Needing an offensive touchdown and a win, the New York Jets finally came through with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter, snapping an amazing 11-quarter, 198-offensive play drought that began on Thanksgiving Day against the lowly Cincinnati Bengals.
The touchdown, coming on a fourth-and-1 from the Steelers’ 7-yard line, tied the game up 17–17. With a Nick Folk field goal, Jason Taylor safety, and a furious last second defensive stand, the Jets got that much needed win.
“You know we’ve had some adversity, obviously that we are dealing with, but our team responded,” said head coach Rex Ryan.
Battling snowy conditions, a questionable chain gang, and a Steelers defense missing stud safety Troy Polamalu, the Jets seemed poised from the beginning to stop their losing streak.
Brad Smith took the opening kickoff 97 yards for the touchdown.
But, the lead wouldn’t hold up for very long, as all the Jets offense could muster during the rest of the half was a 25-yard field goal. Meanwhile, despite the Jets special teams putting the Steelers in tough field position, the Steelers were able to move the ball against the Jets vaunted defense as Big Ben Roethlisberger sidestepped blitzes and convert all four third down conversions on their 16-play, 96 yard (albeit chain gang-aided) second-quarter touchdown drive.
That momentum continued into the second half with the Steelers taking the opening kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown. It was their third straight score and it gave them their first lead of the game 17–10 with 9:03 left in the quarter.
The pressure was directly on the Jets’ beleaguered offense to come up with an answer. And answer they did.
A poised Mark Sanchez, who went 19-for-29 without an interception, promptly marched the Jets 66 yards in eight plays, running the last seven of it on a gutsy (but impressive) naked bootleg on fourth-and-1 from the Steelers 7-yard line.
“That’s about as gutsy a performance as you'll find,” Ryan said in his postgame press conference about Sanchez’s performance. “He was absolutely outstanding, tougher than nails.”
From there the Jets defense took over. Despite allowing a 100-yard rusher for the first time in over a year—Rashard Mendenhall had exactly that on only 17 carries—the Jets were able to force punts on the Steelers’ next two possessions.
Pinning the Steelers deep in their own territory, Jason Taylor came out of nowhere to throw running back Mewelde Moore for a 3-yard loss in the end zone to give the Jets a more comfortable 22–17 lead with 2:38 left. The crucial safety gave the Jets the ball back and meant the Steelers could not force overtime with a field goal.
The Steelers then drove all the way from their own 8-yard line to the Jets 10-yard line before coming up short as the clock ran out. Said a confident Ryan after the game, “Same old Jets, came out of Pittsburgh [and] got a win.”
“We knew we had to have this one,” LaDainian Tomlinson said in an interview with NBC. “We didn’t want to lose three straight.”
The touchdown, coming on a fourth-and-1 from the Steelers’ 7-yard line, tied the game up 17–17. With a Nick Folk field goal, Jason Taylor safety, and a furious last second defensive stand, the Jets got that much needed win.
“You know we’ve had some adversity, obviously that we are dealing with, but our team responded,” said head coach Rex Ryan.
Battling snowy conditions, a questionable chain gang, and a Steelers defense missing stud safety Troy Polamalu, the Jets seemed poised from the beginning to stop their losing streak.
Brad Smith took the opening kickoff 97 yards for the touchdown.
But, the lead wouldn’t hold up for very long, as all the Jets offense could muster during the rest of the half was a 25-yard field goal. Meanwhile, despite the Jets special teams putting the Steelers in tough field position, the Steelers were able to move the ball against the Jets vaunted defense as Big Ben Roethlisberger sidestepped blitzes and convert all four third down conversions on their 16-play, 96 yard (albeit chain gang-aided) second-quarter touchdown drive.
That momentum continued into the second half with the Steelers taking the opening kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown. It was their third straight score and it gave them their first lead of the game 17–10 with 9:03 left in the quarter.
The pressure was directly on the Jets’ beleaguered offense to come up with an answer. And answer they did.
A poised Mark Sanchez, who went 19-for-29 without an interception, promptly marched the Jets 66 yards in eight plays, running the last seven of it on a gutsy (but impressive) naked bootleg on fourth-and-1 from the Steelers 7-yard line.
“That’s about as gutsy a performance as you'll find,” Ryan said in his postgame press conference about Sanchez’s performance. “He was absolutely outstanding, tougher than nails.”
From there the Jets defense took over. Despite allowing a 100-yard rusher for the first time in over a year—Rashard Mendenhall had exactly that on only 17 carries—the Jets were able to force punts on the Steelers’ next two possessions.
Pinning the Steelers deep in their own territory, Jason Taylor came out of nowhere to throw running back Mewelde Moore for a 3-yard loss in the end zone to give the Jets a more comfortable 22–17 lead with 2:38 left. The crucial safety gave the Jets the ball back and meant the Steelers could not force overtime with a field goal.
The Steelers then drove all the way from their own 8-yard line to the Jets 10-yard line before coming up short as the clock ran out. Said a confident Ryan after the game, “Same old Jets, came out of Pittsburgh [and] got a win.”
“We knew we had to have this one,” LaDainian Tomlinson said in an interview with NBC. “We didn’t want to lose three straight.”
