God wore green Sunday, too.
God wore green along with everyone else inside JetLife Stadium and the prayers of Rex Ryan and Jets Nation were answered and suddenly, there is Joy in Jetville today, because a playoff contender lives there.
“Well, I hope He wears green every Sunday, then,” Willie Colon said, and laughed.
It was Bill Parcells who used to say God is playing in some of these games, and He showed up at a time when the Jets needed him most.
At a time when the Jets, the Marty Mornhinweg part of the operation, decided it would be a good idea to run the ball three times to set up Nick Folk for the 56-yard chippie overtime field goal that would send Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and the Patriots home.
If God wasn’t wearing green, please try to explain how a Belichick-coached team violated a new NFL rule and cost itself the game against the Jets, of all star-crossed teams?
“Every season has a crossroads,” Colon was saying after Jets 30, Patriots 27. “It’s kind of like that fork in the road. This is that type of game. We had to make a decision. If we want a chance at the division, we had to have this one.”
The Mud Bowl-Fake Spike post Super Bowl III Jets, more than most, will tell you sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, but in fairness, they were good and lucky.
“We know that for so long, they ran the AFC East, they’ve been kings,” Colon said, “so for us to kind of turn this thing around as an organization, as a team, we needed this win.”
They needed their defense to stop Brady, who had tied the game with a two-minute field goal drive at the end of regulation, at the start of overtime.
“It’s do-or-die right now,” Sheldon Richardson said.
It was do.
Then, starting from their 20, they needed a field-goal drive. From the New England 41, Mornhinweg called Ground & Pound for Chris Ivory (34 carries, 104 yards), Tommy Bohanon, Ivory again.
“He could see that they were starting to get gassed,’ Colon said. “We have experienced guys upfront that can play, so why not put it on us? He believed in us.”
Folk, who had been 15-for-15 with nothing longer than 48 yards, missed wide left.
“At that moment, the wind was coming into my face, so I told myself I got to drive it a little more. I drove it just about a half-inch too high on the ball. I just hit it too high, and the wind kind of beat it up a little bit too.”
Flag.
“About halfway through, I saw the flag go up,” Folk said.
Ryan, on the sidelines: “Oh please be on them, please be on them, please be on them.”
God wearing green.
“I didn’t know what it was for right away,” Folk said, “but as soon as I saw ’em conferencing, I knew it was for either a push or a leverage. … It’s a good new rule, and they just end up breaking the rule.”
It is Rule 9, Section 1, Article 3, and a rookie named Chris Jones broke it.
Referee Jerome Boger: “A teammate cannot push a teammate into the opponents’ formation.”
Jones: “I made that mistake and I should’ve been more aware. … Just trying to get that extra oomph in the middle to get there.”
Unsportsmanlike conduct, 15 yards. There were 13 plays on the drive, and 12 were runs, and Smith wasn’t passing here, and Folk’s 42-yard game-winner had euphoric Jets dreaming of a division title.
“I know we have what it takes to do something great,” Ryan said.
To his credit, Smith had rebounded from a 79-yard pick-six by Logan Ryan late in the first quarter. Smith was mostly money on third downs, developed a telepathy with Jeremy Kerley, and used his legs at a most opportune time.
Antonio Allen had darted in front of Rob Gronkowski and made it Patriots 21, Jets 17 with a 23-yard pick-six of Brady. Now it was third-and-14 at the Belichick 24. Smith decided it would be a good idea to take off with the ball. Good idea. He raced around left end and as he neared the sideline and the first-down marker, reached for the first down with the ball. First down.
Now it was second-and-goal from the 8, and Smith dashed around right end and juked inside Marquice Cole and it was Jets 24, Patriots 21.
“How Bout Them Jets, huh?” Richardson said.