“The New York Jets have officially blown out the undefeated Tennessee Titans!”
Bob Wischusen, the Jets radio play-by-play man has not had a chance to get this excited about Gang Green in quite some time. But Lyons and the rest of the Jets’ family had plenty of reasons to get out of their chairs and shout yesterday afternoon. And the rest of the football world now has every reason to open their eyes and begin to take this team seriously.
Just 10 days after conquering their equivalent to Kryptonite, the New England Patriots, the Jets made another tremendous statement, beating the previously 10-0 Titans. The win was the team’s fifth in a row after losing a heartbreaker to
The Jets won by a final count of 34-13, and that almost does not even justify how much they dominated play in this game, especially in the third quarter.
Titans’ quarterback Kerry Collins barely got his hands on the rock for the third fifteen minutes of play, as the Jets started the quarter with a seven minute drive resulting in a chip shot field goal by Jay Feely. On the first play of
The Titans managed to hold on to the ball for the final three minutes of the period, but the first 12 were far more indicative of the Jets’ dominance in this one.
Throughout the game, the Jets adapted to what has been referred to as the best defense in the league by attacking them head on with a hard-nosed running game led by Thomas Jones, mixing in some big plays by the change of pace back Leon Washington.
Add to the confident rushing attack the expert arm of Brett Favre, who limited his mistakes by throwing 26 of his 32 passes to receivers less than 10 yards away.
And while Favre played a huge part in the Jets victory, Gang Green proved that they are a legitimate contender more by the play of those less spoken of.
The best teams depend on not only their stars, but a solid supporting cast, and the Jets’ other players deserve all the credit in this one.
It was rookie tight end Dustin Keller sneaking and slithering to first down yardage seemingly every time the Jets faced a third down. It was blocking back Tony Richardson taking just his second handoff of the season for a whopping 14 yards to put the Jets in the red zone of a scoring drive. It was Eric Barton patrolling the middle third of the defense, amassing seven tackles in the game and shutting down the Titans’ potent rushing game.
The Jets are for real. Their offense is for real. Their defense is for real. And you better believe their special teams are for real.
But Brett Favre isn’t ready to wear any crown or accept any trophy just yet.
"I'm not going to sit here and say we've established ourselves as the best team in football," Favre told reporters after the game. "All it says is I think we beat the best team in football today, definitely if you go by record and the way that they've played.”
Number four and his surprising bunch will finally head home to the field turf of East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday to battle the Denver Broncos. Fireman Eddie and the rest of the Jets faithful will be there in full force, and they finally have reason to ditch the pessimistic attitude that has plagued this franchise for so long.
Come Sunday there will be talk of trap games and let-downs. But until then, Coach Eric Mangini may have re-gained the title “Man-Genius.”
Happy Thanksgiving, Jets fans. It’s going to be one hell of a December.
--Phil DiMartino
Player quotes courtesy of ESPN.com
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