INDIANAPOLIS — Safety Jim Leonhard said once the Colts replaced Peyton Manning with rookie backup Curtis Painter in the third quarter of yesterday’s 29-15 win over the Colts, he saw a different look in the eyes of the defensive front seven.
“Those guys smelled blood,” Leonhard said.
LB Calvin Pace drew blood, sacking Painter and forcing a fumble that was recovered in the end zone for a TD by DE Marques Douglas for an 18-15 Jets’ lead.
“I got a step on my guy and the quarterback is in sight and all I’m thinking is, get there quick, before his arm comes forward,” Pace said.
“It was a straight coverage and straight rush and [Pace] beat the tight end clean,” Leonhard said. “It was a great play on his part. It’s what he does.”
Pace leads the Jets now with seven sacks. For Douglas, it was his first career TD.
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The Jets could be facing almost all of the Bengals’ backup players on Sunday night since the Bengals are locked into either the third or fourth seed in the playoffs, which doesn’t make much of a difference since they can’t get a bye.
“At this point, I’ll take whatever I can get,” LB Bart Scott said. “I couldn’t care less how we get in [to the playoffs].”
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RB Thomas Jones rushed for 105 yards and a TD and now 1,324 rushing yards, meaning he needs 12 more yards to set a career high. He had 1,335 yards in 2005 with the Bears. The 100-plus yard rushing game was his sixth this season, 16th with the Jets, 34th in his career.
The Jets rushed for 202 yards on 44 carries (4.6), marking the sixth time they have exceeded 175 yards rushing this season and the fourth time they’ve had more than 200 yards rushing.
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Leonhard said of the 9-3 halftime deficit: “We came in at halftime and just said, ‘If we can’t come back from six down we don’t deserve it.’ We were right in the position we needed to be in. If you would have told us we were only going to be down six at halftime . . . you got to take that on the road.”
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Brad Smith‘s KO return for a TD, the first of his career, was the 12th kickoff return for a TD under special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff in nine seasons (2001-09) and the sixth different returner to take one for a touchdown.
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LB Bryan Thomas blocked the extra point by Adam Vinatieri, keeping the score at 6-0 after the Joseph Addai touchdown in the first quarter. It was Thomas’ second blocked kick of his career. He blocked a FG attempt by New England’s Steve Gostkowski ‘s in 2006. It was the first Jets blocked PAT since 2002.
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CB Dwight Lowery‘s INT was his second of the season and third of his career. . . . CB Donald Strickland, a former Colt, had a sack, his second of the season and of his career.
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Yesterday was Mark Sanchez‘s sixth game without an interception this season. The Jets are 4-2 in those games.
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The Jets converted two two-point conversions for the first time in their history. The first was a Sanchez throw to TE Dustin Keller and the second was a Sanchez pass to Braylon Edwards.