TAMPA, Fla. — With Thomas Jones, Jay Feely and a stingy New York defense answering the call, the Jets didn’t need a lot from Kellen Clemens to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their third straight win.
Jones rushed for 99 yards and two touchdowns, Feely kicked four field goals, and the NFL’s second-ranked defense intercepted rookie Josh Freeman three times while holding the sputtering Bucs to 135 yards in a 26-3 victory Sunday.
Filling in for injured rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, Clemens completed 12 of 23 passes for just 111 yards. Receiver Brad Smith had the Jets’ longest completion of the day – 27 yards – when he threw to Eric Smith on a fake punt play.
The Jets (7-6) climbed over .500 for the first time since beating Oakland to improve to 4-3 on Oct. 25. The Bucs (1-12) lost for the third straight week to a backup quarterback, with Freeman continuing to experience the growing pains of a young passer.
Freeman was intercepted five times during a 16-6 loss to Carolina last week. He was 14 of 33 for 93 yards and sacked three times by the Jets, who got interceptions from David Harris, Darrelle Revis and Kerry Rhodes.
Revis returned his fourth-quarter pick 54 yards to the Bucs 7, setting up Jones’ second TD on the next play. Jones also scored on a 33-yard run that put New York up 16-0 in the second quarter.
Feely kicked first-half field goals of 40, 24, 49 and 49 yards.
Tampa Bay finished with 135 yards total offense, all but 15 of it coming after halftime. The Bucs didn’t manage a first down until the middle of the third quarter, and that came on a penalty.
The Jets led 19-0 at the break, and the Bucs were fortunate to be that close.
Sione Pouha forced a fumble that New York’s defense was unable to recover inside Tampa Bay’s 10 late in the first quarter, and Clemens overthrew a wide-open Jerricho Cotchery in the end zone before settling for the shortest of Feely’s field goals.
When Freeman kneeled to end the first half, drawing boos from the announced crowd of 62,731 that included a large number of Jets fans, it left the Bucs with minus-1 net yards in the second quarter.
Tampa Bay was limited to 19 yards during the opening half of a 24-0 loss to the New York Giants on Sept. 27. And even when Freeman was given better field position to work with in the third quarter, he had difficulty getting anything going against the league’s No. 1-ranked pass defense.
The Bucs had zero first downs until New York’s Bart Scott was penalized for unnecessary roughness after the Jets sacked Freeman on third down to stop a possession at the Tampa Bay 41. Earnest Graham’s 2-yard run on fourth-and-1 gave Tampa Bay a first down at the Jets 30, setting up Connor Barth’s 43-yard field goal.
Sanchez sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against Buffalo in the Jets’ last game. Clemens played extensively for the first time since 2007, when he made the first eight starts of his career.