[Football]
You’re not playing the Saints! the New York Jets seemed to be saying yesterday.
Gang Green pulled off a thrilling 30-27 win against a team, the New England Patriots whom they haven’t beaten since September in 2010, breaking their five game losing streak. Forget about Brady’s magic a week earlier bringing his team from the dead to steal the game from the New Orleans Saints in New England.
The Patriots came looking for their 16th series sweep at MetLife Stadium over the Jets when they won the coin toss to initiate the opening of overtime, but the Jets defense, ranked second in the NFL for fewest rushing yards allowed came through and stymied the Patriots’ first offensive attempt during overtime to win the game.
“And I’d like to say, our defense actually stepped up at times. I don’t know if that was noted the last time we played them,” said Jets head coach Rex Ryan, later. “We finished the job this time and that’s the important thing. I’m really excited about that.”
During the Jets’ drive, the ball was handed consecutively to running back Chris Ivory, who set a career-high with 34 carries for 104 yards (it was his first 100-yard rushing performance as a Jet to date). And then it was up to field goal kicker Nick Folk to seal the deal with a 56-yard field goal, but missed wide breaking his 15 -15 field goal streak.
“I wanted the long one to go in. I wish the game would’ve ended on the long one,” said Folk, after making tries of 37, 37 and 42 yards out. “That would have been fun, but luckily we got closer and I got to put it through and beat the Patriots.”
But New England’s defender, Chris Jones made a mistake by pushing a teammate forward to block Folk’s attempt and was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, (a new rule initiated this season by the NFL) rewarding the Jets with 15 yards and the chance for Folk to extend his streak to 16-of-16 on field goal attempts in 2013 by concluding with a 42-yard game winning kick.
“I’m excited all the time whenever we get the chance to win,” said Folk, who capped his third game-winner of the season. “It’s tough to come by some wins sometimes, and luckily for us this year, we’re putting some good ones together.”
The Jets are 4-3 and played a good game against the first place Patriots, although key members of the team are on the injured list: wide receiver Danny Amendola and corner back Aqib Talib. The Patriots are still a good team led by their brilliant head coach Bill Bellichick and quarterback Tom Brady, but the Jets won a big game against them.
“That’s what I’m talking about. This is a big victory and keeps us alive. We obviously have a ton of work to do and need to improve a great deal as a football team. We understand that. At the same time, it’s great to get a win, especially against New England,” said head coach Ryan.
“It came down to situational football. They did a good job driving down at the end for the field goal to tie the game. It was a great team effort. I’m a little worried about our offensive coordinator (Marty Mornhinweg) because all he wants to do is run the football. We had 52 rushing attempts. That’s what I’m talking about. We were at 69 for runs and completions, and you’re going to win a lot of games that way. We know we had the benefit of overtime as well.”
Maybe head coach Ryan has something going on in the locker room and on the field by having the Jets players do push-ups for making mistakes in practice and issuing a decree to his players to refrain from doing-the nasty before a game.
“Hey, we don’t care how people look at us as long as our fans know that this team is going to compete every single day. That’s in the classroom and everything else. I told them last night how proud I was of them because they’re a team that works their tails off,” Ryan said. “They’re great teammates. With that, I know we’re going to get better.”
New England is now 5-2.
