-Jets coach Rex Ryan took blame for the team’s onside kick following Joe McKnight’s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown that got the Jets to within 20-14 in the third quarter. I thought it was a good gamble, indicative of the Jets’ much-needed try-anything mentality. It didn’t work. Some media members in the press box liked the call, others didn’t like the call. It seemed to be a 50-50 split.
“I came here to win,” Ryan explained. “That’s it. Whatever it takes. I think when you ask your players to lay it out there and do whatever it takes to win, that’s me included. I went for it.”
-Antonio Cromartie, primarily matched up against Andre Johnson, deserves a lot of credit for holding Johnson to one catch for 15 yards. Cromartie added a nice interception on a pass intended for Johnson in the first quarter. It led to the Jets’ game-tying touchdown.
-The Jets set an NFL record with their 11th straight season of having at least one kickoff returned for a touchdown.
-Sanchez on his interception late in the first half that was tipped by J.J. Watt and picked off by Brice McCain, who returned it 86 yards: “It’s a quick throw. On any of those underneath routes, if you don’t get those guys’ hands down (at the line of scrimmage), that’s just the way it goes. J.J. is smart. He knows when he’s not getting a pass rush. Our offensive line, for the most part, played really well tonight. They kept that guy out of there. They did their very best against a good pass rusher. He’s going to get some plays; it’s just inevitable. He’s a hell of a player. He knows though, as a good rusher, that when he’s not getting any pressure and they stone him up front, then he’s just going to wait back, sit there, and time his jump, and just watch for my arm to be cocked and ready to throw. He just jumps up and tries to tip it. That’s part of the deal and we’ve got to find a way to keep their hands down.”
-Sanchez on having to burn two timeouts in the second half because of pre-snap confusion: “We’ve got to clean that up. When they call personnel, guys got to know who’s in and who’s out. It’s got to be a lot sharper than that.”
-Sanchez on the second interception off Jeff Cumberland’s hands: “Could it be more in front of him? Sure. But it’s third down and half-a-mile or whatever it was. So we have to get some yards and put us in a position to go for it on fourth down and that would have been it. But Jeff made some great catches for us tonight. He’s not going to make them all — nobody is. We’ll just keep repping it, keep working it and try to put it in front of him.”
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