Jets-49ers Preview
| SCOUTING REPORT |
Favre will bounce back after disappointing lossThis is an intriguing contest for Jets and 49ers fans because both teams have a lot to gain with a victory. The Jets are coming off a terrible home loss, which kept the Patriots and Dolphins in the AFC East hunt, while San Francisco could get its third win in its past four outings and could remove the interim tag from coach Mike Singletary. This should be a great matchup between an East Coast club traveling across the country and a feisty West Coast team that's feeling great about itself after last week's unlikely road win over Buffalo.
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· Full Scouting Report 
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| Matchup |
| | W-L | PF | PA | HOME | ROAD | DIV | CONF |
| NYJ | 9-7 | 405 | 356 | 5-3 | 4-4 | 4-2 | 7-5 |
| SFO | 7-9 | 339 | 381 | 4-4 | 3-5 | 3-3 | 5-7 |
| · Complete Standings |
| NY Jets Passing | | | CMP% | YDS | TD | INT | | Sanche... | 52.1 | 1791 | 10 | 16 |
| | San Francisco Passing | | | CMP% | YDS | TD | INT | | Smith | 61.3 | 1035 | 9 | 7 | | Hill | 56.1 | 943 | 5 | 2 |
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| | San Francisco Rushing | | | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | | Gore | 112 | 610 | 5.4 | 6 | | Coffee | 75 | 198 | 2.6 | 1 |
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| | San Francisco Receiving | | | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | Davis | 51 | 601 | 11.8 | 8 | | Morgan | 24 | 305 | 12.7 | 1 |
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| TEAM AVERAGES & NFL RANKS |
| TEAM OFFENSE | TEAM | PER GAME AVERAGE |
| Total Yards | NYJ | 332.0 |
| SFO | 311.0 |
| Yards Passing | NYJ | 206.4 |
| SFO | 211.2 |
| Yards Rushing | NYJ | 125.3 |
| SFO | 99.9 |
| TEAM DEFENSE | TEAM | PER GAME AVERAGE |
| Yards Allowed | NYJ | 329.4 |
| SFO | 326.0 |
| Pass Yds Allowed | NYJ | 234.5 |
| SFO | 219.2 |
| Rush Yds Allowed | NYJ | 94.9 |
| SFO | 106.8 |
| HEAD TO HEAD MATCHUPS (SINCE 2001) |
| San Francisco leads 2-1 |
| Oct 17, 2004 | NYJ 22, @SFO 14 |
| Oct 1, 2001 | NYJ 17, @SFO 19 |
STATS LLC
The New York Jets appeared to be clicking after back-to-back emotional victories gave them their longest win streak in more than four years. A letdown last week, however, has left the door wide open in the AFC East.
After missing an opportunity to truly take control of the division, the Jets look to re-establish momentum and maintain their hold on first place when they visit the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
New York (8-4) entered last week on a five-game win streak, its longest since opening the 2004 season with five straight victories. The first three wins of this year's run came against Kansas City, Buffalo and St. Louis, three teams currently in last place in their respective divisions.
The final two victories of the streak were far more impressive. The Jets defeated five-time defending division champion New England 34-31 on the road Nov. 13 before handing Tennessee its only loss of the season 34-13 the following week, establishing themselves as legitimate contenders despite a mediocre start following the acquisition of Brett Favre in the middle of training camp.
The promise New York showed during the win streak, however, was absent last Sunday when the club fell 34-17 at home against Denver. Favre was 23-for-43 for 247 yards, but threw an interception and no touchdowns. Defensively, the Jets gave up 27 first-half points and 484 total yards -- the second-most yards against them this season.
"I was really disappointed with the way that we played today," Jets coach Eric Mangini said after the game. "We've established a certain way to play football around here. We've established a certain identity and this wasn't even close to that."
Running back and return specialist Leon Washington had an even harsher critique.
"We realize we're not as good as we thought we were," he said.
With the loss, the Jets missed a chance to build a two-game lead in the AFC East, which they haven't won since 2002. They're one game ahead of New England and Miami with four games remaining for each club.
"To have a two-game lead at this point in the season would've been big," tight end Chris Baker said. "At the same time, we have to just worry about what we can control. If we go and take care of business, we'll be fine."
In fact, according to at least one New York player, the Jets could be better off after getting routed last week.
"'ll tell you what, it's a wakeup call," wide receiver Laveranues Coles said. "It's not like our season is over because of one game, but it gets us to realize, 'OK, we can be smacked on the butt ourselves.'"
The Jets hope to respond against a San Francisco team that's determined to finish strong in a spoiler's role under interim coach Mike Singletary. The 49ers (4-8) won for the second time in three games last Sunday, all but eliminating Buffalo from the playoff race with a 10-3 road victory.
"Right now, it's all about us being the best we can be," said second-year linebacker Patrick Willis, who finished with a game-high 14 tackles and also forced a fumble. "If that means somebody else not making it to the playoffs, that's for them to worry about."
San Francisco is 2-3 under Singletary, who replaced the fired Mike Nolan after the team's 2-5 start.
"He's a great motivator, but that's just one of his strengths," defensive back Donald Strickland said. "Everybody in this locker room has great respect for him, and the coaching staff has kept us in position to win games. Making a coaching change in the middle of the season could have been a distraction, but everybody here has kept working hard, and (Singletary) just increased our confidence all around."
San Francisco was outgained 350-195 last weekend, but limited Buffalo to one field goal in four trips inside the red zone.
"We set out a job and a task, and we definitely performed," Strickland said. "We're building up to something better."
The Niners may need to get better quickly in order to stop the Jets, who are third in the league with 27 red-zone touchdowns. That's due in large part to Thomas Jones, who ran for 138 yards and two TDs in last week's loss, giving him a career-high 11 scores on the season.
Jones, in his ninth NFL season and his second with New York, is averaging 121.8 yards on the ground in his last four games with six touchdowns in that stretch.
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NY Jets 14, 
San Francisco 24