You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
And No. 4's first impression in Green and White was a good one.
Brett Favre flipped his first touchdown pass of the season and backup QB Brett Ratliff continued to impress, but Colt Brennan hit Jason Goode on a 33-yard score with 1:09 left in the fourth quarter as the
Redskins defeated the Jets 13-10 at the Meadowlands. This would have been a gut-wrenching loss during the regular season, but I was blissfully unaffected by it on this August night.
Give yourself a round of applause if you watched this entire preseason affair. It wasn't a crisply or briskly played game by any means and it seemed like half the stadium emptied after Favre was pulled. Still, there were a few noteworthy moments. Let's take a quick peek.
Broadway Brett. Favre's first pass as a Jet was an 11-yard bullet to Jerricho Cotchery for a first down. Great start. Favre looked poised in his new pocket and seemed comfortable running the offense. He was sacked once and ran the play clock down to the end on nearly every play, but it was a solid debut. It ended with a 4-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Dustin Keller. I still haven't come down with the "Favre Fever" that seems to have afflicted every Jet fan, but a few regular season games like this and maybe I'll begin to feel the vapors. Favre finished 5 of 6 for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Backup QB battle. I don't know if Eric Mangini would demote Kellen Clemens to the No. 3 quarterback to open the regular season, but Ratliff is sure giving him reason to consider it. Ratliff turned in his second impressive game of the preseason. It wasn't as spectacular as his night last week in Cleveland, but the second-year QB seems very comfortable running the offense and almost guided the Jets to a last-second victory. Rookie wide out Paul Raymond dropped a pass in the end zone with five seconds left in the game. Raymond! Ratliff finished 13 of 19 for 148 yards.
Stock drop. It's amazing how Clemens has gone from a potential starter to the forgotten man in a matter of weeks. Clemens had another shaky performance Saturday night. It wasn't all his fault as his receivers dropped five passes, but he had two balls batted at the line and stumbled out of the blocks twice. He also coughed up the football on a sack, but the Jets recovered. Tough night. Clemens finished 5 of 12 for 63 yards.
Third wide receiver. David Clowney had another good game Saturday night, but left in the third quarter with an apparent shoulder injury. Clowney finished with 4 grabs for 59 yards. Brad Smith didn't catch a pass, but carried the ball once for 12 yards on a "trickery" play. Chansi Stuckey's name didn't appear in the box score, but I saw him in uniform so he was definitely on the field. Sixth-round pick Marcus Henry played his first game as a Jet and pulled down 4 balls for 42 yards.
Good and bad. Defensive back James Ihedigbo had a helter skelter night. Ihedigbo made a pretty interception at the goaline to snuff a Redskin drive in the second quarter. But then missed the tackle on Goode's 33-yard score in the dying moments of the fourth. Hang in there, kid.
Joe Willie Namath -- The Return. Last week the broadcasting team of Ian Eagle and Greg Buttle did a telephone interview with Namath, but it didn't come across to the people at home. They tried it again on Saturday and -- success! Joe Willie's voice came over clear and plain and sounding fine. Namath didn't reveal anything earth-shattering, but he did express concern with Favre's ability to acclimate himself to his new surroundings. I guess we'll have to wait and see how that turns out.
Cat scratch fever. Mike Nugent missed two field goals Saturday night. He pushed a 43-yard attempt wide right in the third quarter and hit the left upright on a 23-yard attempt on the final play of the game. I'm sure a lot of players weren't crushed that Nugent didn't send this meaningless game into overtime, but those are two kicks No. 1 has to make.
The Jets fell to 1-1 on the preseason and will "host" their crosstown rival and defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants next Saturday at the Meadowlands. Game 3 is usually the final tuneup for the first-stringers so expect to see familiar numbers for a lot longer in this one.
And then the regular season will be here before you know it.
Leave a comment
