The New York Jets played like a playoff team Sunday and they were rewarded for their best effort of the 2007 season. Mike Nugent’s fourth field goal — a 38-yarder in overtime — propelled them to a 19-16 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Meadowlands. The Jets ran Thomas Jones down the Steelers’ throats and they also made Ben Roethlisberger a black-and-blue mess in the stunner.
The win improved the Jets' record to 2-8 and ended a six-game losing streak. The Steelers, the leaders of the AFC North, fell to 7-3.
"I’m proud of the way they worked through the bye week and leading up to this week," said Jets head coach Eric Mangini. "And I’ve said it for a long time. We have good, hard-working players in the locker room that have been committed to do the things we do and committed to making progress.”
Leon Washington, who has made a name for himself as a kickoff returner this season, set up the winning points with a sensational 33-yard punt return. Then Nugent ended it before a mixed crowd as spectators split their allegiances between the Green & White and Black & Gold.
“When that final kick went through, that’s probably the best feeling we’ve had in a while,” said QB Kellen Clemens.
Jones rushed 30 times for 117 yards, becoming the first running back in 35 games to top the century mark against the vaunted Steelers defense.
“It is very gratifying,” Jones said. “The offensive line did a great job today of blocking and holding their blocks. Coach [Brian]Schotteheimer and the other offensive coaches did a great job of figuring out what they were doing on defense and calling the right run plays at the right times. It was definitely a team effort, a group effort, and everybody is pretty satisfied right now with the way we played in the running game.”
And the Jets D rattled Roethlisberger throughout late afternoon and into early evening. Shaun Ellis, used as both a DE and OLB, led the way with two sacks including a fourth quarter strip-sack where he recovered the fumble. Dewayne Robertson collected 2.5 sacks and also drew a holding penalty on a tackle for loss.
In all, the Jets had seven sacks, their most since sacking Drew Bledsoe seven times against Buffalo in 2003.
Midway through the final period, Jeff Reed had barely enough leg on a 48-yard yard attempt to give the Steelers a 16-13 lead. But Kellen Clemens, making just his third career start, executed a two-minute drive to perfection. The youngster, who finished 14-of-31 for 162 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception, moved the Jets 76 yards before Nugent forced OT with a 28-yarder and just 23 seconds left in regulation.
“What I like about Kellen is he’s resilient where he may make a mistake, but he's willing to move onto the next play and focus on the next play,” Mangini said.
The Jets had a beautiful plan for an impenetrable defense out of the gates: make the NFL’s No. 1 unit pay for its over-aggressiveness. After Jones' 11-yard smash, the Steelers keyed on Jones on the game’s second play. But the Green & White called a fleaflicker instead as Clemens took a pitch from TJ and hit a wide-open Laveranues Coles for a 56-yard gain to the Steelers 1.
That set up Clemens’ play-action touchdown to TE Chris Baker and put the Jets up, 7-0, just 2:11 into the contest.
“They did a lot of things schematically that were confusing at times, but credit our guys,” Clemens said. “We played hard the whole time through and we didn’t have some of the letdowns maybe we had in the past. We were able to overcome some of our misfortunes.”
Veteran corner Ike Taylor, already smarting from getting left in the dust by Coles on the trick play, helped the Jets out again with a 41-yard pass interference penalty when Clemens went deep down the seam to Jerricho Cotchery. That got the home team into scoring position. Brad Smith’s 9-yard run on an option keeper preceded the first of Nugent's four field goals, from 25 yards.
The first 15 minutes of football was the Jets' finest quarter of 2007 and both coordinators — Brian Schottenheimer and Bob Sutton — were at their best, keeping Pittsburgh off-balance. Defensively, Sutton seemed to confuse Roethlisberger with various fronts and personnel packages. Roethlisberger was sacked twice in the opening frame and his mobility saved him from one or two more.
But the AFC North leaders countered in the second. Roethlisberger pitched short to Santonio Holmes and the speedster got two outside blocks before crossing the goal line. The 7-yard connection made it a 10-7 game.
Two minutes before intermission, Kerry Rhodes flashed his God-given athletic ability with a surreal interception. After a David Barrett deflection, Rhodes went high up in the air and grabbed the ball with his right hand and was able to gain control. More remarkably, though, is that Rhodes effortlessly dropped his feet down in bounds.
That takeaway led to Nugent’s 19-yarder to end a spirited half. The Jets settled for three, unable to punch it in for seven after a 26-yard Jones run in the closing seconds.
Like so many of the Jets’ games this season, the Green & White entered the final stanza tied after Reed booted two field goals — from 37 and 33 — in the third to knot everything up.
The Jets made sure this one had a different ending. Mangini’s club has little time to celebrate, though, as the Jets will practice Monday and Tuesday and fly Wednesday to Dallas to play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.
“We’re very excited about the win,” Clemens said. “The downside is we get the least amount of time all year to celebrate it, but we’re very excited.”
Martin, Forever the MVP
The Jets honored Curtis Martin, a Pittsburgh native, at halftime. Jets owner Woody Johnson said the team will rename its annual MVP award after the running back who was named Jets MVP a team-record four times (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2004). The NFL’s fourth all-time leading rusher (14,101 yards) totaled 100 touchdowns during his illustrious career. He was a five-time Pro Bowler and one of the greatest Jets ever.
“I think there is a time for everything. During my career I stayed away from these types of things because it was about putting the team first,” he told reporters before the game.
In a classy move by the organization, the Green & White brought Bill Parcells out to introduce one of his favorite pupils.
Coles to the Sideline
During the first half, Coles exited to the locker room with what looked to be a foot injury. He returned in the third quarter but his appearance was brief.
Tackling Tendencies
The Steelers entered the contest with what appeared to be a decided advantage in the run game. But the Jets, who came in with the NFL’s lowest-ranked rushing defense, bottled them up for most of this one. Willie Parker, who entered as the No. 2 rusher in the NFL, gained 52 yards on 21 carries and the visitors managed 112 yards on 33 carries. Sutton anticipated runs, using four down linemen and frequently shuffling reserves such as Mike DeVito, Sione Pouha and Brad Kassell into the game. The imaginative calls included Shaun Ellis lining up at OLB and also saw the Big Katt dropping into coverage.
"We were practicing during the week and Coach Mangini said, 'Why don't you go to linebacker.' I said OK," Ellis recalled after the game. "I had a couple of players there, and that was just Friday. On Friday and Saturday I did some studying and the linebackers coach [Jim Herrmann] helped me out."
Jo-Ko
The Jets’ offensive backfield got a new look after the bye. TE Joe Kowalewski got his first NFL start, at FB, and got on the stat sheet in the first half with a 5-yard reception.
Making Debuts
Both OLB Jason Trusnik, a rookie who was moved to the active roster Saturday, and TE Jason Pociask, a second-year player from Wisconsin, suited up for the first time in their pro careers. Pociask had a 7-yard catch on the first play of the second quarter and Trusnik had an assisted tackle in kick coverage.
