Here We Go Again: Jets Lose Third Consecutive Preseason Game

Added by Justin O'Connell on August 27, 2012.

Santonio Holmes (10) appeared in his first preseason game for the Jets this year.

Jets quarterback, Mark Sanchez was finally able to put some points on the score board for his team… unfortunately they were only field goals. The Jets fell to the Panthers 17-12 after the offense for both teams was far from impressive.

Sanchez and the rest of the Jets offense could not punch their ticket in the red zone (0-for-3). This is the same team that led the league in red zone efficiency last season (maybe Plax will be missed after all). The Jets could not pin it on the play of their offensive line that looked like a different line compared to last week’s debacle.

Austin Howard came in and played an incredible game against the Panthers best pass rusher, Charles Johnson, and proved he deserved the starting job over Wayne Hunter, who was recently traded to the Rams after being demoted.

“As far as individually, I felt good out there. Like I said, there are some improvements to be made, so we’re going to watch the film and continue to get better and continue to learn,” said Howard.

Sanchez who clearly out played his counter-part, Tim Tebow (who was god awful besides for one 3^rd down run), went 11-18 for 123 yards, zero touchdowns, and one interception. The interception was the doing of Stephen Hill who bobbled the pass; Sanchez’s receivers had three drops all together.

Santonio Holmes played his first game of the preseason. He had one catch for eight yards and was targeted three times. Sanchez was excited about having his number one guy back, “It was great. We’d like to get him a couple more catches and we’ll make that happen, but it was nice to have him back, and he really does stress the defense, so that’s fun to have.”

The Jets offense can take some positives out of the game, despite their inability to get in the endzone. Their no huddle offense that they opened up with, was every effective. Shonn Greene had a few really nice runs including a 18-yard dash up the middle. Hill, even though he had that bad drop, played well and got a lot of targets, seven, which means he is getting open on his routes.

Rex Ryan insists he is still confident that the offense will step up once the season begins, “By the time we get going, we will be a confident group. I don’t think there’s any doubt. Have we had our entire offensive package out there in the preseason? No. Do we feel comfortable with our offense? I would say yes. I know our defense is looking forward to it as well because, quite honestly, it’s tough to defend. We’ll see once we get it cranked up, but again, there were some encouraging signs today.”

Even with a healthy o-line and receivers, the Jets became the first team since 1977, Falcons, to not score a touchdown through their first three preseason games. They still have a lot of improving to do in short amount of time. They have had a vanilla offense all preseason, so we’ll have to wait and see if Tony Sparano, offensive coordinator, has been holding back his offense till the start of the regular season.

The Jets defense has continued its same streak… allowing too many 3^rd down conversions (7-13), but holding the offense in the red zone and under 300 total yards.

The defensive line had a dominating game, where Kendrick Ellis and Quinton Coples continued to impress; both having a sack on the first team offense of the Panthers. LaRon Landry is showing he may be the star of this defense with yet another pick. He also led the team in tackles. The Jets first team defense did give up their first touchdown of the preseason, but it was on a broken play from Cam Newton (who is extremely hard to defend in the red zone).

It is looking like this year’s Jets defense will out due last years. Linebacker, Bart Scott, feels the defense “has a lot more chemistry than last year.”

Side notes of the game:

LB – David Harris left the game with an “ankle injury.” His status is still unknown, but doesn’t appear to be serious

TE – Dustin Keller left the game with a “hamstring injury.” His status is still unknown, but doesn’t appear to be serious

TE/FB – Josh Baker left the game with a serious knee injury and was cut the following day. Baker was having a great training camp with the team, but it is likely he will have knee surgery and miss too much time for the Jets to give up a roster spot.