Here we go again Jets fans.  The Jets managed to go to Oakland and find a way to lose to a 1-4 Raiders team, a team that quit for their interim coach last week in New Orleans.  A team that was ripe for the picking.  The Jets forgot to show up.  With the exception of the Jets running game, the rest of the team took a week off in week 7. 

Let's start with the offense.  What happened to Brett Favre.  Last week against the Bengals, he did not have a great game by his standards, but he managed the game and got a win.  This week you would think he would have a bounce back week against a sub-par team.  Not so much.  Favre was 21/38 for a 197 yards and 2 interceptions.  He was just not able to get into a groove yesterday.  The Raiders did a good job of taking away the deep threats, leaving Favre to look over the middle for open receivers.  Chris Baker had a great opening drive for the Jets with 4 receptions and then disappeared, having only one reception after that.  He led the team with 5 catches.  Favre now has 4 interceptions in the last 2 games with 1 TD pass.  We all know what you get with Brett, but you would think with the teams the Jets have played the last 2 weeks (Bengals, Raiders), he would have more TD's then picks.  On a positive note, the Jets running game finally showed up.  Thomas Jones had his best running game for the Jets, running for 159 yards on 24 carries.  He also managed some long runs as well, busting one run for 31 yards and another for 20 yards.  This is something the Jets have been lacking from Jones, big gains from the backfield.  As a team the Jets ran for 242 yards, their best performance in recent memory.

Defensively, the Jets had two sides as well.  The rushing defense, which was third in the league giving up 69 yards per game, got lit up for 153 yards, their worst performance of the season so far.  The Jets, who are one of the league leaders in sacks as well, were only able to manage to sack JaMarcus Russell one time.  The Jets were just not able to get enough pressure on the young quarterback yesterday.  The defense did keep him in check for the most part until the game got to overtime.  Russell was able to get two big plays in OT that sealed the game for the Raiders.  On the Raiders third drive of OT, Russell was able to hit Javon Walker for a 16 yard gain and Zach Miller for a 27 year gain, that set up the game winning field goal.  Kerry Rhodes went in on a safety blitz and was clipped buy his own teammate on the way in, allowing Russell to hit Miller on a 27 yard pass to get inside the Jets 40 yard line.  This allowed Sebastian Janikowski to hit a career best 57 yard field goal in OT to give the Raiders the win.

This was a tough one to swallow.  This game was a must win for the Jets, who have a tougher part of their schedule quickly approaching.  Favre needs to cut down on the mistakes and get this team in the end zone more.  This is why the Jets got him, to win these kinds of games.  The good news is the running game finally took off, but that was about the only highlight for Gang Green this week.  The Chiefs come into town this weekend in what has turned out to be a must win for the Jets.  A win will put them over .500 when the head up to Buffalo in 2 weeks.  As long as Brett Favre is back there, I have faith that they will pull this together and sting together some big wins the next few weeks.  But is has to start on Sunday against Kansas City.  Otherwise, this season will be like many others in the past.  With the Jets on vacation come January.

Well, it's week 7 and the New York Jets are off to the west coast again to battle the Oakland Raiders.  This should be an interesting game for the Jets this week.  They got a big win last week against the Bengals even though the team was very sluggish throughout most of the game.  They had plenty of opportunities to score more than 26 points but were very sloppy for most of the game.  The Raiders are coming off a terrible loss to the Saints this past Sunday and will be looking to rebound this weekend.  The Saints totally shut down the Raiders offense last week and the Jets need to follow suit this week.

This game plays very well to the Jets this week.  Oakland has a bad pass offense and the Jets have a mediocre pass defense.  They played very well against the Bengals backup quarterback last week,  and I do not they will take a step back this week against the Raiders JaMarcus Russell.  The Jets, who have the 3rd best rushing defense in the NFL, will shut down the run forcing Russell to beat them.  The Jets are only giving up 69 yards per game on the ground, while the Raiders are averaging about 140 yards per game rushing.  The Saints shut down the Raiders run game last week, only giving up 85 yards rushing to 4 different players.  With Kris Jenkins and Calvin Pace leading the way, the Jets should be able to shut down the running game of the Raiders.  The Jets pass defense is still trying to make a statement to the league and I think the will have a good game on Sunday.  Kerry Rhodes has quietly done a very good job this year and is itching to make some big plays in the secondary.  He has not had an interception in the last 8 games.  They also get Eric Smith back from his one game suspension and he should be back in the starting lineup come Sunday.

The Jets offense will be looking to rebound, coming off a sub-par performance against the Bengals last week.  Brett Favre had his worst game so far this season last week with 1 fumble and 2 picks, while only throwing for 189 yards.  There were no "big" plays downfield last week, and Favre dinked and dunked the football all over the field last week.  That being said, he still managed to get the Jets a win last week.  And that's the most important thing.  Expect the passing game to have good numbers.  The Raiders are near the bottom of the league in pass defense, giving up around 240 yards per game. 

Another thing the Jets need to do on offense is establish the running game.  Oakland gives up about 115 yards per game on the ground,, so the Jets should be able to take advantage of this with Favre behind center.  The Saints were able to get about 140 yards rushing last week, so the Jets should be able to crack the 100 yard mark this week.  They need to get Thomas Jones the ball about 20-25 times this week.  If he can get the run game going, Favre should be able to pick apart the secondary with ease.  Leon Washington, who has been nothing but spectacular on special teams, should get about 7-10 touches out of the backfield as well.

The bottom line is the Jets need to take away the running game of the Raiders and make JaMarcus Russell beat them in the air.  If they do that, the Jets secondary should be able to make some big plays.  This is another game that the Jets need to win.  They are still in the "soft" part of their schedule and need to take advantage of this being 1 game out in the division.  Things are getting tight in the AFC East, with 2 games separating all 4 teams.  So these are the games that they need to win.  Jets take it on Sunday 35-14.