His slow starts have become a cause for some concern. But Vinny Testaverde has been a symbol of the perseverance the Jets have shown in their first two games.
In Green Bay, he looked rusty in the first half, hardly resembling the form he showed in 1998. He overcame the rust in the second half and led the Jets to victory.
On Monday night, Testaverde was even worse early, seemingly befuddled by Bill Belichick’s defensive schemes.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter, when he helped engineer the two critical TD drives, that Testaverde’s game came alive.
There’s a consensus thought among the Jets that Testaverde and the offense need to be sharper earlier in Sunday’s battle against the Bills for first place in the AFC East.
“It’s always a challenge each week, but being a back-to-back division game for us, at home after coming off a very emotional game in the fashion that we won (Monday) this is going to be a big game,” Testaverde said yesterday. “We have to get better at not making the mental mistakes that we did and the physical mistakes we did.
“We have to go out right away and play some good football this week if we’re going to have any chance to beat the Bills.”
Asked yesterday if Belichick’s defense was a reason for early offensive struggles, Al Groh said, “It wasn’t a particularly intricate plan we were going against. We dropped a couple balls, missed a couple of throws.
“We didn’t have a very good rhythm going. As a result we weren’t really able to sustain enough drives to get into our plan.”
Groh downplayed Testaverde still having rust from a year away from competition and a relatively inactive preseason, saying, “He’s just missed some throws. Michael Jordan missed some shots, too. Even in some of his 32-point games, Jordan shot 14-of-32.”
In a staggering statistical note, Testaverde is, by far, the most productive fourth-quarter quarterback in the NFL this season.
In fourth-quarter passing this season, he’s 14-of-19 (73.7 percent) for 270 yards, a 14.21 yards-per-attempt average, three TDs, no INTs and a 155.2 efficiency rating.
In the first three quarters, Testaverde is a paltry 25-of-62 (40.3 percent) for 272 yards, one TD and two picks for a 45.9 rating.
His overall numbers are 39-of-81 (48.1 percent) for 542 yards, a 6.69 yards per attempt average, four TDs and two INTs for a 76.3 rating.
“That’s the way a real NFL quarterback plays,” Groh said of Testaverde’s Monday night comeback over the Patriots, against whom he threw two fourth-quarter TD passes. “That’s why he’s one of the best. He has the confidence of our team. We already knew this about him.
“The spark that a Vinny Testaverde has is a burning desire that rallies the players around him. It’s going to take more than a few incompletions to put out that spark.”
Testaverde said the comebacks have forged a unique confidence the Jet players have in each other.
“We definitely have some confidence that, no matter what the situation is at the end of the game, we can come back,” he said. “Our defense played outstanding for us and we don’t win without them if they don’t.”
Analyzing the first two games, Testaverde downplayed the slow starts.
“In the first game we had a lot of penalties that hurt drives and took points off the board,” he said. “This past week we had some mental mistakes that cost us. The interception was a mental mistake. We had physical mistakes. We were just not taking out to the game field what we do in practice. That’s what hurt us.”
Regarding his INT that led to a New England FG, Testaverde indicated that Curtis Martin ran a wrong route on the play.
“That was a little miscommunication between Curtis and I,” he said. “The ball wasn’t even intended for Curtis; it was for Dedric (Ward).”
Asked to assess Buffalo’s defense, ranked No. 3 in the NFL, Testaverde said, “Very young, very aggressive, very good.”
That simply means the Jets will need a better, more efficient start Sunday if they plan on having sole possession of first place in the AFC East.
