Near Attack

Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump.  Those were the audible sounds coming from my chest late Sunday afternoon as Big Ben was getting dangerously close to the Jets end zone to win the game.  On first down, and second down, and third down the defense did a fantastic job limiting the Steelers offense and creating looong 4^th downs for them to have to convert.  And convert they did.  Over and over again.  All the way down the 10 yard line.

First play, rocket pass to the back of the end zone, between two Steelers, and an incomplete pass.  Heart’s pumping a little bit more.  Two seconds left.  One more play.  One final chance for Ben to stab the Jets.  Second play, scramble to the left, throw to the back corner, incomplete.  Jets win!  22-17 victory, in Pittsburgh.  10-4 record.  Control of our playoff lives.  Win and we’re in.  Two games to get that win.

There were plenty of things to be grateful for from Sunday’s complete victory, things that will help wash away the bitterness from the last two games.  Sanchez played a strong, turnover free game.  The running game was able to move the ball against the great Pittsburgh defense.  Braylon Edwards for 100 yards.  Brad Smith for 97 yards to start the game.  Jason Taylor for the safety.  Drew Coleman for being a Jet version of Troy Palamalu.  Schotty for being an aggressive conservative.  The naked bootleg off the play action.

Win and we’re in.  Go to Chicago on Sunday and beat the Bears.  They already clinched their division, did it last night.  Will they be hungry?  Will they have the urgency?  We’ll find out soon enough.

Game Recap

My first ever holiday sporting event took place last night as I was lucky enough to be at The Meadowlands with my ever-thankful-for-girlfriend for Jets-Bengals.  A match up of teams with mirroring records; 8-2 for the Jets and a lowly 2-8 Cincinnati.

Last night's Jets game meant so much if everything went right but would be so bad if things went wrong.  Playing on the Thanksgiving for the first time in a few years, we went into the game totally expecting to win.  The Bengals may be one of the worst teams in the NFL, had a wide receiver that may be stinkier than poop but runs a big mouth, and is coming off an embarrassing loss the week before.  But the Jets have a tendency to play to the level of their opponent, knowing that New England won earlier in the day and it immediately became a larger game they could not lose.

And as usual, the game started very slowly for the Jets.  Painfully slow and disappointing.  The way the first half went was as typical as the last number of games, the offense could not move the ball whatsoever but the defense was stout as always.  Only down 7-3 at the half, the boys really took it to them in the last 30 minutes.

All season long the team has tried to run its version of the Wild Cat, the Seminole as they call it.  And run it they do, just never successfully.  And while last night it didn't really run all that well; the main person behind it had his breakout performance of the season.  Brad Smith had two different electrifying runs, a 55 yard end around and a 90 yard kick off return, for touchdowns.  The man was so hot he burned his shoe off his left foot on the kick off return run.

A 7-3 deficit became a 26-10 victory.  A win that was decided well before the last few minutes of the game.  A record that keeps them at the top of the AFC.  A date with the Patriots next Monday night, which will be the biggest regular season game of the year.  A holiday game to remember.  A season, so far, to be thankful for.