Charting Jets' Trip into Uncharted Territory

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Charting Jets' Trip into Uncharted Territory

Published: Mon, September 14, 2009 - 1:52pm ET
Randy Lange

By Randy Lange

Lange is editor-in-chief of newyorkjets.com. He covered the Jets for 13 years for The Record of Hackensack, N.J.


File Under: David Harris, Kerry Rhodes, Rex Ryan, Mark Sanchez, Houston Texans, Reliant Stadium

09/14 — Some games in Jets history are just treasure troves.

By that I mean that certain games generate an avalanche in charts and facts of statistical and historical significance. Jets-Houston 2009 was one of those games.

I showed head coach Rex Ryan some of the distinctions below regarding the number the Jets did on the Texans on Sunday and he beamed.

"We'll sign up for that," he said.

Here is a review of some of the Green & White achievements from the 24-7 triumph at Reliant and how they stack up in franchise history.

First is the list of the most yards from scrimmage on opening day, with the Jets-Browns game in 1970 the first Monday Night Football broadcast  (as always, home teams are in CAPS):

 Season Final Score Yards
 1998 49ERS 36, Jets 30 (OT) 465
 2009 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 462
 1970 BROWNS 31, Jets 21 454
 2004 JETS 31, Bengals 24 438

 

Here are the top four games in least yards from scrimmage by the opponents on opening day. The 1960 game was, of course, the first game in franchise history:

 Season Final Score Yards
 1966 Jets 19, DOLPHINS 14 111
 1960 TITANS 27, Bills 3 113
 1969 Jets 33, BILLS 19 181
 2009 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 187

 

Because of the above two charts, it's not surprising that Sunday's game produced the largest opening-day yardage margin ever:

 Season Final Score Margin
 2009 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 +279
 1970 BROWNS 31, Jets 21 +233
 1960 TITANS 27, Bills 3 +227
 1968 Jets 20, CHIEFS 19 +196

 

With David Harris (game-high 12 tackles) leading the way, the Jets' rushing yardage allowed in Ryan's first game as an NFL head coach beat out the total allowed to the Bills in Pete Carroll's pro head-coaching debut for least ever on opening day:

 Season Final Score Yards
 2009 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 38
 1994 Jets 23, BILLS 3 43
 2008 Jets 20, DOLPHINS 14 49

 

The Texans' ball movement produced 11 first downs, tied for third-fewest by an opponent on opening day:

 Season Final Score First Downs
 1966 Jets 19, DOLPHINS 14 9
 1960 TITANS 27, Bills 3 9
 1968 Jets 20, CHIEFS 19 11
 2009 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 11

 

There were also a few time-of-possession superlatives. For instance, the Jets' Sunday TOP was the best on opening day since time stats began to be kept regularly in 1981:

 Season Final Score TOP
 2009 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 38:46
 1991 JETS 16, Buccaneers 13 38:31
 1987 Jets 31, BILLS 28 38:03

 

And since 1988, the second-half possession time of 22:45 was the most in any game (not including overtime possession) since the 1991 opening-day win over the Buccaneers:

 Season-Game Final Score TOP
 1991-1 JETS 16, Buccaneers 13 23:57
 2009-1 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 22:45
 2002-PO1 JETS 41, Colts 0 22:16
 1997-15 JETS 31, Buccaneers 0 22:27

 

There are a few more we could dive into, but here are two length-of-drive factoids. Since 1988 the Jets have had only three games in which they mounted three 7:00-plus drives:

 Season-Game Final Score Drive Times
 1990-5 DOLPHINS 20, Jets 16 8:44-8:16-8:53
 1993-13 Jets 3, REDSKINS 0 8:52-7:10-8:51
 2009-1 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 8:27-7:25-7:20

 

Lastly, also since 1988, they've had only five games with three drives of 78 yards or longer. All of the drives produced touchdowns, and all but the '88 game against Houston — the Oilers, in that case — came on the road:

 Season-Game Final Score Drive Yards
 1988-3 JETS 45, Houston Oilers 3 80-93-80
 1993-9 Jets 31, COLTS 17 80-83-98
 1996-9 Jets 31, CARDINALS 21 79-90-80
 1996-11 COLTS 34, Jets 29 85-80-78
 2009-1 Jets 24, TEXANS 7 78-87-80

 

Phew. I'm stats-ed out from all this un-charted territory. We'll have Coach Ryan's news conference and a locker room report later this afternoon.

Media Darlings

Several player appearances will be prominent in the next two days. CB Darrelle Revis, who did an outstanding job on WR Andre Johnson, and G Brandon Moore, one of the five strong links on the O-line at Houston, will guest on the season premiere of "Inside the Jets with Bob Wischusen" on 1050 ESPN New York at 7 p.m. today. This year's show will take place at Vanderbilt's inside the Hamilton Park Hotel & Conference Center in Florham Park, across Park Avenue from the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.

Then on SNY's airing of Jets Extra Point on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., TE Dustin Keller will be the guest of host Brian Custer and former Jets Greg Buttle and Ray Lucas.

Clemens on Carousel Fundraiser

Jets QB Kellen Clemens, Giants RB Brandon Jacobs and other athletes, celebrities and civic, business, entertainment and philanthropic leaders will saddle up for a Central Park Carousel of Possible Dreams fundraiser, set to begin Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the carousel in New York's Central Park.

The idea is for Clemens and the others to test the value of their address books by dialing for dollars. The celebs won't be allowed off the carousel until the minimum donation of $5,000 is reached. The fundraiser is for the Easter Seals Bronx Family Outreach Program.

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lawrence j. biviano Said:

Tue, September 15, 2009 - 1:50pm ET

"I wanted to record that airing w/Keller today, checked SNY scheduling and it's telling me that it's @4:30 here in South Florida. Don't know if that's what time it starts where u live. FYI."

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commentman Said:

Tue, September 15, 2009 - 8:57pm ET

"I really like those numbers, nice of those players to raise money for charity"

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Anonymous Said:

Sat, September 19, 2009 - 8:42pm ET

"need this win badly...we can do it"

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