Road Weary
Hempstead, NY - The Jets dropped their fourth game out of five on the road this season yesterday to the Buffalo Bills, 15-10. With the score 13-10, and 2:15 remaining the Jets got the ball on their own 5 yard line. The Jets figured they needed to go 65 yards to set up a game tying field goal. They would not even get that opportunity. On the very first play, Pennington dropped back to pass, was pressured and took off for an apparent 4 yard run, setting up a second and six at the 9 yard line at the two minute warning. Only, there was a holding penalty called in the end zone resulting in a safety. Buffalo went up by five, 15-10 and got the ball back to run out the clock. For the Jets it was another tough road loss.
Offensively Chad Pennington was very effective in the rain, completing 16 of 24 passes for 213 yards, 1 touchdown and no interceptions. The Jets tried to pound the ball with Curtis Martin, as he carried the ball 20 times for 61 yards. Wayne Chrebet provided the teams big play, when he caught a short pass and raced 55 yards for a touchdown.
Defensively Sam Cowart provided the run support in his old stadium, finishing with 12 tackles for the day. The Jets used a variety of blitzes on the day that resulted in three sacks, one for Jonathan Vilma, and one for Jon McGraw that resulted in a fumble that Buffalo recovered.
The Jets get to come home, where they are 3-0 next week to face the surprising 5-2 Steelers.