Florham, NJ -- On Sunday September 27 the New York Jets donned the helmets and uniforms of the 1960 New York Titans and traveled to Tennessee to face the Tennessee Titans in the third game of the NFL campaign for both teams.
This will have been one of three games this season that the New York Jets will wear the retro uniforms of the former New York Titans.
The Jets come into this game at the top of the AFC East with a 2-0 record while the Titans come into the game 0-2 this game will not be taken lightly by the Jets. Jets first year rookie head coach Rex Ryan takes every game seriously not matter what their record.
Some of the Jets shared their views on the upcoming battle with Tennessee in some locker room chatter. Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez a big hit in New York already addressed the Tennessee defense. “They have two bookends in (Jevon) Kearse and (Kyle) Vanden Bosch (and) an emotional leader and a guy who’s in every down in (Keith) Bullock. He went on to say, “Those guys come up and hit running backs hard.” He went on to point out that is hasn’t forgotten the TITANS’ corner back.”Then (Cortland) Finnegan (is) a tough corner…He’ll hit you. He’s one of those players that can really frustrate receivers, so we need to play at our very best.
Tight end Justin Keller(#81) addressed remaining focused in spite of the Jets success against their first two opponents, the Houston Texans (in Texas) and the New England Patriots (at home). “We don’t feel any hype or any extra pressure added. We feel like if we do what we did the first two games there aren’t many teams out there that can really beat us.” Now that is confidence if you if you ask me!
The Jets will have their hand full in TITANS quarterback, Kerry Collins. There is no question that Collins is respectful of the surging New York Jets. “ Obviously, they’re playing, really, really well, “said Collins on the Jets. “They seem like they know how to play the new defense.” For the last two seasons the Jets were very busy learning and relearning the Eric Mangini defenses. When he took over the Jets changed the defensive set up and seemed to confuse many of the Jets defensive players.
Titans QB Kerry Collins had some thoughts about possibly being intimidated by the Jets solid defensive play. “We certainly know how they blitz and they like to rush the passer,” said Collins during a conference call on Wednesday with the Jets beat reporters… They bring a lot of exotic things and you just have to be ready for it.” How to plan an attack against the Jets was something that the Titans are preparing for. “We’re going to try to put together a good game plan this week and get ready for them,” said Collins.
Two hundred eighty five all purpose yards, that’s hard to ignore said Jets coach Rex Ryan when asked about how to prepare to defend against Titans all purpose back Chris Johnson. It was just last week that Chris Johnson rang up 284 yards and leading the AFC for single game highs for touchdowns,(3) rushing yards,(197), longest rush, (91), scrimmage yards, (284), 16 rushes for 197 yards and 9 receptions fro 87 yards. To his credit Chris Johnson had the biggest offensive day in Tennessee Titans history second only to Billy Cannon who back in 1961 had 330 all-purpose yards against the New York Titans.
Ryan went on “If you think you’re fast enough your not. Trust me. That’s him. He’s got that kind of speed.” The coach focused on Johnson and not the interference in front of him. “You’ve got to contain the football not the blocker.” Ryan is obviously impressed with Johnson’s explosive speed. “This guy can blow right by you, said the coach referring how he plans to defend against Chris Johnson in Sunday’s game in the Meadowlands for a 1:00PM start.
The Jets actually got the NFL to change their original 4:00PM start to 1:00PM to accommodate their Jewish fans who will celebrate Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar on at sundown on Sunday.
Derrelle Revis (#24), the highly rated Jets defensive back had some thoughts on defending against Chris Johnson and the Titans, “the key is to focus on our game plan. We know they are a good team. They got some good offensive threats. Chris Johnson. Kerry Collins has been dong a great job for them for the past couple of years.” He added, “And they got some good receivers.” Kerry Collins is a good pocket passer. He indicated that the Jets goal was to get the win on Sunday.
Jet Mark Sanchez looked sharp in practice although coach Ryan commented that he was not happy about practice on Thursday. In spite of the coach’s remarks it appeared that the Jets receiving corps consisting of Wallace Right (15), Brad Smith (16), Chansi Stuckey(83), David Clowney (87) and Jerricho Cotchery(89) showed good hand-eye coordination on snaring passes from the different Jets quarterbacks.
It may be no coincidence that the Jets will be wearing New York’s old Titan uniforms for this game. It will be a real clash of the Titans.
