ORCHARD PARK – The crowd of 70,000-plus at Ralph Wilson Stadium was on its feet in delirious celebration after watching Bills cornerback Jabari Greer return a Brett Favre interception 42 yards for a touchdown, cutting the Jets’ lead to six points. It was the Jets’ worst nightmare.
Fourth-quarter momentum was clearly with the hometown team, and Favre, now standing on the sidelines, was having flashbacks of a Christmas Eve game at Minnesota in 2004, when he threw a late pick that was run back for a score and that put that game in jeopardy.
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“I thought, ‘We don’t have a chance because the one thing that couldn’t happen, happened,’ ” Favre said later.
It was a smiling Kris Jenkins, all 360 pounds of him, who approached a despondent Favre on the sideline as the celebrating Bills prepared to seize control of the game.
“Just relax,” the Jets nose tackle whispered in Favre’s ear. “You’ve been playing 48 years. What are you getting upset about?”
Asked about it later, Jenkins said: “Sometimes even the best of them need to hear some encouragement. We’ve played against each other for so long and we both love to compete. I just wanted him to know we had his back.”
Many positives emerged from the Jets’ 26-17 victory over the Bills. There was the heroic final drive that burned 8:41 of the final 10:47 off the clock en route to a field goal that iced the game. There was an opportunistic defense that generated fives sacks, limited the Bills to 30 yards rushing and intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown.
But the biggest residual from yesterday’s win was the emergence of a team that finally has found its identity. It’s called complementary football.
For the first time this season, the Jets played the way they envisioned they could play: smart, together, with the offense, defense and special teams all contributing. It’s a formula that often is talked about, but difficult to achieve.
“We finally played Jets football,” said Jenkins, who had two sacks. “It all about how you handle adversity. We kept fighting. That’s what it’s going to take to be a good team.”
Favre played more like Chad Pennington, throwing mostly slants and swing passes while completing 19-of-28 for 201 yards and no touchdowns. The interception came on one of the few plays when the Bills’ pass rush was able to apply some pressure. It was a chuck-and-duck throw toward the sideline that changed the momentum of the game.
The Jets should be able to survive one bad throw, and they did. The final drive was “a statement drive,” Favre said, not just for the game, “but to ourselves.” It produced 48 of the Jets’ 96 rushing yards and should offer inspiration for the rest of the season.
“This is the first game where all phases complemented each other,” said right tackle Damien Woody. “We’re a good team with good players who work hard. If we do this on a consistent level, we can be a pretty good team.”
Favre was annoyed by questions suggesting the Jets employed a conservative gameplan to keep him from making mistakes. He insisted the short passes were a product of what the defense gave him. If the Jets continue to play as well in all phases as they did yesterday, Favre can be more manager than magician.
“The bottom line is we won the game the way we wanted,” he said.
Jenkins, who spent seven seasons with Carolina before the Jets got him in a trade, wants to bring a mentality not just to the defense, but to the entire team. That process took root yesterday.
“It’s good to know you can stand for something and accomplish what you stand for,” he said.
Complementary football, indeed.