, as impressive as 48-28 was. I grade on whether the offense was seamless, were there mistakes?

And by mistakes I don't mean the Sanchez pick on the first drive where he scrambled and made an ill-advised flip that turned into a deflection INT on the sideline (that could have been overturned).

By mistakes I mean illegal procedures, delays of game, broken plays, or anything else that can be attributed to confusion on the offensive side. Sparano gets an "A."

There was one delay of game within 2:00 remaining in the first half that turned a 3rd & 3 into a 3rd & 8. They still kicked the FG to go up 27-7 at the half.

In the 4th quarter there was one procedure call, and then a delay related to the Tebow shuttle when the game was well into garbage time.

Sanchez was brilliant and used all his receivers. Three Jets corners had picks in one-on-one coverage, and Antonio Cromartie took his to the house. (I could have done without the somersault into the endzone, but if he does 16 of those this year, who am I to gripe?) And Jeremy Kerley returned a punt for a TD as well.

Tebow was a non-factor but a presence. The Steelers will obviously have to prepare for him next week, and they don't need to be reminded about Tebow after he ended their 2011 season in the playoffs in Denver.

The performance wasn't perfect. The Jets D had some problems tackling C.J. Spiller in the open field, but I have the feeling they won't be the last team in 2012 to say that.

And the Jets never really flexed their muscles in the running game. We'll have to wait for next week for Shonn Greene Day.

Dare to Dream? You've got the Green Light

I saw what I saw. It was a tough, will-imposing playoff victory on the road against a team that had won 11 in a row.

Rex Ryan seemed to know what "Jet Football" meant before the rest of us. I get it now. Run on 1st down, run on 2nd down, don't turn it over on 3rd down, and let the D do the rest. 17-14 is the way he drew it up.

The formula for momentum may be mass times acceleration, but momentum is built on moments. A few game-changing statements when Jets fans knew things were a little bit different this time.

There was the 2nd quarter effort where Jet Safety Jim Leonhard lost his helmet but came up with the football after he separated Malcolm Floyd from it. The fact that the play was called incomplete (in a dubious overturn) wasn't the point. The smallest man on the field was a guided missile all night.

When the Jets trailed 7-3 early in the 4th, Mark Sanchez rolled right on a 3rd & Goal on the 2. When nobody was open I shouted "Throw it away!" But Rookie QB bought time and space with his feet, and sure enough found 2nd Year TE Dustin Keller in the back of the end zone.

For a guy who threw for only 100 yards, these 2 yards were awfully big.

And for Kerry Rhodes with the massive sack and strip on Philip Rivers, there was a little redemption there. Rhodes was probably the best player on the Jets last playoff team in '06, but was maligned much of his first year in Rex's D.

And there was another rookie, RB Shonn Greene, two hands on the football, running over Eric Weddle and charging 53 yards to the Chargers' end zone. And if you take away all the intangibles that propelled this postseason ride, this runner is the #1 reason the Jets can beat anybody on any field.

But on the huge 4th & 1, to put the game away, it was Jet vet Thomas Jones who powered over the right side. It was the right move in a meeting of the minds of the OC and HC (who also happens to be the DC).

The fact that Brian Schottenheimer can buy into Rex Ryan's old-school vision is symbolic of the total team effort. That's something we can all buy into.