And that's that.
Jesse Chatman carried the load, Erik Ainge was at the controls for most of the night and Mike Nugent booted two field goals as the
Jets turned back the Eagles 27-20 at the Linc. As expected, it was a battle of the backups for both squads and the Gotham Green proved their reserves are better than Philly's. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing. The Jets wrapped up their preseason at 3-1 with the win.
I know this post is late (and probably unnecessary), but it's taken me three days to finish watching this game. I've written a slew of half-ass writeups in my time, but this might be the worst. Let's take a bare bones look at the highlights.
The QB battle. The Jets rotated Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff for most of the first half. Clemens led the Jets to a field goal in the second quarter and Ratliff flipped a nice 11-yard touchdown pass to Paul Raymond on the team's next possession. Ainge took over late in the first half and piloted the Green and White the rest of the way. Ainge tossed a 6-yard touchdown pass to David Ball in the third to give the Jets a 17-13 lead. It was Ainge's first significant NFL action and he put up decent numbers despite showing some "happy feet" in the pocket. Here were the QBs' final totals on the night:
Clemens: 3 of 8 for 18 yards
Ratliff: 3 of 4 for 48 yards, one touchdown, 5 yards rushing
Ainge: 10 of 16 for 131 yards, one touchdown, -1 yard rushing
Third-string runner. The Jets waived running back
Musa Smith on Tuesday which all but assured Chatman a spot on the roster. Chatman was a workhorse against the Iggles -- finishing with 93 yards rushing and 6 receptions for 87 yards. His 2-yard touchdown run with 6:26 left proved to be the winning margin. Still, it wasn't all peaches and cream for Chatman. More on that later.
What the hey? I thought I was seeing things when I noticed No. 83 in the secondary. Eric Mangini used wide receiver Chansi Stuckey as a cornerback during the game. He didn't play poorly (finishing with four tackles), but it seemed odd. I don't know if this is something that will be used in the regular season, but I'd rather see Stuckey get playing time on offense.
Less yellow. The Jets committed 12 penalties in their last game against the Giants, but were flagged only twice against the Eagles. I'm not ready to perform any backflips since the Jets were going with reserves, but I'm sure the team worked on that during the week and it was good to see that that discipline trickled down to everyone.
Sound and fury signifying nothing. The broadcasting duo of Ian Eagle and Greg Buttle had Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum in the booth at one point during the game and if you were looking for some insight, well, you were outta luck. I've never heard someone use so many words to say absolutely nothing. Again, it's nothing new to anyone who has ever heard Tanni speak and I wasn't expecting anything earth-shattering to come out, but it still made me shake my head.
The Jets made their
final cuts on Saturday and there were a few surprises (at least for me). Cornerback Hank Poteat was one of the causalities and the Jets waved goodbye to linebacker Matt Chatham. Poteat wasn't a flashy player, but I thought he was serviceable and he filled in at safety during the final preseason game. Put it this way -- I'd rather see Poteat instead of Stuckey in the secondary. David Barrett also saw time at safety this preseason and made the cut. Chatham wasn't much of a linebacker, but he was a decent special teams player. I thought he would make the team after the Jets placed special teamer
Brad Kassell on injured reserve a few weeks ago. The Jets also decided to keep all four quarterbacks, but I'm going to assume that Ainge will be a permanent fixture on the practice squad. Gang Green will also head into the regular season with just two running backs -- Thomas Jones and Leon Washington. What's that you say? What about Chatman? Well, turns out
Chatman will be serving a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. Reports said Chatman tested positive for steroids, but there seems to be some dispute from the Chatman camp. In any event, Chatman will be gone for the first month of the season.
And so it goes. Next time the Jets suit up it will be in Miami against the Dolphins -- and it will count. Gang Green will head down to Florida next week with their new QB (Brett Favre, in case you didn't remember) and say hello to their old quarterback (Chad Pennington, in case you've forgotten).
Should make for some good watching.
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