The AFC East’s week one results didn’t prove much for fans of the New England Patriots or the Miami Dolphins. The Patriots systematically dismantled an inferior Tennessee Titans team on the way to a 34-13 rout. Tom Brady looked on point, and starting running back Stevan Ridley turned some heads with 125 rushing yards. Defensive rookies Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower made an immediate impact, collaborating on a strip sack touchdown. Overall, no surprises at New England, and the Patriots remain one of the favorites to represent the AFC in the Superbowl yet again.

At the bottom of the division lay the Miami Dolphins, who were highlighted on this season of HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ and endured some hard knocks of their own in a Week 1 loss to the Houston Texans. Rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill struggled with his accuracy, and made some prototypical rookie mistakes as the veteran Texans capitalized. Rookie Head Coach Joe Philbin has his hands full with an inexperienced offensive line and a green quarterback behind center. The Dolphins are in for a long season if they continue to commit turnovers at the rate they did on Sunday.

The real surprise of the NFL’s kickoff weekend came in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where the New York Jets put up 48 points on route to a decisive victory over their divisional rival, the Buffalo Bills. An offensive unit that seemed inept for the entirety of the preseason came out firing against the supposedly new and improved Buffalo defense. Mark Sanchez had one of his best games as a pro, tossing three touchdowns to only one interception and completing over 70 percent of his passes. Rookie wide receiver Stephen Hill and second-year standout Jeremy Kerley contributed for two touchdowns each, including one by punt return for Kerley. Tim Tebow was virtually irrelevant for the Jets, contributing five carries for eleven yards.

Ryan Fitzpatrick of Buffalo looked shaky, tossing three interceptions, one of which was returned easily for a touchdown by Antonio Cromartie. Starting running back Fred Jackson left with a knee injury, and while C.J. Spiller handled the load admirably, Buffalo will sorely miss Jackson’s versatility and experience alongside Fitzpatrick.

Prized free agent signee Mario Williams was a virtual no-show for Buffalo, as was the rest of the Bills defense. Buffalo fans are left scratching their head as to the promise of this season, whereas Jets supporters are already talking about a return to AFC glory. After one week this talk may be premature, but the Jets certainly proved that they can perform on both sides of the football.

For week two, the Jets travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers, Miami hosts Oakland, Buffalo is at home against Kansas City, and New England takes on Arizona in Foxboro.

Image Courtesy of   New England Patriots

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With the first week of preseason in the books it’s time to take a look at the Jets 16-20 loss to the Houston Texans on the first Monday Night Football of the season. The starting teams were only on the field for the 1^st quarter and the 2^nd stringers, 3^rd stringers, and rookies played the rest of the game. C Nick Mangold, RG Brandon Moore, and WR Plaxico Burress all didn’t play due to injuries.

Starting D: The Jets starting D was up to its old tricks again only allowing the Texans high powered offense, though missing top targets Arian Foster and Andre Johnson, to 24 total yards in the 1^st quarter.

They caused a 3 and out with a sack on the first series and were able to force a punt on the 2^nd and final series. Kyle Wilson had a nice play on a 3^rd down pass to TE Owen Daniels on an out route causing the pass to be dropped and forcing the punt. Bart Scott was hurt on the first play from scrimmage, but walked off on his own power and returned in the 2^nd series.

Starting O: The starting offense looked good with both the passing and running game moving the ball down the field even though some key pieces were missing. QB Mark Sanchez went 4/4 on the 1^st drive and finished 6/7 with 43 yards connecting with 3 different receivers.

RB Shonn Greene showed that he was capable of being the feature back collecting 32 yards on 5 carries showing good strength and speed breaking a 20 yard run. New receiver Derek Mason looked good in his brief appearance catching 3 passes for 21 yards. Sanchez was sacked twice in the 1^st quarter.

2^nd Team Woes: The backups looked confused in their first game, but that’s to be expected with the lack of time with the teams and the systems. Rex Ryan was furious on a 1^st and goal play where a miscommunication occurred and there were too many players on the field. Ryan was animated running onto the field to call a timeout and throwing his hat and his headset.

The 2^nd team got burned a few times on play action bootlegs by Texans backup QB Matt Leinert one leading to the Texans only TD. The 2^nd team defense surrendered 98 total yards and 13 points in the 2^nd half while the 2^nd team offense led by rookie QB Greg McElroy was unable to score anything only able to gain 46 total yards.

Vlad the Impaled: With starters Nick Mangold and Brandon Moore out with injuries Rob Turner and 2^nd year player Vladimir Ducasse got the start. Ducasse got burned badly on two plays both leading to sacks.

On the first play he got beaten by rookie DE JJ Watt and Watt ended up falling on Turner causing him to be taken off on a cart. On another play he got beat badly on the outside and allowed McElroy to get popped causing a fumble.

Rookie Impact: Overall it was a pretty good game for the Jets rookies. 1^st and 3^rd round picks DE Mohammed Wilkerson and NT Kendrick Ellis made themselves known on the field both having strong games. Wilkerson showed great speed and power against the 1^st team, but was caught offside one time by a hard count.

Ellis also showed great power and awareness blocking up the middle on many plays and tipping a pass that led to an interception for the Jets. WR Jeremy Kerley wasn’t really a factor from scrimmage, but looked good in the return game having a bunch of solid returns. He looks to have a big impact filling in for the loss of WR Brad Smith.

RB Bilal Powell had an alright game with his biggest play coming on a screen for 29 yards bringing the ball down to the 1. QB Greg McElroy looked solid in his first NFL game going 23-29 with 208 yards 1 TD and 1 fumble. He bounced back from a shaky second quarter showing more poise and control in the pocket leading a nice drive down the field for the lone Jets touchdown.

Other Notes: Backup S Brodney Pool had a solid first half posting 5 tackles and TE Jeff Cumberland made some noise posting 6 catches for 77 yards. The battle for kicker continues as Nick Folk went 2/2 hitting from 33 and 40 and Novak hitting from 35. RB Joe McKnight was playing well until he exited the game with a head injury. The Jets out gained the Texans overall 310-221 and committed 8 total penalties.

Overall this was a solid preseason opener for the Jets. The first teams looked strong and the 2^nd and 3^rd teams didn’t play that bad considering the lack of preparation time.

This should improve as the team has more time in training camp. The Jets could have won the game, but rookie WR Michael Campbell dropped the potential go ahead touchdown in the final minute. Next up for the Jets is the Bengals next weekend.

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With only five weeks remaining between now and the start of the NFL season, training camps, amidst the free agency frenzy that was this NFL off-season, are now getting into the full swing of things.

For the New York Jets this means getting there new rookies valuable practice time as well as what might be the most important part in any success they have this year the chemistry between third year QB Mark Sanchez and his new look receiving corps.

In one week the Jets went from having a solid group of WR’s all who had developed chemistry with Sanchez over the past few years to a brand new group of receivers. The Jets lost three of there top four receivers: Braylon Edwards, Jerricho Cotchery, and Brad Smith.

Now with a receiving group comprised of Santonio Holmes and the older Plaxico Burress (34) and Derek Mason(37) the longest tenured ‘receiver’ in coach Brian Schottenheimer’s system is TE Dustin Keller who’s been there for only three years.

While this could potentially be a set back the hope is that the veteran presence of Burress and Mason will help quickly build the chemistry needed to help realize this teams Super Bowl or bust mentality.

Today was the first day that all three receivers were in full pads and on the field together. Derek Mason said that halfway through he felt fatigued, but he did take a majority of the reps which is good news for the Jets. Burress who is still nursing an ankle injury which happened last week in an informal workout while he was running routes with Holmes only took three reps.

Other news from training camp has been the rookies who have been making themselves known on the field and coaches and the media alike are starting to take notice. Fifth round draft pick Jeremy Kerley out of TCU has been spectacular so far.

The starting kick and punt returner jobs are now his to lose and he’s impressing coaches with his ability to get open. Rex Ryan called Kerley “special” while Sanchez called him a ”baller.” The Jets look like they may have found something special in Kerley and he may have been one of the steals of this years draft.

LB Nick Bellore out of Central Michigan has also been impressing coaches especially Ryan who has called him a pleasant surprise. With the lack of depth at the LB position there is a good chance the Bellore makes the roster if he keeps improving and impressing on defense.

The other big news in camp today was the numbers on the deal that pulled long time Jet Shaun Ellis away from New York and over to the rival New England Patriots were released.. The Jets offered him a 1 year $910,000 contract at the veteran minimum while the Patriots offered him $4 million with incentives to bump it up to $5 million.

With that in mind its a little easier to see why Ellis was willing to play for the Jets hated rivals after 11 years as a part of gang green.

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