The Baltimore Ravens played the style of football on Monday night that Jets coach Rex Ryan dreams about.
The Ravens were more physical than the Jets, knocking them around in the second half. Baltimore had the opposing quarterback confused. They possessed the ball 38 minutes.
Baltimore only won 10-9, but the game didn’t feel that close. The Ravens had 20 first downs; the Jets had six. Joe Flacco threw for 248 yards, including 110 to Anquan Boldin.
Mark Sanchez, on the other hand, completed 10-of-21 passes for 74 yards. He completed one pass over ten yards and looked just as overwhelmed as he did all preseason.
Sanchez looks like he’s regressed since his rookie year. An attempted two-minute drive at the end of the game was unprofessional. (Dustin Keller’s game-ending brain fart was an appropriate finish to the game. He stepped out of bounds half a yard before the first down marker on fourth down.)
“We got beat by a point by the heck of a football team,” Ryan said after the game. “They beat us probably in every statistical category there is except turnovers.”
The Jets should have taken a big first half lead after forcing three turnovers, but the inept Jets offense couldn’t take advantage. Darrelle Revis his did thing, but Antonio Cromartie and rookie Kyle Wilson were victimized on a number of mistakes. The Jets had 14 penalties for 125 yards.
The Jets defense had sloppy moments, but any team with an NFL-quality passing attack wins this game. Ryan still blamed his defense.
“I was alarmed that we couldn’t get off the field on defense than that we struggled a little offensively,” Ryan said. “That’s a pretty good team over there, a good defense. An excellent defense.”
The Jets have an excellent defense too. Sanchez wasted it Monday night.