The Jets have this down to a science.
Spot one of the few teams in the league with as little offensive might as you a lead in the first half while scoring no points, then thunder back in the second half to win the game. Or something close to thunder, anyway. There’s not really a perfect word for much of what the 2012 Jets do on offense, but whatever you want to call it worked well enough for them to win 17-10 against the Jags on Sunday.
The Jets didn’t replace Mark Sanchez in body after his first half travails this time, but they did replace him in spirit. He wasn’t there to throw the ball unless absolutely necessary and handed it to Shonn Greene and Bilal Powell often enough for them to combine for 153 yards on 39 carries. Both backs scored touchdowns and Powell got his score by carrying on every single play of a seven-play drive before punching it in from four yards out.
Sanchez finished the day 12-of-19 for 111 yards and did hit one key pass in the final minutes. He converted a third down with a 37-yard pass to Jeff Cumberland, forcing the Jags to burn some timeouts they could have used on a final drive that ended when Chad Henne was intercepted by Ellis Lankster. The Jets kept Henne from completing 50 percent of his passes and sacked him three times to go with the two interceptions that helped send the Jags to their 11th loss of the season.
Sanchez was better than that, although he did have one turnover, and he’ll likely be in the starting lineup again next week against Tennessee. By deactivating Greg McElroy and not playing Tim Tebow a snap, the Jets made it clear that Sanchez is their guy until further notice.