Cole Tessler ’11
Staff Writer
The Jets are on a three game skid and looking to bounce back after a devastating loss to the Bills. Now, they are facing a must win game on the road, at Oakland.
Oakland has new found swagger after beating the Eagles 9-13 and now Richard Seymour, Raiders defensive lineman, is making a bold prediction.
“You can mark it down, The Raiders will be in the playoffs in 2009.”
The Jets on the other hand, have lost all their swagger losing three games in a row after starting out 3-0
Now the Jets need to turn their streak around and beat the Raiders
Here are the keys for the Jets to win Sunday versus the Raiders
Mark Sanchez has to not be terrible: All Mark Sanchez had to do in both the Saints and the Bills games was not to do terrible, and the Jets would have won
He has all the tools around him for a successful team and all he has to do is manage the game, which he didn’t do versus either team.
Hopefully with both Jet wide recievers, Jerricho Cotchery and Brad Smith back, it will open up the field for him and he will succeed versus the Raiders secondary who only has four interceptions this season.
The Offensive Line has to protect Sanchez: The reason why the Raiders won last week is the pressure they put on Mcnabb. In order for Mark Sanchez to succeed, he needs time in the pocket. The Raiders are top 10 in the league in sacks with 15.
You can be sure Richard Seymour and other Raiders will look to go after Sanchez and try to make him throw bad passes. Also, Mark Sanchez isn’t the most trustworthy as he is tied in the league for second in fumbles with six.
It is vital that the offensive line steps up and protects Sanchez if they want to win.
The Defense has to apply Pressure on Jamarcus Russell: Jamarcus Russell is a joke; he is in the bottom 25 in most major statistical categories except for interceptions, where he is in the top 10.
In the beginning of the year, the Jets applied great pressure on opposing QB’s and shutdown greats like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Matt Schaub. If they can apply pressure like they did to those QB’s to someone who is just plain horrid like Jamarcus Russell, imagine the damage.
The Raiders have no other weapons on offense, so if they can shutdown Jamarcus and his main target, Zach Miller, their offense is done.
That is all the Jets need for them to advance to the next week as 4-3.
If the Jets drop to 3-4 it will be tough to recover.