The Jets refuse to place the blame on Sunday’s shutout loss to Green Bay on the windy conditions at New Meadowlands Stadium. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers seemed to struggle to throw a tight spiral and both team’s kickers missed field goals that seemed to be affected by the wind gusts.
“It wasn’t like a crosswind,” coach Rex Ryan said.
Kicker Nick Folk said it wasn’t the worst conditions he’s kicked in, noting that Soldier Field in Chicago is the league’s most notorious black hole for kicking. He doesn’t attribute his missed 37-yard field goal on Sunday to the wind reeking more havoc than usual on his kick. For all the talk about the wind at the new stadium, Folk said it’s still better than Giants Stadium.
“That wind there was worse, I think,” Folk said, who kicked at Giants Stadium three times while with the Cowboys. “That could be really tricky, playing there. The wind would whip around a lot and make it tough to know how to hit it.”
Ryan has spoken with Jets owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum about potentially holding some practices at the stadium as a way to get acclimated to the wind. The Jets didn’t pursue this idea last year, but now, in a new stadium, it might be a beneficial move for the 5-2 team to see which way the wind blows.
“It’s an option,” Ryan said. “It certainly is our stadium.”
It was far from a comfy home for quarterback Mark Sanchez on Sunday. The second-year slinger flew a flat ball for most of the game, as evidenced on a 32-yard completion to Braylond Edwards. The wind’s trick caused Edwards to break strike for the catch then readjust, losing max speed for what could have been a much larger gain.
Ryan said that the wind clearly played a role in that particular play but that generally, “I don’t think the wind was a factor in the passing game.”
“It was there, it was definitely strong, but it wasn’t overwhelming. If you hit a good kick, had a good pass, it wasn’t going to be a factor,” Folk said. “This wind was predictable in the stadium, we knew what it was going to do. For the most part, we knew what it was going to do and it wasn’t going to impact what we were going to do or approach things.”
