Jets 37 – Seahawks 14
For the Jets, the week leading into yesterday’s game had an edge to it, with some prominent players stepping up and publicly voicing their displeasure with the poor performance of the offense in big games.
That was followed by the game, which clearly had an edge to it, with the Jets, still stinging from last week’s loss in Pittsburgh, hammering the Seahawks 37-14 at Giants Stadium to move one step closer to a coveted playoff berth with their 10th win in 14 games this season.
The final edge to the week was supplied by Chad Pennington, who despite cooperatively conducting postgame interviews for TV and radio, had to be talked into coming into the postgame interview room to talk with print reporters.
And, reluctantly, when he acquiesced to Jets public relations officials and went into the packed room, he made a terse, two-paragraph statement that led in with, “OK, here’s the way it’s going to be … ” and ending it with, “That’s my statement and I’m sticking to it.”
With that, Pennington, perhaps thinking he has been mistreated by those who’ve had the audacity to question sub-par performances during some key losses, abruptly departed from the podium without taking questions.
Later, when asked why he did that, Pennington said, “Because I can.”
It an odd way to end the day by the leader of the Jets, who in doing what he did couldn’t help but draw deserved attention away from some of his teammates who played so well in such a complete team victory.
And, if Pennington, who has been treated with kid gloves by the media since he got here, thinks he has been scorned by the scribes he took his angst out on yesterday, thinks he’s had a rough go of it around here, we’d gladly offer up phone numbers for Boomer Esiason, Neil O’Donnell and Ken O’Brien, to name a few who’ve endured a lot more than he has quarterbacking this franchise.
More important than any perceived snit-fit, however, is the way Pennington and the 10-4 Jets performed yesterday in a game they absolutely had to win.
A playoff berth wasn’t clinched yet, but the Jets, who’ve now won at least 10 games for the eighth time in their 45-year history, now have a two-game lead on Denver (8-6), which lost yesterday, and were awaiting the result of last night’s key game between Baltimore (8-5) and Indianapolis (10-3).
“This game could not come fast enough for us (after) thinking about what happened to us last week in Pittsburgh (a 17-6 loss),” Herman Edwards said. “We needed to play a game like this – a total game.”
How totally complete was the win?
Curtis Martin rushed for 134 yards on 24 carries and scored two rushing TDs. LaMont Jordan followed with 84 more yards and helped lead the Jets to 229 total rushing yards for the game, the fourth time this season they’ve eclipsed the 200-yard plateau.
Santana Moss was a factor early and often, catching five passes for 79 yards and two TDs. Fellow WR Justin McCareins pitched in with three catches for 40 yards and a TD catch.
Defensively, the Jets pitched their seventh second-half shutout of the season and fourth in the last five games. No other NFL team has done that more than three times this season. Jets LB Eric Barton led the way with a career game that included a sack, an INT, a forced fumble at the goal line, a fumble recovery and 11 tackles.
Then there was … oh yes, Pennington, who was magnificent rebounding from his three-INT game in the loss to the Steelers last week (18-of-24, 253 yards, three TDs, no INTs, 148.1 rating).
Asked if he noticed any different edge to his quarterback yesterday or during the week, Jets RG Pete Kendall said, “Chad’s always got an edge to him, man. I thought rednecks were supposed to be laid back, but Chad didn’t get that memo. Chad’s savvy enough to understand how it works around here. I don’t think the criticism he received in the papers was any big surprise to him and I don’t think was any big distraction.”
Until he made it one, that is.
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Bouncing back
Despite his postgame petulance yesterday, Chad Pennington’s on-field performance against the Seahawks was a marked improvement from last week’s loss to the Steelers.
Comp-Att Yards TD INT
Last week 17-31 189 0 3
Yesterday 18-24 253 3 0