QB Chad Pennington played another mistake-free game, completing over 60% of his passes, as the New York Jets defeated the Buffalo Bills with the final score of 31-13. In the third quarter Pennington connected with WR Laveranues Coles, who had 7 receptions for 78 yards in this game, for an 11-yard score. Later, in the fourth, Pennington scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown when the Jets decided to go for it on a fourth down. Chad made a nifty move, ran around Bills' LB Eddie Robinson, and walked into the end zone, basically sealing the Jets' victory in this contest.
RB Curtis Martin got it going on the ground early and often. On the first Jets' possession, which ended with John Hall's field goal, Martin carried the ball five times and gained 34 yards. On the second possession that was culminated with RB LaMont Jordan's 1-yard touchdown run Martin carried four times for 22 yards. Later in the second quarter Martin visited the end zone for the fifth time this season, as he broke a couple of tackles and scored on a 9-yard run. Martin finished the game with 120 rushing yards on 20 carries (5.7 yards per carry).
The defense played extremely well - they forced 3 turnovers and recorded 2 sacks. Offseason free agent acquisitions SS Sam Garnes and CB Aaron Beasley had one interception apiece. Garnes later combined on a sack with LB Mo Lewis who managed to strip the ball from Drew Bledsoe's hands, forcing a fumble that was recovered by DT Josh Evans. Evans also added a sack, his fifth of the season. DE John Abraham played a solid game, especially against the run. Abraham finished with 5 tackles (4 solo).
RB/KR Chad Morton once again starred on special teams. Morton averaged 35.3 yards on his three kickoff returns, and was close to going all the way on two of them. WR/PR Santana Moss returned one punt for 32 yards, and also caught two passes for 38.
Well, we saw another good performance from the Jets, their fourth win in a row, as they improved to 6-5. In eight days the Gang Green will travel to the Black Hole to take on the 7-4 Oakland Raiders in yet another do-or-die game. The Raiders are beatable, the Jets proved it when they defeated Oakland last year, but the Jets will have to do a better job pressuring the quarterback and controlling the line of scrimmage (Travis Henry did average 4.9 yards per carry today).