Through the first 3 games of the season, there’s little to complain about with how the Jets have played. You couldn’t ask for a better three game start than the one we have. We have been playing dominate football against 3 very worthy opponents and we are looking like a team in contention for the Super Bowl. But as an always pessimistic Jets fan, I have found something to lose sleep over, the completely ineffective running game.

Throughout the offseason and preseason, the motto for the 2009 Jets offense has been “ground-and-pound”. The game plan was to almost exclusively run the football; control the clock, wear out the defense, put up points. We would ride the run and defense for 60 minutes. We would just have to pray that the rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez wouldn’t blow the game on downs where passing was the only option, even though we don’t have a #1 receiver. Sounds legit, right? It worked for the Ravens last year who had a very similar looking team. The Giants live and die on the running game. It should work for us. After all, we have reigning AFC rushing champion, an explosive backup who averaged almost 6 yards a carry last year, and even a promising rookie power runner that we traded up to select in the 3rd round to throw in the mix. We also have one of the league’s best offensive lines; featuring a Pro Bowl left guard and center, and a Pro Bowl alternate at left tackle. We were set to run this offense which by now only seems hypothetical.

Well the Jets came out the gates doing exactly what they planned. Through 3 games the Jets are undefeated, they rank 2nd in the league in rushing attempts, and the offense is averaging a solid 21.3 points per game. Who knew? If you claim you did know, I highly doubt that you also knew it was rookie Mark Sanchez who has been carrying the offense on his back each of those 3 games and the “ground-and-pound” offense has averaged an unimpressive 3.8 yards per carry, 22nd in the league. Thomas Jones is back to his 2007 form. He has shown a mediocre and dull performance in all 3 games. (Yes, even in the week 1 game where he put up 107 yards, with 77 of those yards coming on two defensive breakdowns.) He has averaged 3.8 yards a carry and 2.6 in the last 2 games. Even throughout last season, I have never seen him as a great running back. He simply takes what is given to him by the offensive line and falls to the ground. He doesn’t create yards for himself, neither after contact nor in the open field. Leon Washington, who I (along with 99.9% of Jets fans) thought would have a breakout season rushing, has been a bit disappointing as well. I’ve enjoyed seeing Leon getting just about half of the carries as I hoped he would before the start of the season. I haven’t enjoyed what he has done with them so far. He already has more than half his total carries from last season, but he is averaging almost a full 2 yards less per carry. We haven’t seen him break off any of those long runs yet that we were spoiled with last season. And, umm, where exactly is Shonn Greene?

A lot of the blame can be placed on the offensive line. Last year we saw holes that you could drive a Chevy through. So far this season, we have seen Jones and Washington get stuffed at and behind the line far too many times. They haven’t been getting a push on any of the defensive lines we have faced. There’s too much talent on that offensive line for us not to dominate in the trenches. I should add that the pass protection has been very nice. The way the pocket forms around Sanchez play after play is nothing short of beautiful, which is the main reason he has had the success he has. Still, I’m getting the feeling that something’s wrong upfront. Whatever it is, it has to be fixed by Sunday. We can’t beat the Saints when we are both relying on our passing games to win it for us. They would have us beat. The defense is going to hold their own as they have but as long as Drew Brees is on the field, we are in trouble. The key for us will be controlling the clock and keeping our offense on the field. How do we do that? With the “ground-and-pound” running game we expected all offseason. The Saints defense has surprisingly shut down the run in their first 3 games, holding opponents to 67 yards a game, 5th in the league. We need to break through their rush defense and make some noise on the ground if we want to improve to 4-0.