The New York Jets kept their winning streak going as they defeated the Miami Dolphins, 17-9, and improved to 3-0. This win, however, once again wasn't a pretty one.
It all look very good and promising when the Jets took a 7-0 lead in the 1st quarter, following a 1-yard TD run by RB Curtis Martin. The Miami Dolphins responded in the 2nd quarter when they scored three field goals, cutting the lead to just 10-9 at the half.
In the third period the speedy Dolphins' defense completely shut down QB Chad Pennington, as they limited the Jets to just 6 yards in the entire quarter. Time after time they were coming after Pennington who looked very uncomfortable in the pocket. Penningon finished the game just 14 out of 24, 143 yards, 1 INT and zero touchdowns. His quarterback rating was just 58.2 and he also was sacked 3 times. The Jets were able to convert only 1 of 11 third down attempts.
Luckily for the Jets, Pennington's counterpart Jay Fieldler was playing even worse. Early in the 3rd quarter his pass was picked off by CB Donnie Abraham who returned it all the way for a touchdown, lifting the Jets to a 17-9 lead. As it turned out later, this was the last scoring play of the game. Although Fieldler was far from being done with his "gift distribution." Later in that quarter he also fumbled the ball after being sacked by DE John Abraham and then threw another interception inside the Jets' territory. Finally, with less than two minutes to go in the 4th quarter Fielder was sacked by DT Jason Ferguson and lost yet another fumble, which was recovered by DE John Abraham and sealed the game for the New York Jets. Fieldler finished the game with an abysmal 48.3 quarterback rating, 2 INTs, 2 lost fumbles, and was also sacked 4 times. Truly an MVP-like performance. MVP for the Jets, of course.
RB Curtis Martin was the sole bright spot on the entire Jets offense. In addition to the TD run in the first quarter Martin also gained 110 on the ground and caught 4 passes for 31 yards. Martin topped 100 yards rushing for the third game in a row and the 50th time in his career, moving into 10th place on the NFL's all-time rushing list. He also became the 11th NFL player to rush for 12,000 yards. He has 12,094, passing Thurman Thomas, who has 12,074.
CB Donnie Abraham and DE John Abraham were the players who won this game for the Jets defensively. Donnie's interception turned out to be the game's winning score, while John's 2.0 sacks, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery helped the Jets hold Miami off late in the game. Rookie LB Jonathan Vilma, who started for the first time in place of injured LB Sam Cowart, led the Jets with 8 tackles (3 solo). LB Victor Hobson had an interception and two pass defenses.
Next Sunday the Jets will host the Buffalo Bills (0-3) at Giants Stadium. The kickoff time is at 4:05 PM EST.