What more is there to say about the New York Jets that hasn’t been a hot button media issue all summer long? A disappointing 8-8 season after two straight AFC Championship losses, and innumerable amounts of Super Bowl guarantees by head coach Rex Ryan, has led to an offseason overhaul of the way the New York Jets go about their business.

Offensive Coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was replaced by former Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano, who plans to reimplement a run heavy offense akin to the style the Jets used with backs Thomas Jones and LaDainian Tomlinson in Ryan’s first year at the helm. Third year running back Shonn Greene is primed for a breakout season with the workload shifting entirely in his favor after Tomlinson’s retirement, but questions remain about his durability and the offensive line in front of him.

Speaking of that offensive line, this Jets squad is a far cry from the 2009 crew that boasted five of the league’s best. Despite the presence of pro-bowlers D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold, the offensive line struggled mightily last year and into this preseason. This prompted Ryan to bench starter Wayne Hunter in favor of undrafted rookie Austin Howard, leading to Hunter’s jettison to St. Louis in return for former first-round draft pick, but all around underachiever, Jason Smith. Quarterback protection and forward push in the ground attack will be a major issue for the Jets this season.

That brings us to the quarterback situation. Beleaguered starter Mark Sanchez has had his ups and downs as a pro since being the Jets first pick in the 2009 draft. After riding the Jets stellar defense and potent running game to the playoffs for two straight seasons, Sanchez’s flaws were highlighted last season, coughing up three straight losses to close out the season with far too many turnovers from their franchise quarterback. It didn’t help that a public squabble with star receiver Santonio Holmes lasted well into the offseason.

Despite the shaky play, Sanchez earned a contract extension after the Jets unsuccessfully flirted with the opportunity to bring in Peyton Manning. Shortly after, the Jets brought in a backup quarterback by the name of Tim Tebow, you may have heard of him. The Jets management have stayed true to the idea Tebow is Sanchez’s backup thus far, and was brought here to help the team win in that capacity alone, but owner Woody Johnson may not have accounted for the deafening chants their much heralded backup will receive after Sanchez’s first costly interception.

The Jets garnered more attention on the issue after operating their wildcat packages with Tim Tebow in secrecy, shrouded from the media and their preseason opponents.

After three preseason games, the Jets are the only team in the NFL to not score a touchdown, an unenviable accolade. They are the first team in 35 years to go three preseason games without scoring a touchdown. Whether they’re saving their big play moments for the regular season, or are simply an anemic offensive unit remains to be seen. One thing remains consistent however: Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you’ll certainly be seeing a lot of Jets coverage this upcoming season.

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The New York Jets put an end to all the talk surrounding them with a victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

The high-flying Bills’ offense, which was averaging 30 points a game, was completely shut down by the Jets’ defense. The Jets were able to pick Ryan Fitzpatrick off twice and force a fumble. They stopped the Bills on fourth down, and the Bills didn’t score a touchdown until late in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach.

Mark Sanchez and the offense came out early for a change, but couldn’t score until the third quarter when the Jets scored on four straight possessions and cruised to a 5-3 record and a tie with Buffalo.

Sanchez had two bad early turnovers. The first was a pick in the end zone, which spoiled a 15 play 87 yard drive that ate up 10 minutes of clock. The second came when he just missed a perfect shotgun snap that gave Buffalo the ball right back after the defense forced a turnover. He rebounded and finished 20 of 28 for 230 yards and completed an eight-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes.

The Bills, on the other hand, didn’t look like the team that had breezed through their first seven games, but rather dysfunctional and overmatched.

“We just couldn’t get anything going,” Fitzpatrick said. “They kept us frustrated all day and didn’t allow us to do what we’ve been doing all year.”

The corners took away the quick passing routes that the Bills have been running all year. Without much of a running game, things became difficult for Fitzpatrick. He finished 15 of 31 for 191 yards and had a touchdown and two interceptions. He hit David Nelson for a seven-yard touchdown with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Then he ran the ball  for the two-point conversion to make it 27-11.

The Bills had three first downs and just as many turnovers in their first eight possessions. This game was the first time the Bills have been under 20 points all season.

“They played well and we played poorly,” Bills coach, Chan Gailey, said. “It was a big ballgame. We haven’t had this happen at home this year. And we’ve got to get better.”

The lone bright spot in the game for the Bills was running back Fred Jackson who racked up 82 yards on 18 carries and had three catches for 38 yards. He will have to continue to play well if the Bills want to have a chance on their upcoming road trip, playing four out of the next five games on the road.

The Jets, while not matching the almost 300-yard average, had a good day running the ball. The team rushed for 126 yards and two scores led by Shonn Greene who had 76 yards on 19 carries.

“I’m sure now there’s going to be something written about the Jets being back,” Scott said. “And we won’t listen to that either, because at the end of the day, we know that you guys [in the media] don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

The Jets are now focused on their game next week against the New England Patriots, which will be for first place in the AFC East.

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With their backs to the wall in the midst of a three game tailspin, the Jets needed a win in “the worst way” against the winless Dolphins on Monday Night just to stay relevant in the NFL playoff race. They got the win, but it wasn’t too convincing. However, ask the Jets and they’ll tell you its fine as long as it wasn’t another loss.

With the Dolphins knocking at the door, threatening to jump out to a 10-0 lead early in the first, Darrelle Revis ran back the first of his two interceptions 100 yards for a touchdown and helped kick start the Jets to do just enough to get a win at home. The Jets were sitting at a 2-3 mark coming into the game with a ton of turmoil going on in the locker room.

“Anytime you lose three games straight, you’re going to lack some confidence,” running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. “You’re going to start to question yourself a little bit.” However, the Jets did nothing to prove that they’ve turned things around, getting off to yet another slow start with their first four possessions ending in three-and-outs for the second straight game.

The Jets didn’t get their 1^st first down until 6:17 left in the half. Sanchez, while not playing a great game, was serviceable. He found Holmes for a 38 yard touchdown on a crossing pattern early in the fourth quarter. Sanchez finished 14 of 25 for 201 yards 1 TD and another touchdown coming on the ground when Sanchez ran a QB draw 5 yards for the score.

Shonn Greene had another decent outing rushing for 74 yards on 21 carries. The Dolphins came to town just in the nick of time for gang green, but they have a much better opponent in the 4-1 San Diego Chargers, coming into town next week with a bye following. For the Dolphins, they drop to 0-5 and this season is beginning to look like 2007 when they went 1-15.

Fans are hoping for no wins so they can get Andrew Luck in next years draft, but the heat for this seasons is falling on Tony Sparano. He didn’t help his cause by designing a game plan that had Matt Moore in his first start. The Dolphins were constantly throwing toward Revis’ side of the field which ended up burning them.

“It’s tough right now,” wide receiver Brandon Marshall said. “When you lose, everything looks bad. It’s a nasty feeling in the building and a nasty feeling every day. The only thing we can do is fight to get a win.” Marshall didn’t even live up to the promise that he’d get ejected during the 2^nd quarter. He didn’t start a fight with Bart Scott or Antonio Cromartie like he said he might.

The Dolphins were first on the scoreboard when Dan Carpenter knocked a 23 yarder midway through the opening quarter. The Jets fumbled and lost the ensuing kickoff when a short kick bounced off blocker Garrett McIntyre and was recovered by Austin Spitler. After Daniel Thomas rushed twice for 3 yards, Moore attempted to hit Marshall in the end zone.

Unfortunately for Moore, Revis was on Marshall, stepping in front of the pass and was off to the races, making it 7-3 and turning the game right around. Matt Moore, who was in for Chad Henne, had a horrible game. He was 16 of 34 for 204 yards and two interceptions. “It’s rough, kind of the same old story, trying to find answers and make plays down there in the red zone and we seem to hit a wall,” Moore said. “Just got to keep going.”

Marshall finished with six catches for 109 yards but no touchdowns. Five of the catches and 63 of the yards came against Revis who was matched up on Marshall for most of the night. He was targeted 19 times. Reggie Bush who left in the 3^rd quarter with a neck injury had 71 yards on the ground and two catches for 7 yards.

Carpenter hit a 21 yard field goal in the early 2^nd to make it a 7-6 game, but that would be the end of the scoring for the Dolphins. The Dolphins face the Broncos at home next week before heading back to MetLife stadium for a showdown with the other New York team Big Blue.

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This is the question that the New York Jets need to ask themselves. If this was a year or two ago, the answer would’ve been simple: a ground and pound offense and a smash mouth defense. However, this year the Jets look like a team who are searching for their identity, which is not good considering this team is planning on winning it all.

At the beginning of the year, the Jets decided to make Shonn Greene their bell-cow running back and moved last year’s starter, LaDainian Tomlinson, to a third down receiver type back. The only problem is the Jets have been unable to run the ball in their first three games this season. The team that would beat you up with their big skilled offensive line now has to rely on the passing game for points.

Mark Sanchez threw the ball 44 times in the opener against the Cowboys, and has had to throw the ball a lot more than intended because of the inefficient run game, even throwing in a blow out against the Jaguars in Week 2.

Now a lot of this has to do with the Jets interior line who, without center Nick Mangold, is sporting two first year players and second year player, Matt Slauson. This a big difference from the line of last year and from two years ago in which tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who is a pro-bowler in his own right, was the weak point.

The spectacular Rex Ryan defense, which should be playing great as 10 of the 11 starters are now in at least their second year in the system, has at times looked bad. The Cowboys were able to expose the defense almost costing the Jets the home/season opener two weeks ago, and it cost them the game on Sunday against the Raiders who torched the Jets defense for 200+ yards on the ground.

Bad tackling combined with a lack of pass rush has plagued the Jets and the mental mistakes aren’t helping either. While I’m sure the defense had a bad game, and will be fine as the season goes on, the real problem is the offense and how the Jets are going to score points. If the Jets can’t find their identity as a team, they can stop all the Super Bowl talk now and kiss their season goodbye.

These next two weeks will really show what the Jets are made of. They travel to Baltimore this week for the Sunday night game against the Ravens, and then to Foxboro to square off with their nemesis, the New England Patriots.

The worse that could happen is the Jets lose both and fall to 2-3 in the season, which will not put them in a good spot considering the Bills, yes, you’re reading that right the Buffalo Bills, right now are atop the division at 3-0 and have easy games. The Patriots, assuming they beat the same Raiders the Jets just lost to, would be 4-1.

While the season is long and a lot can happen, the Jets need to ask themselves who they really are as a team, and they better figure it out quickly. Otherwise the answer to the question, “Who are the 2011 Jets?” will have one answer: a team with all the talent in the world that just couldn’t put it all together.

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