09/16 — Mike Nugent continues his strong-legged start to his third season with a 50-yard field goal 1½ minutes into the second quarter. It is the third 50-yard field goal of his career and his 19th straight regular-season success, two shy of Pat Leahy's franchise-record 21 in a row.

Ravens 7, Jets 3

Then Nugent does it again — but not the way ST coach Mike Westhoff prefers. Nugent drove his kickoff to the goal line, and speedy rookie Yamon Figurs takes it out. When Brad Smith and Wallace Wright go too wide on the coverage, Figurs breaks his return outside and it starts to look too close to Ellis Hobbs' 108-yard return last week.

But Nugent throws his body "into the bus lane," in the words of CBS announcer Dick Enberg, into Ravens blocker Quinn Sypniewski, slowing up Figurs and allowing the Jets to take him down. Baltimore starts at the Jets 39, but at least it's not a touchdown. Nuge comes up limping a little, and he didn't complain, but Scott Green's officiating crew missed Sypniewski's facemasking of Nugent that might've set the Ravens back to their side of midfield.

The defense, blitzing more effectively than it did vs. the Patriots, comes after Kyle Boller on third down, and even though he completes the pass to Derrick Mason, it only gains 5 of the 8 yards Baltimore needed for the first down. Matt Stover hits a 28-yard field goal, but the Jets dodge a bullet on the drive.

Ravens 10, Jets 3

Now if only Clemens and Co. can maintain some of that momentum from the last drive ...

But first Justin Miller has to be tended to. He muffed the kickoff, then after finding the handle and returning it, he winds up apparently reinjuring his leg and walks off the field gingerly. Miller was off to such a promising summer start but it's been hard for him to get that head of steam going again.

The Baltimore blitz finally gets to Clemens for its first sack, then Ben Graham gets off a shaky punt (32 yards, 3.71 hang time) and the hosts are back in business at their 40.

Most of the first quarter was played without commercials because, as CBS' late-afternoon national game, no commercials can be shown until all other 1 p.m. games are completed, and that Cleveland-Cincinnati game was a straggler. Now and likely for the rest of the game, the network is catching up on the spots.

David Barrett, who had his troubles with Randy Moss last week, does a nice job breaking up a deep ball for Demetrius Williams. Kerry Rhodes was also in decent position, and when he can't get high enough for the pick, he slams the turf several times in frustration. Barrett also is just a nanosecond late of an interception-return TD on a Boller swing pass to WR Mark Clayton, but Barrett is right there for the tackle for a yard loss.

Another Jets blitz harasses Boller into a throwaway, so Stover comes on for a 46-yard field goal try from the right hashmarks. Maybe the angle from those hashes had something to do with it, maybe not, but Stover mis-hits the kick and the score holds at 10-3.

The announcement is just made in the pressbox that Justin Miller has a knee injury and his return is questionable.

FB Darian Barnes, making his Jets debut after last week's deactivation, packs a punch on a block, springing Thomas Jones for an 8-yard run, with 15 more yards added to it when S Dawan Landry grabs TJ's facemask. Corey Ivy, who blew a sack earlier, this time takes Clemens down on an unblocked corner blitz.

This leads to Mike Nugent's 52-yard field goal try. And Nuge finally misses one, wide left, ending his consecutive-FG streak at 19. He still has a streak of 21 straight from less than 50 yards.

Kerry Rhodes has to leave the field, walking off under his own power, so Eric Smith, who missed a good chunk of camp and the opener with an injury, comes in at safety. One play later, Rhodes returns.

Baltimore drives to the Jets 9 in the final minute. A seven-man blitz allows Victor Hobson to get a piece of Boller's arm for an incompletion. Then a McGahee run and a Boller spike stops the clock with 19 seconds left. Then another McGahee run and the Ravens' last timeout with 10 seconds to go. Then Boller flips to Todd Heap in the end zone after Rhodes turns him loose.

The call is incomplete, but the replay official calls for another look and referee Scott Green decides that Heap tucked the ball away and got both feet down inbounds. A fine two-minute drive by the Ravens — and a bitter pill for the Jets to swallow just before halftime.

Ravens 17, Jets 3