New York, NY. The New York Jets are 1-1, and typically this would mean week 3 is an important week, but not necessarily an absolute must-win week for the Jets in any given season. But this week 3 matchup at Miami is a little bit different. After a dominating opening game win at home over Buffalo, and a less than impressive loss at Pittsburgh, they now travel to face a Dolphins team that just crushed the pathetic Raiders. With this divisional battle in south Florida coming up this Sunday, who exactly are the New York Jets at this point? They already have the appearance of a team who may be a little bit of Jekyll and Hyde, as they have looked fantastic, as well as average at best during the first two weeks of 2012. Needless to say, this week is a must-win of sorts for the Jets. Why you ask? With games coming up against the 49ers, Texans, and Patriots, they simply cannot afford to go to 1-2. A loss against Miami could send this team down a terrible road for the rest of this year.
So far, Mark Sanchez has been Mark Sanchez. Some good, some bad, and a whole lot in between. A tremendous first game versus the Bills, followed up with a blah-type outing against the Steelers. The rumblings of #15 making his presence known and popping up during games came to fruition, as Tim Tebow did his thing, and has made some stuff happen. The bottom line is this….the Jets, and more importantly Mark Sanchez, need to have a strong outing this Sunday at Miami. If they want to have any possibility of success this year, they absolutely cannot afford to lose this game. A loss to the Dolphins would be disastrous as this team goes forward this season. An ugly loss, where Mark plays horribly, could send this squad into a tailspin that would be more than difficult to recover from. Based on talent alone, they should win this game this weekend. Although Miami pounded Oakland last Sunday, the Raiders are awful and the Dolphins took advantage of Oakland’s miscues. Miami is being led by a rookie QB, and they have some of the worst overall talent from top to bottom in the entire league. They are, however, definitely feeling good about themselves after a blowout win at home. This game between the Jets and Dolphins this week has all the makings of a difficult one for New York, but only if the Jets give the Dolphins opportunities for the upset win. This game will be a tell-tale sign of who New York really is in 2012. If they come out in this game and are very mistake-prone and turn the ball over several times, then a loss will be in the cards and a losing streak could be in the near future. But if they play disciplined football, and take care of business like they should, then there is no reason they shouldn’t be 2-1 after Sunday. The entire AFC East is 1-1 right now, and the Patriots have a tough road game at Baltimore this week. The New York Jets cannot afford to lose this game in week 3, as it is an extraordinarily huge game this early in the season.
Anything more than 5 or 6 wins for Miami this year would be pretty shocking. Nobody, not even themselves, are expecting anything more than the early stages of a rebuilding process. They have handed the keys over to Ryan Tannehill, who is simply trying to learn the NFL game as all rookies do. A successful year for the Dolphins would be for everyone to see him grow as a signal caller, and for the team to show some progress as the season moves along. But for the New York Jets, they are on the fence of sorts for this year. This week may very well tell us who they will be for the rest of 2012. A win at Miami will remind everyone that they are a talented team who could stick around in the hunt for much of the season. But a loss, and an ugly loss at that, could spell doom for a team with a very tough schedule coming up. A bad outing by Mark Sanchez in week 3 may also mean a new starting QB for New York in week 4. That guy named Tebow could very well get the call on September 30th versus San Francisco.
Denver Sports by J Simp
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