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Mark Sanchez has gone 32-for-53 for 435 yards, two touchdowns and one interception as the Jets have gone 2-0 to open the season.

Continuous action a continued problem
Two weeks, two starting quarterbacks with broken ribs after getting drilled while on the ground. The league’s officials are allowing too many free shots at players who are down and not going anywhere. The Eagles are still juggling their quarterback situation after a questionable hit on Donovan McNabb after McNabb was on the ground in the end zone.

On that play, Panthers defensive end Damione Lewis piled on a teammate and the two drove into McNabb’s back. The teammate was within his rights to be hitting McNabb but Lewis could have pulled up and, if officials were tighter about players getting hit when the play was over, he would have. The hit on Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was more his fault than it was the man who delivered it, San Francisco’s Patrick Willis.

Hasselbeck dove down at the Niners 1, rolling and leaving his back exposed to Willis who forcefully buried a shoulder into it. In that instance, Willis had to stop Hasselbeck’s progress and did. With force. Then on Monday night, the Colts Gary Brackett dove helmet-first into a fallen Ronnie Brown of Miami. It seemed an obvious spearing penalty but there was no flag, but the NFL fined him $5,000 on Friday.

Week upon week, you see players who are down, driven into by opponents who are playing “through the whistle” regardless of whether the ball carrier is upright or not. It seems especially frequent on runs and kick returns. The force of those hits are fully absorbed by the guy who’s not sending back any energy to counter it — the guy on the ground.

Mike Pereira, the NFL’s VP of Officiating, said through an NFL spokesman that both the hits on Hasselbeck and McNabb were “continuous action” and that neither warranted a flag. And while we won’t argue that they weren’t penalties the way the game is currently called, if the continuous action of defenders diving headlong into guys on the ground keeps up, there will be a lot more avoidable injuries sustained.

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Un-coordinated?
The Titans have allowed 777 passing yards in two weeks. The Patriots went without a touchdown against the Jets last week. The Giants allowed 251 yards on the ground last week to Dallas. The Ravens have allowed 50 points and 580 passing yards in two weeks.

Common thread to these uncharacteristic performances by upper-echelon teams? The Titans ex-defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is now head coach in Detroit. New England’s former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is now head coach in Denver. Steve Spagnuolo, the ex-Giants DC is head coach in St. Louis. Rex Ryan has gone from being the Ravens defensive coordinator to the head job with the Jets.

A coordinator switch is one of those under-the-radar events that has far bigger impacts than most people realize. Even if schemes and personnel don’t change all that much, the methodology, teaching and in-game strategy and adjustments inevitably do. So if you’re looking for what ails these units, start with the change at the top and the necessary transition period they’re in the midst of.

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