ST. LOUIS — It wasn’t exactly the return of Ground and Pound, but the Jets might have rediscovered their running game here yesterday.
With Bilal Powell leading the way, no less.
The unheralded second-year back nearly overshadowed a rejuvenated Mark Sanchez in the 27-13 win over the Rams at the Edward Jones Dome, rushing for the first two touchdowns of his NFL career after offensive coordinator Tony Sparano decided to stick to the ground game for a change.
The Jets mustered 124 yards on 41 carries, which worked out to a mere 3 yards per carry, but it was the thought that counted as Gang Green finally got back to the philosophy Rex Ryan always has vowed would be his cornerstone as their coach.
Shonn Greene did most of the heavy lifting for the ground game, carrying 18 times for 64 yards, but it was Powell — coming off a concussion suffered last week at Seattle — who grabbed the headlines with a pair of scoring runs barely six minutes apart in the fourth quarter that essentially put the game away for the Jets.
Both touchdowns came on runs up the middle, the first from 5 yards out and the second from 11 yards, a development that was remarkable because inside running isn’t usually the stock-in-trade for the 5-foot-10, 204-pound Powell.
Even though Powell was the only Jets runner to reach the end zone yesterday, it doesn’t mean it was a one-man show. Six different players aside from Sanchez and Tim Tebow carried the ball for the Jets, including receivers Jeremy Kerley and Clyde Gates. Joe McKnight also carried four times for 14 yards.
“We ran the ball efficiently,” Sanchez said. “We started to string good plays in a row, and when you do that, you feel good about the game plan. There’s really something to be said for putting long scoring drives together.”
And the preferred way of doing that is on the ground, which the 4-6 Jets appeared to learn anew yesterday. It remains to be seen if they will stick to that, but it won’t take long to find out — Ryan’s team turns around to play host to the the powerful Patriots on Thursday.
Ryan made it sound yesterday like the Jets’ plan is to make Ground and Pound their identity again.
“That’s the way. You’ve just got to stay the course and believe in what you’re doing, and good things will happen,” Ryan said.