Kellen Clemens took the field showered by a wealth of cheers from the Meadowlands crowd in his first game as the Jets' official starting quarterback, and the second-year man from Oregon rewarded his fans with an outstanding first performance.

Clemens finished the afternoon against Washington with 226 yards and a touchdown while completing 23 of 42 passing attempts. He wasn't intercepted and even added 48 yards rushing.

“I felt pretty comfortable, I really did. I had a great cast around me with a lot of support and we had a good week of practice,” he said after the game. "I hope Jets fans are thinking something positive about all of us. I know it's tough being 1-8. We're trying, we're giving a lot of effort, we're working hard. We are just coming up short."

“I was encouraged by his first opportunity to lead the team as the starter,” head coach Eric Mangini said in his postgame news conference following the Jets' 23-20 overtime loss to the Redskins. “Kellen did a nice job in his first start dealing with a little more pressure than we had seen and orchestrating some positive drives.”

Like his predecessor, Chad Pennington, did a number of times in the five seasons in which he's been the Jets starter, Clemens led a comeback late in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 20. But the Green & White came up short in the extra session and their record dropped to 1-8.

“You could tell he was excited, but he approached it as if he’s been doing this his whole life,” said wide receiver Justin McCareins, who had 32 yards on three receptions. “You couldn’t ask for a better leader and he learned it all from Chad.”

In his final drive of the fourth quarter, Clemens led the Jets 64 yards downfield to set up kicker Mike Nugent for a 30-yard field goal to tie the game with 10 seconds remaining in regulation.

Clemens’ first week as the starting quarterback was an extremely positive experience and the seven remaining games appear to be in good hands.

“It was a good experience in general,” stated Clemens. “We had a good week of practice and we played a pretty solid game. It’s so frustrating at this point to battle four quarters and then an overtime period and just come up short on a kick that didn’t make it by much.”

But the quarterback, with just two starts under his belt, can feel the disappointment.

“It’s so frustrating right now to play as hard as we are and work as hard as we do in practice and to continue to fall short,” he said.

After Clemens' first appearance was delayed due to Leon Washington’s game-opening kickoff-return touchdown, he led a promising initial drive, completing six of eight passes for 36 yards and eating up nearly eight minutes of the game clock. His arm strength was well-showcased in that drive when a pass attempt to Chris Baker was tipped by a 'Skins lineman but still had the juice to make it to the big tight end for a 14-yard gain.

Even though the Jets had to settle for a field goal on that opening drive, the momentum and confidence Clemens created was exactly what the Jets needed.

“Clemens did a real good job in the huddle, commanding the huddle,” said running back Leon Washington, who had 18 yards receiving and 13 rushing. “He was barking out plays with some confidence and we all bought into what he was trying to accomplish and trying to put us in position to win the game. He did a real good job of commanding the huddle.”

The Washington defenders did all they could to get into Clemens’ head — even if it meant trying to take it off at times.

Safety LaRon Landry came in high on Clemens during an incomplete pass in the first drive and was punished 15 yards for his roughing-the-passer penalty.

Not to be outdone, middle linebacker London Fletcher came down hard on Clemens after the QB slid at the end of an 18-yard scramble. The 10th-year veteran was slammed with a 15-yard unnecessary-roughness call. Again Clemens was unfazed and led his offense for its first and only touchdown of the game.

“He’s taking on that responsibility and it just shows,” McCareins said. “We didn’t have any doubt that he would do as well as he did, the way he approaches the game and making sure he knows where everyone’s going to be. He mastered this offense a year ago.”

Clemens used seven different receivers in the loss, with his favorite target being Jerricho Cotchery, who caught five passes for 90 yards. Brad Smith got his fourth start at wide receiver and hauled in a career-high four passes for 27 yards. Baker’s four receptions were also good for a season high and he finished the afternoon with 42 yards.

Asked if falling short is the theme for this season, Clemens said: "We're 1-8, so you could definitely surmise that. There haven't been a lot of blowouts. We're in every game. We just continue to come up short. I don’t question the heart, the desire or the work ethic of this team."