Game 23: Redskins 13, Jets 10

All right, now to the most eagerly anticipated game of Week 2, Redskins at Jets. Like everyone else out there, I'm certainly itching to see if Brett can repeat past glory in the Meadowlands tonight.

Of course, I'm talking about Brett Ratliff. Who did you think I was talking about?

Redskins kick off, touchback, Jets start at their 20. Here comes BFF. Rifle pass to Jerricho Cotchery for 11. London Fletcher slows Leon Washington behind the line to get swarmed for a 5-yard loss. 9 to TE Chris Baker. 3rd-6. Plenty of time for BFF, but Leon Washington's route IS RUN SHORT OF THE NEEDED YARDAGE. Mangenius decides to go for it on 4th and inches just inside the 41. Thomas Jones pops through for 3. Long count, Jones up the middle for 4. Looked like at least two Jets flinched without a call. 2nd down, Leon Washington COMPLETELY IGNORES his blitz pickup responsibility and Marcus Washington runs right around him to sack BFF for a ten-yard loss. BFF wings one in the flat out of Jones' reach. Jets will punt.

I already know at least once in this post I'll call the Jets the Packers instead. So be on the lookout.

Redskins at their 30. No Clinton Portis, just Ladell Betts tonight. He gains just one, then Jason Campbell throws high off his receiver's hands, nearly picked off on the rebound by Kerry Rhodes. Campbell's pressured into a poor checkdown pass on 3rd down. 3-and-out.

Leon Washington returns the punt 12 yards to his 40, then the Jets get 15 more because Devin Thomas ran out of bounds for the Redskins. Huh, didn't know you got 15 for that, but the Jets will take off from the Washington 45. 6 for Leon, who's certainly hard to bring down for such a little guy. Maybe 1 for Leon on 2nd down. BFF is barely getting these plays off before the clock runs out - does it have to do with him being the new guy? He hits Cotchery for 19 on an out route at the Redskin 20. End around to former Mizzou QB Brad Smith for 12 down to the 8. The Jet announcers literally scream about BFF selling the play with one of his classic, stupid pass fakes. Um, no. On the wide angle, as soon as BFF makes the fake, you see EVERY Redskin player correctly break in the direction of the run. Leon gets inside the 5. 2nd-goal, rookie TE Dustin Keller find a hole in the zone, Rocky McIntosh doesn't slide coverage over, and BFF hits Keller for the easy TD. 7-0, Jets.

Devin Thomas can't get going before Wallace Wright flashes in and trips him up at the 19. Skins will have to block kickoffs better than that. 12 to Donald Sellers. Kris Jenkins stuffs Betts for 2. Plenty of time for Campbell, who hits Santana Moss on the sideline for 13. They beat a blitz with a flare pass to Cooley for 7. BTW, when profiled, Kris Jenkins reveals his favorite meal is "food", and what he likes to do to relax is "sleep". Betts, who Ian Eagle calls "Bettis", very patiently hits a hole on the left side and breaks away for 16. 3-yard run gets the Skins inside the Jet 30. 2nd down, Campbell's sideline bomb for Moss is way overthrown. 3rd-7. DPI on David Barrett sets the Skins up at the 19. Campbell passing again, way too deep again. Good rush by Bryan Thomas, who eats up NOT AN OFFENSIVE LINEMAN Mike Sellers, and flushes Campbell out. Campbell hits Moss on the sideline and we get to see one official COMPLETELY BLOW the new forceout rule. The Jets hit Moss and kept him from getting his feet in, that's an incompletion, though a second official has to come from the back side to actually get the call right. Jeez. Draw on 3rd-and-10 unbelievably gets the first down. Vernon Gholston got pinched in and Betts juked Rhodes. Eric Barton dumps Rock Cartwright for -4 on a screen. Timeout by the Redskins when the quarter ends in 30 seconds anyway. Betts gains about three and appeared to catch a foot in the supposedly injury-saving FieldTurf. He was clutching his right knee but appears to walk off OK. End of the first quarter, Jets 7, Redskins 0.

Redskins have 3rd-and-goal from the 12. Barrett appears to break up a SHORT pass for Moss, 4th down. Shaun Suisham hits from 30 to make it 7-3.

Jets are pinned back at their 9 after a hold on the kick return. Don't know if Kellen Clemens got booed for replacing BFF. Incomplete on the sideline for Cotchery. Demetric Evans bats down the 2nd down pass. Clemens guns a first-down pass to Bubba Franks but he drops it. 3-and-out.

Byron Westbrook brings the punt back to the Jet 47. 2 for Cartwright, taken down by Gholston. New Redskin QB is Todd Collins. He hits Sellers for a couple. Vernon Gholston's favorite meal is "meat". Barton drills Maurice Mann to break up the 3rd down pass. Skins have to punt.

Jets are at their 22. Musa Smith will get no gain on 1st down if he's lucky. Clemens gets tripped pulling away from center and loses 3. Right now he's Bizarro Favre. Lorenzo Alexander becomes the second Redskin in just a few minutes to bat down a Clemens pass. Clemens' 2nd straight 3-and-out. He's 0-4 passing.

Westbrook muffs the punt, perhaps hearing Brad Smith coming. Smith drills him but Matteral Richardson recovers the loose ball. Bomb by Collins well covered by Dwight Lowery. 2nd-10 from the Skins 30. Cartwright gets stopped on 2nd down, but no wonder - there were 12 Jets on the field. 2nd-5. Naked bootleg screen to Mann for 6 and a 1st. Cartwright has a big hole but gets thrown down by Kareem Brown before he can hit it. Cartwright again, for a couple again. 3rd-5. Billy McMullen runs A THREE YARD ROUTE. 4th down.

Touchback will start the Jets from their 20. Clemens rolls out and hits 17 at the 48.

Apparently Eagles and Greg Buttle tried to interview Joe Namath during last week's game but Joe's audio never worked. Must have happened in the first half of the game while we had the Cleveland audio on. Anyway, they're happy to announce Broadway Joe's on the phone for another interview. Ian Eagles tells Joe he's never sounded better. On TV, we still can't hear Namath. Eagles and Buttle proceed to conduct a hilarious, and distinctly one-sided, interview. Two Redskins smear Clemens for a sack and fumble but a Jet lineman recovers. Clemens YET AGAIN trips backing out of center and loses a couple more. My God, is he drunk? Looks like Keller drops the 3rd down pass, and all of Jet Nation has to be wishing they'd kept Pennington and dumped Clemens, who looks positively USELESS. Punt dies at the 11.

Cartwright bounces outside right for 5. The TV crew FINALLY turns Namath's audio on. Cartwright bursts through the middle of the Jet line and is GONE. About a 75-yard run. Jets appeared to blitz the linebackers on each edge, and it looks like a couple of the DBs got caught farther upfield than they should have been. Plus Cartwright broke a tackle at the LOS. Skins at the Jets 11. Terrific play action gives Collins all day but he completely misses connections with McMullen at the front pylon. McMullen pushed off anyway, 10-yard penalty. Sellers gets 3. Quick break here to say what a good job Eagles is doing this game, and Ray Bentley did last game, in telling us down, distance and yardage of the last play. They make a game very easy to follow, unlike other crews that yammer about whatever they want and basically ignore the game.

Collins gets drilled by Marcus Murrell while he throws for an incompletion. Murrell beat Chad Rinehart on the play. 3rd-17 from the 19. Collins has to leave the game, and Derek Devine is the replacement. Ahead of Colt Brennan? My call would have been better. Devine locked in on the TE at the goal line, tried to throw to him into double coverage, then got the ball picked off by James Ihedigbo, who read his eyes. He returns the INT out to the 21.

After Jesse Chatman runs for a first down, a brutal drop by David Clowney. That's at least three passes Clemens' receivers have dropped. Make it four as Chatman drops one over the middle at the 2:00 warning. I'll have to cut Clemens some slack. Clowney catches a short pass for 8. Redskins call timeout prior to the Jet punt.

The Redskins called a defensive timeout so they could handoff????? And they false start the next play to top it off. 2nd-11 from the 25. Collins hits Todd Yoder for 13 and a first. Collins to Cartwright for 8. Everything's been up the middle. Skins use their last timeout with 0:25 to go. Drop by McMullen at the 20. 0:20 left. Fred Davis gets brought down in bounds at the 40, and the Skins lollygag up to the line and let the half run out. 7-3, Jets, at halftime.
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Of course BFF's the big story here, but the Jets have to worry they've got a guy behind him struggling to throw the ball over the defensive line, or drop back without falling down. Wow. Another very impressive player is Marcus Murrell, and also Ihedigbo, who made some plays in the Cleveland game, too. Except for the big Cartwright run, which they wasted, no offensive highlights for Washington in the first half. Campbell was not as good as he'd been the last two games. Defense stuffed the run well, which still appears to be a problem for the Jets again this year. Clowney and McMullen had better do a better job holding on to the ball for their respective teams.


Thomas returns to the Redskin 30. Collins to Fred Davis for 11. Marcus Mason takes over at RB. 13 to McMullen before Mason hits off right tackle for 19. Ran by Gholston. Redskins are at the Jets 23. Kenwin Cummings halts a STUPID FUCKING SCREEN on 3rd-and-6 from the 19 to force a FG. Suisham makes it a 7-6 game with a 36-yard FG.

Ahmad Carroll makes a big kick return out to midfield. Chatman gets stuffed on first down, then fights and dives for 5 on 2nd down. False start makes it 3rd-10. Chatman runs through about four terrible tackles on a draw play and takes it for 11 and a first. Shitty tackling like the Redskins did on that play is what encourages coaches to call all these fucking stupid draw plays on 3rd and long. Clemens hits Clowney, I think for about 15, for another first down. Clowney's injured on the play. 2nd-17 after a hold. Richardson tackles Paul Raymond on the 26 with a belly-to-belly suplex. Mike Nugent gets cat scratch fever and blows the 43-yard attempt, leaving us at 7-6.

Great diving effort by Thomas on the sideline but it's incomplete. 2nd-10 from the 33. Mason sweeps left for 5. Maurice Mann gets about 15 out of a short underneath route. First down, Skins, in Jet territory. Nothing for Mason. 2nd down, Bryan Mattison sacks Devine, who had plenty of time. 3rd-17. Sideline pass to Mann is nowhere close to the first. Redskins punt.

Jets from their 18 with Brett Ratliff behind center. BEAUTIFUL 24-yard pass to Keller to start the drive. Misses Wallace Wright on the sideline under some pressure. On 3rd-and-1 at midfield, Ryan Boschetti buries Musa Smith for a big loss, forcing a Jet punt, but that'll have to wait until the 4th quarter starts. Still 7-6, Jets.

Redskins are at their 14 and Colt Brennan will get to QB the 4th quarter. On 3rd-and-4, MAURICE MANN RUNS HIS ROUTE TWO YARDS SHORT. Not that that drive me NUTS or anything. Punter!

Lowery returns a 59-yard blast to the Jet 33. Ratliff waits, waits, waits, then SPEARS one to Jason Pociask at the 50. Man I love how this kid plays. He drills one to Wright on the sideline for 18. It's just, the Jets absolutely have a find here. After a false start, Hamilton stuffs a stupid fucking naked bootleg screen to Jehuu Caulcrick. 2nd-15. Let Ratliff wing it! He snaps one to Marcus Henry between two defenders for 12. I swear to Pete Rozelle we have another Kurt Warner on our hands here. So we get an incomplete pass on 3rd down to bring in the FG unit. Nugent strokes the 43-yarder this time, from the opposite hashmark, on his right this time, to push the Jets' lead to 10-6.

Westbrook's kick return comes out to the 28. Brennan to Jason Goode, who dropped a pass earlier, for 6. 2nd-4. Holding, make it 2nd-12. Jets stuff a Mason run. 3rd-9 from the 29. Brennan tries to roll away from blitzing LB Cody Spencer but can't, taking a big loss instead.

Jets take off from their 30. Caulcrick gets 6 off a swing pass. Middle run for Musa Smith gains squat. Has he gained a yard tonight? Marcus Henry makes a nice snag for 13 out to the Jet 49. Chatman gains a couple with 4:30 left in the game. Ratliff avoids a sack with a superb pump fake and scrambles forward for 3. About 7 to Pociask for another 1st at the Redskin 39. 3:00 left. Boschetti stuffs Chatman in the backfield. Boschetti has been very active. Redskins call timeout at 2:33. 3rd-7, a delayed blitz forces Ratliff to throw it away. Too far for a FG? 52 yards? The Jets fail to pin the punt at the 1. Brown had both feet on the goal line.

Redskins have just over 2:00 to travel 80 yards. Brennan to McMullen for 37, so they're already in Jet territory with 1:55 left. Nice throw by Brennan. Draw to Mason for 10. Dwight Lowery blitzes in and Spencer gets the sack of Brennan. They lost 4. 2nd-14 from the 33, the Jets bring 3 blitzers, Brennan dumps over the middle for Goode, Ihedigbo makes a TERRIBLE play, I think he was trying for the ball but came nowhere close, leaving the entire middle of the field open for Goode to run for a 33-yard TD. #1, the Jets shouldn't have blitzed; #2, Ihedigbo should have been looking for the tackle, not the INT. F'ed up play by the Jets coaches and players. Washington now leads, 13-10, 1:14 left.

1st down Jets at their 24. 1:02 left. 5 to Chatman. From the 29, Ratliff dumps off to Pociask, who Vernon Fox tries to drop with a forearm shiver instead of a textbook tackle, and rumbles off for a huge 31-yard gain. Draw play? Chatman spins twice and breaks a couple of tackles for a 17-yard gain. Jets are at the Redskins' 23. Ratliff to Henry for 8, using their first timeout with 0:22 left. Ratliff hits Henry inside the 5 for a first-and-goal with 0:15 left. Cedrick Holt rides David Ball out of the end zone sideline with 0:09 left. You know what, I really like the forceout rule. Ratliff has Raymond WIDE OPEN in the end zone, throws it a little behind him, AND HE DROPS IT. 3rd-goal with 5 seconds left. Jets use their final TO to prevent a delay of game. Glad to see Mangenius avoiding the FG.

NOW HE'S SENDING OUT THE FIELD GOAL UNIT?!?!?!?! ROT IN HELL, MANGENIUS! NO PLAYING FOR TIES IN PRESEASON!

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! SERVES MANGENIUS RIGHT! Nugent appears to mishit the ball, and instead of making a 23-yard chippie every kicker should be able to make in his sleep, he DOINKS it off the left upright, which prevents the tie.

SERVES MANGENIUS RIGHT FOR NOT GOING FOR THE WIN IN PRESEASON. ASS.

Redskins win 13-10, and the Jets have a problem at placekicker, where Nugent BLEW two very makeable kicks tonight.

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Ratliff still looks awesome for the Jets. Mike Nugent, not so much. Jeff Wilkins may be getting a call. Why not? By the way, THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER DRAFT A KICKER. They spent a second-round pick on a guy who gags on 23-yarders? Boschetti looks like the main player to emerge from this game for Washington, a game they didn't deserve to win.

23 down, 42 to go. I am not certain where I'm going next. Possibly Vikings-Ravens, which is next on my TiVo queue, or Lions-Bengals, which I think is next in my DVD queue.

Either I'm a sick SOB, or this is starting to get fun.