Here are six quick-hit thoughts on the Jets’ 17-16 upset of the Colts on Saturday night.
1. Caldwell blew it by calling that time out.
There’s no doubt that Jim Caldwell should not have called a time out with 29 seconds remaining in the game. The Jets were down to their final time out and were on the 32-yard line. Had Caldwell let the clock continue to run, the Jets would have likely only ran one more play before using their final time out and kicking a longish field goal. Instead, Caldwell used the Colts’ last TO (presumably to leave time for Peyton Manning) and Mark Sanchez completed an 18-yard pass to Braylon Edwards (who made a heck of grab) on the next play. After burning their final TO, the Jets won the game on a 32-yard Nick Folk field goal as time expired. Caldwell’s blunder was three-fold: 1) It stopped the clock, 2) it allowed Sanchez and his coaching staff to calmly gather their thoughts and choose their final offensive play and 3) it ultimately made Folk’s field goal attempt 18 yards shorter. I guarantee you Sanchez doesn’t even look Edwards way if his coaches didn’t tell him that play was open during the time out. And I can almost guarantee you that Folk doesn’t make a game-winning field goal on the road from 40-50 yards out instead of 32. One play or coaching decision never decides the outcome of a game. But this is one Caldwell we think about all offseason.
2) That said…
If Manning completes that 3rd-and-6 pass to Blair White on the prior possession, then the Colts would have ran the clock down and kicked the game-winner themselves. But because the pass fell incomplete, the Colts left time on the clock. And because there was time on the clock, Antonio Cromartie’s ability to bring the ensuing kickoff back to the 46-yard-line was huge. Does anyone believe that Sanchez would have marched his team into field goal range if he had to go 80 yards to do it? I was waiting for a pick-six myself. Caldwell’s decision to call a time out was bad. But the game would have never reached that point if one of the aforementioned situations doesn’t happen.
3) Sanchez finally makes a play when he has to.
Sanchez’s performance on the Jets’ final drive before halftime was brutal. He had zero touch on the pass that went over Dustin Keller in the end zone and the pass that Justin Tryon intercepted reeked of desperation. But give Sanchez credit: the throw he made to Edwards to set up Folk’s game-winner was right where it needed to be. Edwards made the play by going up and catching the ball at its highest point, then making sure he got both feet down and inbounds (where was that effort in Cleveland all those years?). But the throw was there. After he spent most of the game failing to make plays, Sanchez finally delivered when it mattered most.
