Jets 27 Bills 14
Hey, Keyshawn Johnson, look who’s coming to dinner Sunday.
That’s right, the 3-0 getting-along-just-fine-without-you Jets.
The Al Groh-led, Vinny Testaverde, Wayne Chrebet, Curtis Martin, tough defensive-minded Jets invade Keyshawn’s pewter pot stadium in Tampa at 4:15 p.m. Sunday in what will be served up as a posi-
tively delicious matchup.
The showdown between the 3-0 Jets and 3-0 Buccaneers was all made possible by the Jets’ gritty, show-us-what-you’re-made-of 27-14 victory over the Bills yesterday at Giants Stadium.
Through three weeks of the 2000 season, the Jets have shown the NFL they’re for real, winning at Lambeau Field, exorcising the demons and distractions of the Bill Belichick Patriots and now beating up on the Bills, one of the toughest teams in the AFC.
The Jets are 3-0 for the first time since 1966. Since 1990, 51 teams have started 3-0 and 42 of them have advanced to the playoffs, an 82.4 percent success rate.
Dating back to last year, the Jets, too, have won seven games in a row and 10-of-12.
They own sole possession of first place in the AFC East, have a 2-0 division record and are 2-0 at home.
“Our confidence is pretty high,” Jets’ cornerback Ray Mickens said. “I’d be lying if I said it was anything else. We’ve shown we can win on the road, at Lambeau, we’ve shown we’re a tough team.”
The Jets, if nothing else, have shown that they won’t go down to Tampa Sunday and be wallflowers.
“Keyshawn is like a family member to me,” said Jets’ special teams demon Chris Hayes, who had an MVP game yesterday with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. “But when we’re on the field as opponents, we’re competitors. If I have an opportunity, I’ll try to knock him out.”
This begins a week of super-hype for the Jets-Johnson collision course – a juicy subplot many have been waiting for with baited breath since Johnson was traded away in such controversial fashion in the offseason.
But the magnitude of yesterday’s victory was as complete and impressive as it was a wild one.
The Jets beat the Bills by converting a rarely-executed Hail Mary TD pass at the end of the half – to a defensive player (CB Marcus Coleman) no less.
They beat the Bills with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by FS Kevin Williams, a player who was only inserted on kickoffs last week to spell starter Aaron Glenn.
And they forced four second-half turnovers from a Bills’ offense that entered the game having turned the ball over only once.
The Bills, in fact, entered the game having been the only NFL team aside from Philadelphia that hadn’t yet lost a fumble.
They lost three in the second half yesterday, with Mo Lewis and Hayes forcing two and Hayes recovering another.
The Jets won primarily because their special teams completely outplayed Buffalo’s despite the fact that their special teams had been atrocious in the first two weeks – something the coaches were vocal about last week.
As for Buffalo’s once-proud-but-now-anemic special teams, their units have simply not been the same since head coach Wade Phillips’ controversial (and uncalled for) firing of long-time special teams coach Bruce DeHaven after that Music City Miracle play in last January’s wildcard playoff loss to Tennessee.
Buffalo took a 7-0 lead on a Rob Johnson (21-of-36, 291 yards 2 TDs, 1 INT) scoring pass to Eric Moulds from three yards out in the first quarter.
But Williams took the ensuring kickoff to the house, 97 yards of cutting and weaving down the field with superior blocking coming from rookies Anthony Becht and John Abraham in particular.
That play, along with the Bills losing their valuable TE Jay Riemersma (3-48) to a knee injury in the first quarter, changed the complexion of the game.
The Jets took a 14-7 lead on a Curtis Martin five-yard scoring run on a bold red zone fourth-and-one call.
“We all know Al Groh has guts,” said Martin, who gained a hard-earned 84 yards on 29 carries and caught four passes for 44 yards.
Buffalo, despite looking like its offense was jogging in a wading pool, tied the game at 14-14 on a 74-yard Johnson scoring strike to McDaniel.
But, after what was such a deflating give-away touchdown by a Jets’ defense that has quietly become quite a story this season in this post-Belichick genius era, the Jets again turned the game on a highlight-reel play.
On the final play of the first half, Groh ran Coleman onto the field with the offense and had him run a fly pattern straight down the middle of the field.
Testaverde (16-of-32, 188 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) threw the Hail Mary high so the 6-2 Coleman could leap for the ball in the end zone.
In one fleeting moment, the goat put hero’s clothes on and turned into Superman as he caught the pass amid a sea of Bills’ defenders and crushed Buffalo’s will as the Jets skipped to the halftime locker room leading 21-14.
“As big a lift as that was for us it had to be just as big a downer for them,” Testaverde said.
So now the Jets go to Tampa riding a high they haven’t felt since they went to Denver for the AFC Championship two seasons ago.
“Being 3-0 feels great – this is what we’ve worked for and looked forward to,” Testaverde said. “Coach Groh has set a course, the ship is sailing and we’re headed in the right direction.”
