The New York Jets made it quite interesting, but they couldn’t pull off another Meadowlands Miracle as the Cleveland Browns escaped with a 24-18 victory this afternoon. In a driving rain that started between the third and fourth quarters and emptied out most of the stadium, the Green & White scored 12 late points but Jamal Lewis’ 31-yard TD run sealed the outcome with 1:22 remaining.

When this strange game had finally reached the final gun, the Browns had taken another step to a postseason berth with their eighth win while the game Jets fell to 3-10.

"I really was pleased with the way we fought through the game, right up there until the end," said Jets head coach Eric Mangini.

In a wild ending, the Jets trimmed a 17-6 deficit when Kellen Clemens powered home from the Cleveland 1-yard line with 2:59 remaining. After a failed two-point conversion, Mike Nugent’s onside kick was deflected by Brad Smith and reserve linebacker Brad Kassell recovered. The Jets moved right back down the field but hit a stop sign at the Cleveland 20. With three timeouts remaining, Mangini sent Nugent on for a 38-yard field goal.

The successful kick made it just a two-point game at 17-15, but Joe Jurevicius recovered Nugent’s second onside kick. Three plays later, Lewis celebrated his game-clinching touchdown.

"It (the onside kick) was pretty well executed the first time and I liked our chances for getting it," Mangini said.  "I thought we had a really good opportunity to recover it the second time and that we’d have three timeouts left with the ball."

But the lead wouldn’t be safe until Jurevicius recovered another onside kick after Nugent’s fourth and final field make, a 35-yarder with 32 seconds to play.

The Jets’ effort was there against the Browns, but the points were hard to come by against the team that entered the game with the NFL's 32nd-ranked defense in yards and points allowed.. The Green & White played solid defensive ball again and Cleveland's powerful offense was contained, but the Brownies were buoyed by another tremendous effort from WR Braylon Edwards.

Edwards finished with only three receptions but all were immense and all came at the expense of rookie CB Darrelle Revis. He set up his team’s first TD with an acrobatic second-quarter, fourth-down grab and then his brilliant 4-yard TD reception from Derek Anderson to start the second half followed a 45-yard catch-and-run.

"Edwards is a very good player and he made some excellent catches in tight coverage," Mangini said.  "I don’t think it was a question of Darrelle being dramatically out of place. I think it was function of him doing a real nice job of being able to get open in a really tight space."

Revis was in decent position on each game-changer but Edwards, four inches taller, came up with the big play at each critical juncture.

"I played as well as I could on him — tight coverage," said the rookie DB.  "The quarterback just put the ball in places that were tough for me to get to and make a play on."

Nugent’s second field goal, from 41 yards, made it a one-possession game late in the third at 14-6. But despite the rain, which began to come down in the fourth and sent hundreds flocking for the exits, Phil Dawson pushed the visitors’ advantage to 17-6 moments later.

Kellen Clemens, who finished with 286 passing yards, was picked off by rookie CB Brandon McDonald early in the fourth. It was Clemens’ second pick but the Green & White never went away.

Edwards used the first half to get warm and then really got toasty in the third. His 45-yarder set up the beautiful short back-shoulder TD reception from Anderson. It was Edwards’ 13th TD catch of the season, tying the Browns' franchise record, and a one-handed grab to boot in front of Revis.

Clemens’ two-minute mastery continued at the end of the half as he led a 53-yard march that culminated in Nugent’s 35-yard field goal. That got the Jets trailing just 7-3 before four local youth football teams entertained the masses at the break.

The Browns got on the board first with 75 seconds left in the second quarter. Anderson hit RB Jamal Lewis for a 7-yard score after executing a play-action fake to the veteran runner. Cleveland covered the final 40 yards of their 80-yard drive in just three plays. Despite being blanketed by Revis, Edwards hauled in a 14-yard pass along the left sideline on fourth-and-4 for a reception that held up despite a Mangini challenge. Then Anderson delivered an 18-yard strike to TE Steve Heiden.

Following a scoreless and rather quiet first quarter, things got interesting with an interception from each squad in the second. Kerry Rhodes’ fifth pick not only established a career high made him the first Jet since Otis Smith in 1995 to record at least one INT in four consecutive games.

Unfortunately, the Jets’ offense couldn’t take advantage of the field position at the Cleveland 12. Safety Sean Jones prevented any scoring when he stepped in front of Clemens’ end zone toss intended for Jerricho Cotchery. It appeared Clemens had crossed the plane on a keeper a few plays before the turnover, but he was ruled down at the 1-yard-line.

"To come away from that with no points because of a costly interception on my part is both unacceptable and a huge momentum swing," Clemens said.

And despite the desperation, the Jets were awarded a loss. The challenge next weekend is great as the undefeated Patriots (13-0) await in Foxboro.

"We’re going to play hard. We’re not going to quit or give up," Rhodes said.  "It’ll be fun to go in there and try and get a win."

Reunion Weekend

For the second time in little more than a year, Mangini and Romeo Crennel opposed each other as head coaches. The longtime friends, who worked together as defensive assistants with the Jets (1997-99) and Patriots (2001-04), squared off in October 2006 in Cleveland, with the Browns also taking that game, 20-13.

"We were fortunate to win a hard fought game today," Crennel said.  "I knew Eric would have his team ready to go and they played extremely hard today."

Sunday’s AFC contest also featured a pair of quarterbacks hailing from Oregon. Clemens and Anderson grew up 300 miles apart and were high school opponents. They also were “Civil War” counterparts as Clemens played collegiately at Oregon while Anderson was an Oregon State Beaver.

Kick Coverage

Two of the NFL’s finest return men were on display at the Meadowlands.

Leon Washington, whose three kickoff-return touchdowns lead the NFL, got off to an inauspicious start with a bobble on the opening kick. He rebounded, though, and had an impressive 33-yard punt return in the second. He also recovered his own muff on a fourth-quarter kick return.

Joshua Cribbs, who excels as both a punt and kickoff returner in addition to possessing quality coverage skills, was largely neutralized in the special teams game. He averaged 25.5 yards on his two kick returns and was nailed by Wallace Wright for no gain on his first punt return.

WR Packages

Offensive coordinator Brian Schotteheimer was liberal with his wide receiver substitutions. Both Brad Smith and Wright were frequently involved, since the Jets’ top wideouts, Laveranues Coles (ankle) and Jerricho Cotchery (right index finger), were nicked up recently.

Coles, who continues to battle like an absolute warrior, caught a game-high seven balls for 48 yards, including an important fourth-down conversion that led to Nuge’s second field goal. Coles limped to the sideline on a number of occasions but kept coming back for more. And Cotchery, fitted for a splint on his finger according to CBS, had a game-high 119 yards on six receptions.

"We love our teammates," Cotchery said.   "We feel like if we can help our team, we’re going to go out there and give it our all. We’re not just going to sit around just because we have a losing record. "

Running Wild

Both the Jets' Thomas Jones (24 carries, 106 yards) and Cleveland's Lewis (21-118) turned it on in the second half and topped the century mark on the ground.