JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Brandon Moore had seen enough. He was tired of the struggle for every yard like his team was mining for gold in a place where there is no longer any gold.
So the Jets veteran right guard, a strong but quiet leader inside the locker room, gathered his linemates together at halftime of yesterday’s 17-10 Jets win over the Jaguars and told them this game was on them.
The Jets trailed 3-0 at the time and were starved for a touchdown.
So the offensive line came out on the Jets’ opening drive of the second half and blew open holes for running backs Bilal Powell and Shonn Greene. The result was 10 unanswered points.
“It was more or less an attitude thing,’’ right tackle Austin Howard said. “We came in at halftime and Brandon Moore made a comment, ‘Hey guys, we’ve got to step our game up because what we’ve been doing so far hasn’t been working. We have to go out in the second half and play with attitude, play with some pride and get the job done.’ ’’
Left guard Matt Slauson called Moore’s meeting with the line “just wisdom from the old vet.’’
“He said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to pick it up. It’s on us,’ ’’ Slauson said. “That was all it took. It felt good. We have to make sure we have to do a better job of starting like that.’’
Moore said, “In order for us to have success, obviously we have to be able to run the football. You have to do a better job of what you’re doing. It’s nice when it works, but it’s hard work. It’s not easy when people know you’re committed to the run and want to force you into passing the ball. Sometimes you can wear people down.
“We can make up our minds that that’s what it’s going to have to be and also make some plays on the outside when we need them. We’ve won games like that. It’s definitely tough to do in this league.’’
Mark Sanchez said, “The running game and defense are a quarterback’s best friend. It was nice to see those guys working hard, to see Bilal and Shonn Greene run like that. The running game was really clicking.’’
Said Greene: “It always feels better when the running game is working and we win the game. Everything else is secondary when that happens. It seemed today that everything was working, everything was clicking. The line was tremendous on just about every play and when they’re playing that well you feel it’s almost your responsibility to hit every hole hard and clean.”