OAKLAND, Calif. — This is the way the Jets want to live and breathe: Play suffocating defense, dominate with a powerful running game and sprinkle in some timely passing from their rookie quarterback.
Executing that formula with the precision of highly trained chemists or master chefs, this is what the Jets delivered yesterday in a 38-0 dismantling of the Raiders at Oakland Alameda County Coliseum.
“This is the blueprint, period,” right tackle Damien Woody said emphatically. “This is the way we want to play.”
En route to ending their three-game losing streak, the Jets rushed for 316 yards on 54 carries, becoming the first team since the 1975 Bills to rush for 300 or more yards in back-to-back games (the Jets ran for 318 last week).
Thomas Jones, who had 210 rushing yards last week, ran for 121 yards and a touchdown yesterday. Rookie Shonn Greene rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns — career highs for the rookie.
The only bad news for the Jets was that Greene was pressed into duty because Leon Washington was lost for the season in the first quarter with a gruesome broken right leg.
The final score represented the Jets’ biggest shutout victory in franchise history, edging out their 37-0 win over the Baltimore Colts in 1982.
How easy was this?
Mark Sanchez sat on the bench with several minutes remaining in the game noshing on a hot dog.
“I want to apologize for that,” Sanchez said. “I wasn’t feeling very good and didn’t eat much before the game, so I was feeling a little queasy. Toward the end of the game, I probably should have eaten one of those bars or something, but someone offered [a hot dog], so I grabbed it and tried to be discreet about it, but obviously not discreet enough. So I shouldn’t have done that, and it won’t happen again.”
How much fun was this for the Jets, who were desperate for a win after erasing their 3-0 start?
Coach Rex Ryan’s eyes welled up with tears when talking about how much the win meant to him, considering the Raiders fired his brother, Rob, after last season.
“This thing was special to me, too, with my brother . . .,” Ryan said with his eyes watering as a media relations official abruptly ended the press conference and whisked him out of the room.
The 4-3 Jets, facing a rematch against the 2-4 Dolphins on Sunday at Giants Stadium before their bye week, never let the 2-5 Raiders threaten them.
They forced four turnovers — two of them by linebacker Calvin Pace on quarterback sack-and-strips — and converted three of those into 21 points. Fourteen of those points came in the first quarter as they began to lay the rout on.
Sanchez, who was coming off his worst performance as a pro in last week’s five-interception debacle against the Bills, really didn’t have to do much because of the Jets’ smothering defense and their pounding running game. He threw just 15 passes, completing nine for 143 yards and a touchdown.
That is exactly how Ryan and the Jets coaching staff drew it up after Ryan said early last week the plan was to “simplify” things for Sanchez.
Yesterday couldn’t have been any simpler for the rookie quarterback. The Raiders want to “just win baby.” The Jets went with the “keep it simple, baby” approach.
“Anybody could have played quarterback today,” said Sanchez, who also scored on a three-yard quarterback draw.
The Jets forced three Raiders turnovers in the first quarter alone and turned the first two of them into touchdowns en route to a 24-0 halftime lead.
Pace set the tone for the blowout when he stripped Raiders’ quarterback JaMarcus Russell of the ball on a sack on the very first play from scrimmage 12 seconds into the game.
Four plays later Jones gave the Jets a 7-0 lead when he punched his way through the left side of the line on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line.
Later, the Jets took a 14-0 lead on the Sanchez run with 4:20 remaining in the first quarter.
That was set up by a 44-yard interception return by Jets safety Jim Leonhard, who picked off a Russell pass that was way underthrown, thanks to blitzing linebacker David Harris who was in his face as he dropped back to pass.
The Jets took a 21-0 lead on an eight-yard scoring run by Greene, his first NFL touchdown. They closed out their opening half of dominance with a 39-yard Jay Feely field goal with three seconds remaining in the second quarter for the 24-0 lead.
Because of a second strip/sack by Pace, the Jets made it 31-0 on a 35-yard Sanchez scoring pass to wide receiver David Clowney (his first career touchdown catch) with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter.
The Jets made it 38-0 on a 33-yard rushing touchdown by Greene with 6:30 remaining.
And so ended the losing streak. For one week at least, the Jets have restored order to their season.
“We just wanted to get that bad taste out of our mouths,” defensive end Shaun Ellis said.