They Are Who We Thought They Were: Jets Fall Apart Against the Steel Curtain

Added by Justin O'Connell on September 17, 2012.

The Jets offense found little success against the Steelers Sunday. (Photo Credit: Don Wright/AP Photo)

After proving all their critics wrong last week, the New York Jets came out against the Pittsburgh Steelers firing on all cylinders, but they proceeded to fall apart soon after.

The Steelers went on a 21-0 run to end the game and beat the Jets 27-10.  Ben Roethlisberger avoided sack after sack and constantly beat the Jets defense on third down conversions. The Steelers were 8-for-15 on third down conversions and many of them were 3^rd and long situations.

The Jets passing game was from far from good. Mark Sanchez started off the game on a roll, where his first two drives resulted in 10 points, but after that he could barley complete a pass. Sanchez finished the game 10-of-27, for 138 yards, and one touchdown.

Offensive coordinator, Tony Sparano, pulled back the reins on the offense after the first few drives and became very conservative. It was a similar offense to that of the one they ran all of the preseason, which needless to say was extremely ineffective.

When the Jets did decide to throw the ball they were in run formations and only had two receivers out wide. The Jets receivers had trouble getting open for most of the game and when they did find an opening they couldn’t hold on to the ball. Sanchez had his own struggles with holding the ball too long and missing a few throws, but the loss cannot be put on him.

The Jets running game was shut down by the Steelers for the most part. Shonn Greene and Bilial Powell combined for 20 rushes and 56 yards. The only big runs the Jets had were by Tim Tebow who had one carry for 22 yards and Joe McKnight’s one carry for 12 yards.

Sparano chose not to continue running the wildcat after they ran three consecutive plays, two of which went for big gains. The wildcat was the only effective formation they had in the second half and Sparano still decided to run his conventional offense which continued to result in punts.

The Jets defense as mentioned was dismal on third down, but their tackling was the biggest disappointment of the game. They missed at least three sacks on Roethlisberger and missed a dozen open field tackles that should have been made.

The only bright spot for the defense was their play against the run; they held the Steelers to 28 carries for 66 yards.

The only player who deserves any real recognition on the whole Jets team should be 2^nd year player, Garret McIntyre. He had seven tackles, two sacks, four tackles for loss, and two QB hits. McIntyre was playing for the injured Bryan Thomas, who was out with a hamstring injury.