2008 Week 9 - Jets at Buffalo Photos
The Jets pulled out a important division win in Sunday's road victory over the Buffalo Bills. While there were key plays made in each phase of the game, the defense and the defensive line, anchored by nose tackle Kris Jenkins, were stout and limited the Bills to only 30 rushing yards.
"What I really liked about today is that I think that we played Jets football," said Jenkins, who sacked Bills quarterback Trent Edwards twice, his second and third sacks of the season.
Jenkins stirred things up last week when he offered some criticism of the team's play in the news conference that followed the Jets victory over Kansas City, but was clearly more satisfied with today's performance.
"I know sometimes a lot of people have been looking at me kind of wondering like 'Why do you say that we need to work harder and do things, even though we're getting the victory?' " said Jenkins. "I think today was kind of that tell of the tale.
"Sometimes I think a lot of people look at it like 'OK, if you win and everything is going good, then it's a great team.' But I think sometimes you can kind of tell your gumption, or what you've got, how you handle the adversity."
The Jets defenders had a tough two-drive, 15:08 first-half stretch when they didn't come off the field but didn't give up any points. And during that time, Edwards, heavily pressured by Jenkins, threw an interception that was run back for a touchdown by Abram Elam, and the drive that followed culminated with Bills running back Fred Jackson being stopped for no gain on a fourth-and-1 at the Jets 8.
"I honestly just think we were doing what we're paid to do," said Jenkins. "We don't just get paid to look pretty, now. I mean, there is some dirty work that comes with the game and that's part of it. We have to do what we can to help the team win. It was a tough situation. I'm going to be honest with you, I'm a pretty big guy. You get kind of tired when you're out there for a long time like that.
"It's just work. That's the thing that we have to prepare ourselves for. It doesn't matter what's going on or what the situation is. We have to put our best foot forward, and if we make a mistake, then we have to shake it off. And if we make a good play we have to enjoy it for a quick second, shake it off and keep on playing.
"That's what it means to love this game and to want to be the best at it. You've got to keep on working. You've got to keep working hard every single snap."
That hard work has not gone unnoticed by Jets head coach Eric Mangini.
"He's a beast and he's tough to handle," Mangini said. "He plays with very good technique and then is able to go from playing two gap, controlling his gap, to rushing the passer, and he's got another gear when he's getting off the ball in the pure pass-rush situations and he just causes a lot of problems internally for our opponents."
Jenkins also drew praise from another defender who had an impressive day.
"He's two people," said cornerback Darrelle Revis. "We don't have 11 we have 12. Just a joke, but, man he's great."
The Jets' defense ranks fourth against the rush with Monday night's Pittsburgh-Washington game still to be played. Jenkins said stopping the run is a source of pride for him and his teammates.
"Looking at the film and watching [Marshawn] Lynch run around, we knew that we had to come and put a solid game together, and it was going to take all 11 of us," he said. "We came out and I think we did a good job of that this week.
"It's a good feeling to know that you stand for something and you can accomplish a goal that you stand for. But just like we had this week, we have another week where we have to go out and the test is going to be next week. So we're going to enjoy the victory for a quick second, but now it's time to get ready for the next week."
