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No offense: AFC East powerhouses struggle in preseason play 08.28.10 at 12:46 pm ET
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For a division that’s billed as the most competitive in the NFL, it wasn’t the greatest 24 hours for the AFC East.

In the third week of the preseason — the week where the starters play the most and the intensity level most closely resembles the regular season — the Patriots, Dolphins and Jets all struggled while posting losses at home. One night after New England posted a 36-35 preseason loss to St. Louis on Thursday, Miami had issues of their own in a 16-6 defeat to Atlanta. Meanwhile, the New York Jets turned the ball over four times and suffered a 16-11 defeat to Washington on Friday.

In particular, in the final dress rehearsal for each starting offense, all three teams showed some vulnerabilities that must be addressed before the season opens in two weeks:

•After two impressive performances to open the preseason the Patriots’ starting offense was stuck in the mud for much of the first half against St. Louis on Thursday night. Through the first 27 minutes, New England had just one first down. The Patriots were able to rally in the second half (against the St. Louis backups) and Tom Brady ended up throwing for three touchdowns, but New England coach Bill Belichick said that even before Rams kicker Josh Brown lined up for what turned out to be a game-winning 37-yard field goal at the final gun, it was a mostly forgettable evening for the Patriots.

“[I’m] disappointed in the whole game,” Belichick said the day after the defeat. “Regardless of how the last kick turned out, whether it was good or not good, that’s really not the point. I don’t think we did things as well as we are capable of doing them, so that part is disappointing. And then when your team doesn’t do that, it doesn’t make you feel very good as a coach.”

•On Friday in Miami, Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne went 10-of-22 for 123 yards with one interception, and at least three of his passes were dropped. Things weren’t much better on the ground — Miami’s Ronnie Brown ran for only 9 yards in eight carries, two out of the wildcat. Ricky Williams carried four times for 5 yards. As a team, Miami, which lost its first preseason game of the year, converted only one of nine third- and fourth-down situations with its starting quarterback in the game.

In the end, Henne (who played one series into the third quarter) called it a “sloppy” effort, a point that was echoed by Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano.

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Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is crushed by the Washington pass rush Friday night. (AP)

“They were better than we were up front physically,” Sparano told reporters after the game. “We played sloppy, inconsistent — at times did some decent things, but couldn’t finish. There was something always unexecuted.”

•Things were just as bad for the Jets, who grabbed the bulk of the headlines this offseason but have struggled through the preseason, losing two of three. In particular, it has been a rough time for the New York offense and quarterback Mark Sanchez. According to ESPN, in three preseason games, the second-year quarterback out of USC has quarterbacked 18 drives that have gone for just 28 points — two touchdowns (a missed extra point) and four field goals. Sanchez did get off the schnide late in the loss to Washington when he hooked up with tight end Dustin Keller in the fourth quarter — it snapped a streak of zero touchdowns on 15 straight possessions.

As a team, the Jets were able to run the ball (LaDainian Tomlinson had 86 yards on 11 carries), but turned the ball over four times in the loss.

“We still have two weeks,” Sanchez told reporters after the game. “We just need to really focus these next couple of weeks, take the positives out of this game, and we really have to find a way to start fast. … I think it’s preseason and we need to take it seriously. It doesn’t feel good. It’s not a positive. We need to learn from it, find out why it’s happening, and be more efficient.”

There are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, it’s important to remember that preseason performance isn’t always a good indicator of regular-season success — when the Lions went 0-16 in 2008, they went undefeated in the preseason. And second, each did acknowledge their approach was a little more “vanilla” on both sides of the ball than what they might do during the regular season.

“I think one thing people need to understand is we’ve been very vanilla this preseason,” said Tomlinson. “We won’t really game-plan until the season starts, so we’re doing fine.”

“We just have to execute better — I think that’s what it comes down to,” said Brady. “We just had to get a bit of a rhythm out there. We found it a little bit there at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, but in the end it wasn’t enough.”

Read More: dolphins, Jets, Patriots, training camp Print  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • http://monkeesfan.blogspot.com Mike Daly

    Here’s the big difference between the Patriots and the rest of the division -

    The Patriots defense can and will get better and has already shown genuine ability in holding its own against New Orleans and Atlanta.

    The Jets and Dolphins are showing zero improvement from last year and in fact look to be regressing badly. Chad Henne has shown no zip, his receivers aren’t making plays, and the Wildcat has been declawed. The Jets have no offense beyond the run, Sanchez is becoming a bust, and the Jets defense cannot win battles of attrition against decent offenses, never mind keep up with the Patriots or Colts.

  • Cruz Ruiz

    Mike I’m Going Out On A Limb And Say Your A Patriots Fan. You Have The Audacity To Say The Jets And Dolphins Are Regress Because Of What You Have Seen In 3 PRESEASON Games! The Preseason Doesn’t Count! Teams Don’t Throw Their Entire Playbooks On The Field In These 4 Exhibition Games. Most Team Run About 3-4 Different Plays In These Games If That. Its An Evaluation Of The Current Talent On The Roster. Sanchez Has Been In The League One Year And Took His Team To The Playoffs And Loses In The Championship Game, Then He Loses Some Preseason Games And He Is A Bust?? Are You Serious?? Your Opinion Is Completely Bias And Merits Nothing! The Teams Are Struggled In The Preseason So What! It Doesnt Count! Opposite To What Everyone Thinks I Think This Division Will Come Down To Miami And New York! I Dare Say They Are Just Better. You Will See!

  • Bob Smith

    Cruz Ruiz-Sanchez didnt take his team to the playoffs the colts did.

  • Steve Spinosa

    @ BobSmith et al: The Jets nay have had the good fortune of having the Colts lay down in that one late regular season game, however, Sanchez did bring the team DEEP into the playoff with handsome wins vs the Brngals and Chargers AND the Jets were ahead late in the AFC championship game against the Colts and were only a quarter and change from the super bowl. Honestly, if it weren’t for Sanchez’s 10 dingers, the Jets would have had a much better record than their final record showed. All I can say the despite the dismal preseason performance, Rex is a coaching genius, even with the cursing and the Jets should a formidable contender for another deep run in the playlets again this year.

  • Steve Spinosa

    Correction: 20 dingers (typo). :-)

  • FinFanMan13

    The jets got to the playoffs in spite of Sanchez, not because of him.

  • Blues

    It wasn’t the Paetriots who played badly, it was the Rams that are good. Look for the Rams to have a 14-2 regular season.

  • http://monkeesfan.blogspot.com Mike Daly

    Cruz Ruiz, if a team is any good then something to indicate such will show up in preseason games. I understand the records in preseason don’t always convey how a team will do; how they are playing is what matters. If there’s anything positive there, it will show up in some form.

    There has been NOTHING from this preseason to give reason to think the Dolphins and Jets have anything with which to contend for the division. Offensively they have shown no firepower, defensively they have not been able to stop any kind of decent offense. If Mark Sanchez is genuinely good then SOME KIND OF IMPROVEMENT will show up in his game; what is showing up is that Sanchez is regressing.

  • http://monkeesfan.blogspot.com Mike Daly

    Steve Spinosa – the Jets’ playoff success came because the Bengals had regressed in the final month of the season and the Chargers missed three makeable FGAs – once a team that didn’t shoot itself came up the Jets were toast. Sexy Rexy has had just one winning season when the teams he coached were backed by a real quarterback – his last four years in Baltimore he needed Steve McNair and Joe Flacco to make the Ravens winners; his 9-7 last year came because the Colts and Bengals laid down on him. He’s been called a players coach and it shows in that he doesn’t seem to discipline his players that well.

  • http://monkeesfan.blogspot.com Mike Daly

    BTW, the Patriots offense got its rhythm against the Rams starters and saying they rallied against the Rams backups is unfair.

  • http://www.charlotteconservative.com taskerisgod

    “Honestly, if it weren’t for Sanchez’s 20 dingers”

    Yeah if not for throwing the most interceptions in the AFC, hed be great!

    And if not for the bad players, detroit woulda won the superbowl.

  • john

    Yeah, The Jets and Dolphins WILL be competing….for second place in the division

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