LANDOVER, Md. — Rex Ryan wasn’t thrilled about Shonn Greene’s hat trick yesterday.
Greene racked up a career-high three touchdowns in yesterday’s 34-19 win over the Redskins, but the Jets coach thought Greene’s final score could have potentially caused a problem. The Jets led 27-19 when they recovered a Washington onside kick at the Skins’ 25-yard line with just 1:59 to play. Mike Shanahan’s crew only had one timeout left, meaning the Jets could have just run out the clock after the first play.
But on first down, Greene rambled to the right for a 25-yard touchdown. It put the Jets up 15 points with 1:47 to go, an insurmountable lead. But Ryan wanted Greene to fall down at the 1-yard line and avoid the Jets’ having to play an extra possession on defense and cover a kickoff.
“That was something that I was a little bit upset with because for the simple fact that we had to go back and play defense and cover a kick,” Ryan said. “Sometimes I’ve seen guys get injured in those situations. That was something I was disappointed in. I was disappointed in myself for not telling him. I’ll take the responsibility.”
Greene said Ryan did not address the situation with him specifically after the game but did tell the team. Said Greene of the play, “I was just running.”
Either way, the Jets won easily and nobody on the team was injured in the final two minutes. As for Greene, his performance was highlight-heavy but also statistically misleading. The third-year bruiser finished with 88 yards rushing on 22 carries and the three scores (he also caught three passes for 26 yards), but until the 25-yard scoring run to seal it, he had just 65 yards on 21 carries, an average of 3.1 yards.
Greene had never scored more than two touchdowns in a season prior to yesterday — he had two in 2009-10, two last season and two this season coming into Washington.
“Shonn did a great job of hanging tough today,” fellow back LaDainian Tomlinson said.
Greene had a heavy workload to start against the Redskins, carrying the ball nine times on the Jets’ first drive of the game, a 17-play, 74-yard march that ended with Greene’s 1-yard score. He added a 9-yard scoring run with 3:42 to go before his 25-yard clincher.
— Additional reporting by Brian Costello.