What a day! What a day! First, we were close to losing our last hope when the Dolphins took a comfortable lead over the Patriots. Then, our playoff hopes were shuttered even more when the Cleveland Browns stopped the Falcons on the goal line. The Falcons lost, eliminating the Jets' chances for a wild card berth, but the Patriots came back and beat the Dolphins in overtime - the road to the AFC East crown became wide open. The New York Jets weren't going to let this opportunity pass by, as they came out fired up and destroyed the Green Bay Packers, 42-17!!!
QB Chad Pennington was simply amazing, he completed 17 of 24 passes for 196 yards, and 4 touchdowns. RB Curtis Martin ran for 83 yards on 18 carries and scored one touchdown. Martin also caught 4 passes for 42 yards. Once again WR Laveranues Coles led the Jets in receptions - he made 6 catches for 93 yards. WR Wayne Chrebet caught 3 passes for 37 yards, but two of these receptions were touchdowns. Chrebet finished this season with a career-high 9 touchdown receptions. FB Richie Anderson and WR Santana Moss caught one touchdown pass apiece.
The defense allowed QB Brett Favre to complete just 16 of 33 passes for 172 yards. In the third quarter SS Sam Garnes intercepted Favre inside the Jets' 10 and returned the interception for 65 yards deep inside Green Bay territory. This was the deciding play of the game, as five plays later Pennington connected with Chrebet and the Jets took a commanding 35-10 lead. DT Jason Ferguson has a solid game, he finished with 6 tackles (5 solo).
Next weekend the Jets will take on the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Wild Card Game. Only once the Jets played the Colts in the playoffs and it was in Super Bowl III. In January of 1969 the Gang Green took on the Baltimore Colts, and defeated them 16-7, capturing the only Super Bowl victory in the history of the New York Jets. In the first week of January of 2003 the Jets again will find the Colts on the way to the Super Bowl. Chad Pennington vs. Peyton Manning, this does sound exciting!
GO JETS!!!