In the aftermath of the Jets' 23-20 overtime victory over the Giants, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick had a day to reflect on the Green & White's last offensive drive that kept the Giants defense off balance in the fourth quarter and overtime.
"We started pushing the tempo a little bit and that was helpful for us," said Fitzpatrick. "The drive that Deck got real involved, we were kind of on the ball and going and they had a hard time coming up with answers for that, the way we going fast and pushing the tempo."
WRs Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall had a combined total of 51 receiving yards in overtime, while RB Bilal Powell played a key role on the drive of 13 plays and 61 yards that included Randy Bullock's go-ahead field goal.
"This whole year has been awesome," said the 11th-year signalcaller. "A lot of it is just the team that we have. Coming to work every day is great just because there are guys who love the game of football and love playing together. It's great to be in this situation. To be able to play meaningful games in December, that's always the goal and it will be a lot more fun if we continue to win."
On the defensive side of the ball, all of the Giants' 20 points came in the first half Sunday. After the Jets made the necessary adjustments at halftime, they didn't allow Big Blue to see the end zone for the rest of the game.
Head coach Todd Bowles, said NT Damon Harrison, "just put a lot of pressure on the defensive line as a whole to get the job done up front."
"One of the thigs Todd has been harping on all season is we have to finish a game," added CB Antonio Cromartie. "Yesterday we accomplished that of going out and finishing a game."
With the victory, the Jets improved to 7-5 on the season and are in the thick of the race for an AFC Wild Card berth. But for the Green & White, the talk of playoffs is on the back burner with a quarter of the season yet to be played.
"It was an emotional win for us," said Fitzpatrick. "Everybody was jumping around and excited, but I promise Coach Bowles isn't jumping around and excited in the building today. He's focused on the next game and figuring out what we can do to beat Tennessee."
"I'm not even thinking about the playoffs," said Cromartie. "If that situation happens, it happens. None of us are even trying to think about it. The main focus is we have to take care of Tennessee. … I'm not worried about us trying to be in the driver's seat or anything else. We have to take care of what we have to do and not worry about anything else."
