The defense, special teams and Brad Smith were the big reasons for the win yesterday.  Safety Eric Smith (8 tackles) and OLB Calvin Pace (7 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack and 1 QB hit) led the way for the Jets’ D in this game.  CB Antonio Cromartie and safety Jim Leonhard each pitched in with a interception apiece last night.  The Bengals finished up with only 46 yards rushing on 20 carries (2.3 ypc) and they also completed 17 of 39 passes for 117 yards as they only had the ball for 26:31 last night.

WR/KR Brad Smith gets his own paragraph because he was awesome yesterday.  He carried the ball 3 times for 55 yards with a 53-yard TD run and he also caught 1 pass for 23 yards.  But he saved his best for last.  The Bengals pulled within 7 points (17-10) in the 4th quarter and that’s when Brad Smith returned a kickoff 89 yards for a TD to kick the lead back up to 24-10.  Smith was the biggest reason for the Jets’ win last night.

Mark Sanchez had a rough night as he completed 16 of 28 passes for 166 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT.  Shonn Green (18 carries, 70 yards) and LaDainian Tomlinson (13 carries, 49 yards) led the way on the ground for  the Jets last night.  TE Dusin Keller (4 rec, 49 yards) and Santonio Holmes (5 rec, 44 yards, TD) led the way for the Jets in the passing game last night.  The Jets finished up with 170 yards rushing on 37 carries (4.6 ypc) and they also completed 16 of 28 passes for 149 yards.  The Jets are now 9-2 on the season.

The Jets need to stay on task and not overlook the Bengals tonight.  The Jets have won three games in a row against the Texans, Browns and Lions but only by a combined 12 points.  The Bengals have lost 7 games in a row but last weekend against  Buffalo (49-31) was the only loss of more than 8 points in the streak.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Jets have the ball:  I don’t see the Jets changing anything tonight.  I think they will come out running the ball with Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson against a Bengals’ D that is allowing 118.3 yards rushing per game and 4.4 yards per carry.  The Bengals only have 10 sacks this season and they are allowing 223.0 yards passing per game so Sanchez should have plenty of time to throw the ball.  Look for Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes to handle the deep stuff with Dustin Keller and L.T. doing the hard work on the short stuff.

When the Bengals have the ball:  The Jets are going to have to get a solid pass rush on Carson Palmer because he has a lot of weapons to throw to and the Jets are giving up 220.0 yards passing per game.  The most interesting thing to watch tonight will be Terrell Owens against CBs Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie whom he calls Ren and Stimpy.  Hopefully the Jets don’t just focus on stopping him because Chad Ocho Cinco, Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham are also good targets for Palmer.  The Jets can’t overplay the pass though because Cedric Benson is still a solid RB.

PREDICTION:  JETS 27, BENGALS 20

The Jets had a 23-10 lead with 14:51 left in this game but the Texans then scored 17 unanswered points to give them a 27-23 lead with only 55 seconds left in the game.  The Jets then went on a 5-play, 72 yard TD drive that lasted only 45 seconds ending on a Mark Sanchez TD  pass to Santonio Holmes.  Sanchez has a solid game for the Jets last week as he completed 22 of 38 passes for 315 yards with 3 TD passes and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 22 yards (11.0 ypc) in this game.  Shonn Greene carried the ball 15 times for 42 yards (2.8 ypc) last week as he led the Jets on the ground.   LaDainian Tomlinson pitched in with 12 carries for 36 yards (3.0 ypc) and he also caught 7 passes for 71 yards (10.1 avg).  Santonio Holmes (7 rec, 126 yards, 2 TD grabs) and Braylon Edwards (4 rec, 86 yards, TD) led the way for the Jets  through the air.  The Jets finished up with 103 yards rushing on 31 carries (3.3 ypc) and they also completed 22 of 38 passes for 298 yards as they had possession of the ball for 34:19.

The Jets’ D played good for three quarters before almost costing them the game giving up 20 points in the final stanza.  The Texans finished up with 97 yards rushing on 26 carries (3.7 ypc) and they also completed 19 of 33 passes for 246 yards.  The Jets are now 8-2 on the season.

The Jets are only 2-2 at home this year and they are coming off tough overtime wins at Detroit and at Cleveland the last two weeks.  The Texans have lost three games in a row including a devastating loss to the Jaguars last week on a Hail Mary on the last play of the game.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Jets have the ball:  The Jets aren’t going to change this week just because the Texans’ secondary sucks.  Look for them to come out running the ball with Shonn Greene & LaDainian Tomlinson.  It’s still going to be hard to resist letting Mark Sanchez take some shots down the field against a team that is allowing 301.3 yards passing per game.  Opposing QBs have a 110.2 rating against the Texans so far this year.  Look for Sanchez to run a lot of playaction passes to Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes and Dustin Keller.

When the Texans have the ball:  The Jets are going to need to get back into blitz mode as I have a feeling the Texans are going to come out throwing the ball this week.  Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter, Jacoby Jones and Joel Dreessen give Schaub the targets to hurt the Jets in this game.  Arian Foster will also be coming at the Jets’ D on both the ground and out of the backfield in the passing game so they better be ready for him.

PREDICTION:  JETS 30, TEXANS 24

47-year old head coach Rex Ryan certainly knows how to motivate his troops, especially on the road where the Jets are 5-0.  The Jets are winning the old school way by running the ball (150.7 yards rushing per game) and playing defense (they are allowing only 16.7 points per game).  He sometimes plays things to close to the vest which resulted in home losses to the Ravens and Packers.  The Jets only scored 9 points combined in those two games!  Still, winning is the bottom line and Ryan is doing a good job of it.  The Jets are now 16-9 (64%) during the regular season under Ryan.

The Jets will be without 28-year old WR Jerricho Cotchery for the next 2 weeks due to a groin injury he suffered yesterday against the Browns.  Cotchery has played in 9 games for the Jets so far this year and he has 29 catches for 315 yards (10.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  But, for some reason Mark Sanchez has had a tough time connecting with him as he has only completed 29 of 60 passes to him (48.3%) so far this year.

Mark Sanchez hit WR Santonio Holmes with a 37 yard TD pass with only 16 seconds left in O.T. to prevail in a war with the Browns.  Sanchez played a solid game for the Jets today as he completed 27 of 44 passes for 299 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 4 yards (2.0 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Shonn Greene led the way on the ground for the Jets today with 72 yards rushing on 20 carries (3.6 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 22 yards (7.3 avg).  LaDainian Tomlinson also had to fight for every single yard today as he rushed for 57 yards on 18 carries (3.2 ypc) and he also caught 6 passes for 53 yards (8.8 avg).  Brad Smith carried the ball 5 times for 39 yards (7.8 ypc) in the Wildcat Formation for the Jets today.  WRs Santonio Holmes (5 rec, 76 yards, TD), Braylon Edwards (4 rec, 59 yards) and Jerricho Cotchery (3 rec, 43 yards, TD) led the way in the passing game for the Jets today.  The Jets finished up with 172 yards rushing on 45 carries (3.8 ypc) and they completed 27 of 44 passes for 284 yards as they had possession of the ball an amazing 47:08 which was almost 20 minutes more than the Browns had the ball!

OLB Calvin Pace (7 tackles, 1 sack and 1 QB hit), safety Jim Leonhard (6 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) and ILB David Harris (6 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) led the way for the Jets’ D today.  But it was CB Antonio Cromartie’s recovery of a Chansi Stuckey fumble in Jets’ territory in O.T. that saved this game.  The Browns finished up with 107 yards rushing on 25 carries (4.3 ypc) and they also completed 18 of 31 passes for 196 yards.  The Jets also have to be very upset with kicker Nick Folk who only hit 2 of 5 field goals in this game.  The Jets are now 7-2 on the year.

The Jets are 4-0 on the season on the road where they have outscored their opponents 116-77.  But, the Cleveland Browns have won two games in a row where they have pounded the Patriots & Saints by a combined score of 64-31!  So what looked to be a easy win on the schedule now becomes a dogfight.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Jets have the football:  The Jets like to run the football as they are averaging 148.0 yards rushing per game and 4.7 yards per carry.  LaDainian Tomlinson & Shonn Greene are going to have to fight for every yard tomorrow as the Browns are only allowing 3.9 yards per carry.  Mark Sanchez will be taking aim at a Browns’ D that is allowing 240.5 yards passing per game, but he’s going to have to be careful as they already have 9 interceptions this year.  Braylon Edwards, Dustin Keller, Jerricho Cotchery and Santonio Holmes give Sanchez a nice bunch of targets to throw to.

When the Browns have the football:  This will be interesting as the Browns love to run the ball while the Jets are only allowing 87.4 yards rushing per game and 3.3 yards per carry so far this year.  Still, I see the Browns forcing the issue by giving the rock to Peyton Hillis a lot while also throwing to him out of the backfield.  Rookie QB Colt McCoy has looked pretty good this year as he is 2-1 as a starting QB.  The Jets’ safeties had better be ready because he likes throwing a lot to his TEs.

PREDICTION:  JETS 21, BROWNS 20

27-year old WR Braylon Edwards has been yapping about returning to Cleveland and sticking it to the Browns this weekend.  Maybe he should concentrate on actually catching the passes that hit his brick hands and bounce off of them.  He has played in 8 games for the Jets so far this year and he has 25 catches for 453 yards (18.1 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Edwards has now played in 20 games with the Jets and he has caught 60 passes for 1,004 yards (16.7 avg) with 9 TD grabs.  He has the look of an elite WR but he just doesn’t play like one.

QB Mark Sanchez led the Jets to 10 points in the last 2:46 of the game to get it into O.T.  Sanchez then threw a long pass to Santonio Holmes in overtime to set up Nick Folk for the game winning 30-yard field goal.  Sanchez completed 22 of 39 passes for 336 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 1 yard (0.3 ypc) with a TD run.  LaDainian Tomlinson led the way on the ground for the Jets in this game with 55 yards rushing on 15 carries (3.7 ypc) and he also caught 6 passes for 47 yards (7.8 avg).  Shonn Greene pitched in with 10 carries for 46 yards (4.6 ypc) in this game.  Santonio Holmes (5 rec, 114 yards), Braylon Edwards (3 rec, 78 yards, TD) and Dustin Keller (4 rec, 59 yards) led the way in the passing game for the Jets yesterday.  The Jets finished up with 110 yards rushing on 30 carries (3.7 ypc) and they also completed 22 of 39 passes for 327 yards.

Safety Jim Leonhard (8 tackles), LB David Harris (8 tackles) and LB Bart Scott (6 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack and 1 QB hit) led the way for the Jets’ D yesterday.  The Lions finished up with 78 yards rushing on 28 carries (2.8 ypc) and they also completed 20 of 37 passes for 228 yards.  The Jets are now 6-2 on the season.