Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff stood before his players in a Saturday night meeting as they made final preparations for the Panthers and delivered a message that resonated through the room.
“Mike made a great point – relating it to pool, he said ‘You can’t run the table if you don’t make the first ball,’ ’’ Jets kicker Jay Feely said after today’s 17-6 win over Carolina at Giants Stadium. “That’s kind of where we’re at right now. We know if we want to have any chance at all we’ve got to win out, and we had to come out here and win this game.’’
Yes, the 5-6 Jets do have a pulse – albeit feint.
Consider the 5-ball in the corner pocket for the Jets as they survey the rest of the table, with the next shot a Thursday night game against the Bills in Toronto.
But, let’s be honest, this afternoon was a mere baby step – hardly dominant and far from mistake-free.
Yes, the Jets defense forced four turnovers and held the Panthers’ third-ranked rushing attack to just 75 yards.
But their three turnovers (a Mark Sanchez INT, a Dustin Keller fumble into the Carolina end zone and a Shonn Green fumble on the Carolina 26) kept the Panthers in the game. And that left an unsavory taste in the Jets mouths despite the win.
“I’m happy to get a win but deep down inside I’m disappointed, because we work so hard and talk about this stuff (turnovers) so much and week after week it keeps coming up,’’ RG Brandon Moore said. “We were lucky enough to win.’’
Yes, but the Jets won – their first win in 35 days and their second since Oct. 4. Today ended a slide of six losses in seven games.
“It wasn’t the prettiest win, but we needed the win desperately,’’ LB Calvin Pace said. “To not have won a game in a month, we needed it … we needed it bad.’’
As well as the Jets played on defense, holding the Panthers to 11 first downs and 179 yards of offense, you could make the argument that Carolina QB Mark Delhomme (14-of-34, 130 yards, 4 INTs) was the player of the game.
The Jets scored 14 of their 17 points on two of his four picks, the first of which was returned 67 yards by CB Darrelle Revis for a 7-0 Jets lead 6:12 into the game and the second of which (by S Kerry Rhodes) led to a 3-yard Thomas Jones scoring run with 28 seconds remaining in the first half for a 14-3 lead.
The Revis INT gave the Jets their first defensive TD of the season and it was pure luck. Panthers WR Steve Smith ran the wrong route and Delhomme’s throw caromed off Smith’s heel and right into the arms of Revis.
“We’ve been working on that deflection-off-the-heel play for a while now,’’ Rex Ryan deadpanned.
Seriously, though, what the Jets were really working on entering this game was eliminating Sanchez’ rash of turnovers (19 turnovers in 10 games entering this afternoon‘s matchup).
Ryan made Sanchez No. 1 project this week, designing a code system to help remind his rookie QB of game situations and when to be more careful and when he could be more aggressive. Those codes involved some colors on a wristband he wore.
Jets RT Damien Woody joked that the wristband “looked like a Life Savers roll.’’
“Whatever works and helps him prevent turnovers I’m all for it,’’ Woody said.
Sanchez (13-of-17, 154 yards, 1 INT) managed the game well except for the one pick.
“He was this far away from having an unbelievable game,’’ Ryan said, holding his hands inches apart.
For a scary moment, though, Sanchez looked like he was this far away from being out for the season with a left knee injury after he was tackled by Panthers CB Richard Marshall in front of the Jets’ sideline in the third quarter and lay on the ground clutching his knee. He returned on the next series without even a limp.
“Obviously, there was concern,’’ Woody said of seeing Sanchez on the ground writhing in pain. “But (returning to play) shows you that he’s a football player. You’re either hurt or you’re injured. If you’re injured you can’t play, but if you’re hurt you’ve got to push through it. He was obviously hurt and he pushed through it.’’
Much like the Jets pushed through this game.