The line of Jets doubters after their 45-3 blowout loss to the Patriots has become so long it’s clogging up traffic around the tri-state area.
The Jets feel the negative vibes entering today’s home game against the Dolphins and it irritates them.
“To write us off might be a little premature,” coach Rex Ryan said. “We have one [bad] loss. That’s what [the doubt] is based on. Arizona was crushed by the Jets and New England [in 2008] and still made it all the way to the Super Bowl. Your team can improve, stay the same or get worse. I think our team will improve.”
Fullback Tony Richardson said, “If you can write a 9-3 team off, good for you. That’s fine. People were writing us off before the season started and they were writing us off last year when we were 9-7.”
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The Dolphins are ranked last in the AFC in scoring and much of the blame has fallen on struggling third-year quarterback Chad Henne
.
Henne is coming off a career-low rating of 37.8 Sunday in a 13-10 loss to Cleveland, in which he tied a career high with three interceptions. Henne, however, has played well in three career games against the Jets, completing 64 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and just one interception and a rating of 101.7 — compared with a career rating of 76.2.
“He seems to struggle against everybody but us,” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine
said.
“You’ve got a young quarterback who always plays great against us, for some reason,” Ryan said of Henne. “Let’s hope they bench him for this game.”
Both Henne and Mark Sanchez
are in their second season as starters and have similar statistics, yet Sanchez’s status is rock-solid with the Jets and Henne’s is not with the Dolphins.
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Running back LaDainian Tomlinson
has faced the Dolphins five times in his career, and has never rushed for 100 yards. Tomlinson, who has just one 100-yard game as a Jet (133 against Buffalo), has a total of 287 yards on 86 carries for a 3.3-yard average against Miami.
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Linebacker Jason Taylor
will face his former team for the second time. In the first meeting, when he started for the injured Calvin Pace
, Taylor had a sack and a tackle.