TEMPE – You wanted adversity, you got adversity.
Three plays into yesterday’s must-win game against the Cardinals, the Jets, who entered the game in an offensive funk, were down to their third-string quarterback on the road when Quincy Carter, in his own words later, was knocked “out” by a hard hit.
Suddenly, Carter’s legs looked like overcooked spaghetti while Curtis Martin held his limp body up as trainers and doctors tended to him. The Jets’ day – and perhaps their season – lay precariously on the hands of Brooks Bollinger, their third-string quarterback who’d never taken an NFL regular-season snap.
It didn’t look very good at times – but then much of their season has had an ugly-ducking look to it – but the Jets survived, escaping the Arizona desert with a hard-earned 13-3 win to keep their playoff aspirations well intact.
The Jets flew home with a huge collective sigh of relief and an 8-3 record as they await Sunday’s home game against the 5-6 Texans.
“We’re in a find-a-way-to-win mode,” Martin said. “It doesn’t matter who comes in there. When Bollinger came in there, we just rallied behind him.”
If the season ended today, the Jets would qualify for the playoff as one of the wild-card teams, which means they control their own destiny with the final five games ahead.
“My hope is that we can just finish it and take care of business the way we need to,” Martin said.
Herman Edwards said simply, “We just have to keep winning. There’s no secret to this. If you win, you don’t have to look at the scoreboard. No matter how ugly it looks, we’ve got to keep winning.”
The Jets survived this dangerous game because Bollinger (5 of 9, 60 yards) held his poise marvelously while he was in there, because Martin (24-for-99 rushing) was his usual Hall of Fame self, because Carter (8-of-12, 133 yards, 1 TD) made a nice recovery from the shaky start and because the Jets’ defense is so much better than it’s been the last three years.
The Jets clinched the game with their defense, which forced four Cardinals’ turnovers – all of which came in the decisive second half after the teams were tied at 3-3 after the first 30 minutes.
First, with the Cardinals driving deep into Jets’ territory and the Jets leading by 10, rookie LB Jonathan Vilma picked off a Shaun King pass at the 10-yard line with 12:46 remaining in the game.
Later, on the Cardinals’ next possession, David Barrett, a former Cardinals cornerback and now a starter for the Jets, stripped Arizona wideout Larry Fitzgerald of the ball, which was recovered by Vilma with 6:23 left.
Barrett later iced the game when he picked off a pass by Cardinals’ backup QB Josh McCown in the end zone with 1:50 remaining.
The offensive play of the game came when Carter unleashed a 69-yard scoring bomb to Santana Moss, a play that gave the Jets a 13-3 lead with 2:41 remaining in the third quarter.
It was a majestic heave by Carter and an even better catch by Moss, who was double-covered by Renaldo Hill and Adrian Wilson.
Moss (five catches for 109 yards) made a nice adjustment to the ball, kept his concentration and caught the ball over his shoulder at the 15-yard line and scampered in from there for the 10-point lead – insurmountable on this day of offensively challenged football.
Carter credited not only Moss for making a terrific catch but also offensive coordinator Paul Hackett, who’d noticed on the previous series that the Cardinals were “sitting on our short passing game.”
It was an impressive comeback from wooziness to put the game away by Carter – impressive enough that Martin approached Carter in the shower after the game.
“That’s big-time ball right there, you getting knocked out and coming back,” Martin told him. “I was holding you up. You didn’t have any legs and your knees were gone. That was big time that you came back in there and threw that touchdown pass. We respect that.”
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Wild things
With five weeks to go, here’s how the AFC wild-card race stacks up:
Jets (8-3)
Broncos (7-4)
Ravens (7-4)
Jaguars (6-5)
Bengals (5-6)
Texans (5-6)
Bills (5-6)