EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Antonio Cromartie, the acrobat, was tumbling into the end zone at the end of an interception return for a touchdown.
Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY
Even Tim Tebow was doing an aerial exhibition - well, sort of - when he leaped to hip-bump Mark Sanchez after a touchdown pass.
Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY
Even Tim Tebow was doing an aerial exhibition - well, sort of - when he leaped to hip-bump Mark Sanchez after a touchdown pass.
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Shonn Greene and Mark Sanchez, the jugglers, were executing a flea-flicker while up 27 points. LaRon Landry was the clown, clapping after knocking Fred Jackson out of the game. Even Tim Tebow was doing an aerial exhibition - well, sort of - when he leaped to hip-bump Sanchez after a touchdown pass.
The only thing missing was somebody catching Sanchez munching on a hot dog as the clock ticked down.
Jets coach Rex Ryan says the Jets aren't a circus. He's wrong.
So is owner Woody Johnson, who said the same thing.
They're both wrong. Way wrong.
But here's the thing: When the trapeze artists don't lose their grips, and the elephants don't stomp their way into the crowd, the circus is a blast.
In other words, the New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 48-28, in their season opener Sunday.
So it was for the Jets at MetLife Stadium, where they pretty much fired a cannonball into the Bills' midsections. After not even finding the end zone once - once - in the preseason, the Jets' starting offense was in there four times by the middle of the third quarter.
And if receiver Santonio Holmes had gotten his toe down before his hand hit the sideline in the first half, it would've been five.
Besides proving once again that what happens in August means absolutely nothing, the Jets showed they can run their TebowCat scheme and not throw off Sanchez's rhythm. They can play loose and free on defense and continue to keep offenses in check.
They can be a circus. And still win.
But don't let the sugar rush from the cotton candy muddle the focus here. After all, these were the same Bills who lost eight of their last nine games last season.
Next week in Pittsburgh, and three weeks from now when the 49ers come to town, no one should expect the Jets to put 30 points on the board by halftime. And when you play undisciplined football against well-coached teams like that, you will lose more often than you win.
Much as he made smart decisions with the football, Sanchez, the starting quarterback, should watch the tape of his carelessly flipping a ball for an interception at the end of a scramble on the first drive of the game.
And up 41-14, he did it again, though that one fell incomplete. These are the kinds of plays that killed the Jets late last season (a combined seven interceptions in their final three games) and will doom them again if it keeps up.
On defense, the tackling got a little sloppy at times, especially on C.J. Spiller's 56-yard touchdown that served only as a momentary scare.
There's work to be done for Ryan, and if he really wants his team to project a more business-like image, he should keep an eye on what happened between plays because that approach is not fully taking.
The Jets are who they are. It's what made them successful with back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances, and as Sunday's blowout of the Bills showed, it's who they'll be moving forward, especially during blowout victories.
But as Ryan's getting knocked down by Bills tight end Scott Chandler in the fourth quarter showed, he doesn't have the greatest balance.
So he'd better be careful while walking that tight rope.
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