Maureen and I enjoy hockey and were watching a Caps/Flyers game in one of the last 2 seasons.  The broadcast cut to a fan in the stands with a sign that read Briere = [picture of a cat].  I turned to Maureen and said “Briere equals cat?”  She just looked back sideways at me and I said ‘oh…OH!”

Since then, when we see less than manly behavior on the football field, “Briere equals cat” is all we need to say to each other.

On Sunday night, the phrase had a 4th-quarter revival with the play of Mark Sanchez.  Twice he dropped to the ground to avoid a QH (Q4, 13:31 and Q4, 9:51).  The first time, Collinsworth chortled about it briefly, the 2nd time, he mercifully said nothing.  I’m more interested in what it says about the Ravens defense that had not rattled a quarterback so badly in several years.

For the game, Sanchez was knocked down (QH) 11 times including the 2 sacks.  As in the St. Louis game, the first half was all about numbers.  Even when the Ravens did back off into more 4-man rushes in the 2nd half, Sanchez was unable to find his composure.

The Ravens had 56 snaps defensively with no spikes, kneels or other noncompetitive plays:

Overall:

Versus the Run:  19 plays, 38 yards, 2.0 YPC

Versus the Pass:  37 plays, 112 yards, 3.0 YPP

Overall:  56 plays, 150 yards, 2.7 YPPA

By number of defensive backs:

3 DBs:  None, which is always a good sign.

4 DBs:  24 plays, 63 yards, 2.6 YPPA, 1 sack, 2 TO

5 DBs:  30/87, 2.9 YPPA, 1 sacks, 2 TO

6 DBs:  2/0

By number of pass rushers:

3:  None

4:  15/15, 1.0 YPP, 1 sack, 1 TO

5:  13/75, 5.8 YPP, 1 sack, 2 TO

6:  7/22, 3.1 YPP

7:  1/0

Individual Notes:

·         The Jets converted 7 first downs, 1 more than the franchise low from last year’s game against the Ravens.  In those 2 games combined, the Jets ran just 99 offensive plays. 

·         I like to keep a link to a cross section of online bookies to gauge public perception of the game.  Late in the afternoon, the line on the game, which had consistently been Ravens -3.5 changed to Ravens -5.5.  That’s a big late shift and is most typically indicative of breaking injury news.  I anxiously awaited the Ravens inactives to see if some combination of Grubbs, Carr, and Evans (I had heard he’d been ruled out earlier) would be active.  When those 3 were inactives, it was clear Mangold was going to be sitting.

·         Ryan tried some things to fix the Jets’ offensive line woes.  After the third series, he removed center Colin Baxter, moved Slauson from left guard to center, and inserted Vlad Ducasse at LG.  Vlad’s appearance lasted 12 plays during which he had a false start and failed to attempt 2 blocks (Q2, 8:21 vs Ngata on his sack/FF and Q2, 7:33 on Ayanbadejo’s QH).  Baxter then returned at center, but the Ravens continued to get free runs at Sanchez by stunt, delay, and missed blocking assignment.

·         Ray Lewis was credited with just 5 tackles, but had his best game of the season.  As a sidebar, many of you probably know that the term “coaches review” is equivalent to “not comparable” (some would say “artificially inflated”) when associated with tackle totals.  The consistently applied and comparable tackle totals originate with the credit given in the Gamebook.  By coaches review, Ray used to have many more credited tackles, but last night I thought Ray had tackles on consecutive plays (beginning Q3, 7:49) where he went uncredited in the Gamebook.  On the first he took down Greene, but the tackle was credited to Pollard and Webb.  On the second he pushed Greene out of bounds although JJ chased him there.

·         In coverage, Lewis blanketed Dustin Keller, arguably the Jets best offensive weapon prior to Sunday, with a combination of position (Q4, 13:31 was in position for INT on low throw), hits (Q2, 2:30 stripped the ball loose), and fear (Q4, 9:23, Keller heard footsteps and dropped the pass).  Keller was targeted 8 times with just 2 completions for 12 yards (9 came on a play where Ray registered the QH--Q2, 11:09). 

·         Ray twice knocked down Sanchez as a free runner (Q2, 11:09 and Q2, 2:23) and has become a more potent force with the frenzied pass rush the Ravens have created in their wins this season.  Lewis has been able to effectively pick an opportunity as a delayed pass rusher to take advantage of the havoc in front of him.  Ray forced another fumble (Q2, 3:32) from Greene which the Ravens did not recover and was negated by a holding penalty on Slauson.

·         A play that will stick in my mind is the pursuit of LT to the sideline from Ngata and Lewis.  Those 2 were even for a good while and Tomlinson was ultimately unable to turn the corner on Lewis.

·         One of the big questions coming into the game was how the Ravens would handle the Jets’ 3 and 4-receiver looks.  The Ravens initially played both a 3-safety nickel (Pollard/Zibby/Reed/Williams/Webb, 7 snaps) and a 3-corner nickel (Gorrer for Zibby, 3 snaps) before Zbikowski was lost midway through Q2 (Zibby also played 2 dime snaps with Gorrer).

·         Gorrer’s coverage was terrific with his highlight example (Q4, 4:42) coming on a throw deep right for Holmes.  While not credited, he assisted on the tackle of Mason to force the Jets to punt (Q3, 12:08) by laying his shoulder into Derrick’s midsection.  He also stripped Holmes of the ball for a PD (Q4, 4:56).  Sanchez did not complete a single pass to Gorrer’s assignment despite throwing 22 passes while he was in the game.  His assignment was targeted just 3 times. 

·         Gorrer’s ascension has been remarkable.  In the preseason, he was outplayed by 5th-round pick Chykie Brown and dropped an interception in the final game to seal his trip to the practice squad.  Since then, he spent the first week on the practice squad, was signed and activated prior to the Titans game when he played special teams (Brown was inactive).  Versus the Rams, he played his first 3 snaps on the final series while Chykie was employed only on special teams.  On Sunday, the Ravens entered the game with just 7 active defensive backs including both Gorrer and Brown.  Gorrer played 5 snaps even before Zbikowski was lost to injury, but he would finish with 25 and has earned additional playing time.  Were it not for the discounting from an outing against a beaten quarterback, it would be interesting to see how the Ravens would arrange their depth chart with all of the current corners on the roster healthy.

·         Webb’s interception/touchdown (Q3, 9:03) was a combination of recognition and daring.  Collinsworth mentioned that Webb was free to gamble with Reed behind him, but Johnson would not have caught Holmes and would have left Reed as the only other coverage on that side of the field with Burress and Holmes.  I love the overhead shot on the play which shows Reed raising his hands in triumph approximately .4 seconds (12 clicks in DVR timing terms) after Webb hauled in the ball.  Thankfully, Laquan Williams was assigned to return both kicks and punts.

·         Reed’s initial play was reminiscent of his 2004 campaign when he would wander the field looking for big plays.  After the initial sack/fumble, he was in the backfield to generate pressure on an incomplete pass (Q1, 5:57) and again to peel off the TE which helped JJ hold the edge and ultimately take down Greene for no gain on a run right (Q2, 15:00).

·         McClain’s PD on the WR screen left (Q3, 14:21) was a quick whistle that went unmentioned.in the broadcast.  It looked like a lateral to me that Sanchez released at the 17-yard line and that was deflected by McClain right there.  Based on the fact the Jets made no attempt to pursue the ball, that would have been a defensive TD.  In any case, that’s a spot where I was under the impression the referees were supposed to be slow with the whistle and make a correction later if necessary.

·         JJ had his best game of the season to date.  He’s usually a significant contributor any time the opponent is held to a rushing total like that of the Jets Sunday.  An excellent example of his contribution on the edge can be seen on Ray Lewis’ tackle of Greene (Q3, 15:00) for no gain.  He took Greene down for no gain (Q2, 15:00) and stretched Greene left and out of bounds (Q3, 7:14) for a loss of 3 with an assist at the corner by Lewis.  He touched down the diving Sanchez (Q4, 9:51) for a QH and stunted through the left A-gap on the Jets’ last play (Q4, 1:56) to register the 11th QH.  JJ played just 43 snaps which is a manageable workload and the Jets gained just 2.0 YPPA on those plays.

·         Kruger had a second consecutive fine outing in limited duty (14 snaps).  He dove on Sanchez’s shotgun fumble (Q2, 14:21), combined with Gorrer to hold Mason a yard short of a first down (Q3, 12:08), and executed another wicked spin move on Ferguson to free himself to bat down the Sanchez heave for Tomlinson (Q3, 6:48).

·         Brendan Ayanbadejo picked up 2 more QHs in 20 snaps and now has 5 for the year.  That’s 2nd on the team only to Suggs’ 8.  BA also had a PD when he dislodged the ball from Holmes near the first-down marker (Q2, 12:05). He had another PD which went uncredited on the Jets’ final play (Q4, 1:56) when Sanchez threw an errant pass off his back leg.

·         Arthur Jones played 12 snaps and looked quick.  He registered a QH when he beat Baxter to his left (Q4, 2:11) and again shed Baxter on the very next play to take down Tomlinson for no gain.  The defensive line rotation included 12 snaps for McKinney, 28 for Redding, 25 for Cody, and 43 for Ngata, so the line is well rested entering the bye.  Suggs missed just 3 snaps.

·         Sergio Kindle played his first 2 NFL snaps on the Jets’ last 2 plays from scrimmage.  Prior to his arrival on the field there appeared to be a mild disagreement between Webb and Suggs over who was to rush the passer from that side.

·         The first 4 weeks of the 2011 season have been the 4 highest for passing yards in the history of the NFL.  Not the highest 4-game total, but the weeks individually hold the 1 through 4 slots all time for passing yardage in a week.  During that time, the Ravens have allowed 57 points, have 14 takeaways, 848 passing yards, and have allowed an opponent QB rating of 61.6.