Two Faces, Two Teams, Two Outcomes

The New York Jets seem to be having as much trouble figuring out what they’re all about as the rest of the football world is.

A week after what appeared to be a signature win over the Tennessee Titans, the Jets came home for a match-up against the equally befuddled Denver Broncos.

The only thing standing between the Jets and a six-game winning streak would be the Broncos with their battered secondary and inconsistent offense. The subway Superbowl was within sniffing distance for New York football fans.

Who knew “trap game” was spelled “j-a-y?”

Jay Cutler led a Broncos passing attack that gutted the vaunted Jets defense. Cutler bombed the ball all day through a driving rain at the Meadowlands, connecting for a total of 357 yards and two touchdowns.

Cutler exploited the weaknesses in the defense that New England exposed, but Tennessee ignored. And while the lack of an ability to respond to a mid-level passing game did not come into play for five straight weeks, it certainly burned the Jets on this Sunday.

This is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Cutler found his tight ends Tony Scheffler and Daniel Graham a whopping 13 times in the game for 149 yards.

Time and time again Scheffler, Graham and the rest of the Denver receiving core bobbed and weaved through the Jets’ shaky zone coverage as if it were Swiss cheese.

Gang Green’s run defense didn’t fare much better, yielding 129 yards on the ground to Peyton Hillis. The un-drafted rookie from Arkansas, who is listed as a fullback, had carried the ball just 38 times for 156 yards all season prior to this game.

Now the Jets, and specifically quarterback Brett Favre, have a serious identity crisis on their hands.

And it truly is up to Favre to decide how far this team can go. In eight Jets wins this season, the old gunslinger has been stellar, amassing a 101.7 passer rating and tossing 15 touchdown passes. However, in their four losses, Favre has been more like Mr. Hyde, with a 71.7 rating and six picks.

To become one of the league’s elite teams, the Jets need their biggest off-season acquisition to start acting more like Dr. Jekyll week in and week out.

Favre and the Jets will have a perfect opportunity to bounce back next week on the West Coast against the lowly San Fransisco 49ers.

With just four games left in the season, and a slim one-game lead over both the Patriots and Dolphins, it may finally be time to see what this Jets team is really made of.

And if the Jets want to prove that they are worthy of the praise they have received for the better part of this season, they will need Favre to be at his best down the stretch.

For the Jets’ sake, let’s hope Favre is a little more Jekyll, and a little less Hyde.

--Phil DiMartino