Maurice Jones-Drew needed the fantasy points. His team asked for a knee instead.
The Jacksonville Jaguars running back passed up a sure-touchdown by dropping to his knee at the 1-yard line with 1:48 left to play. The unselfish move allowed the clock to continue to lose seconds and Josh Scobee to kick the game-winning field goal as it expired, giving the Jags the 24-22 victory over the New York Jets at Giants Stadium on Sunday.
Jones-Drew, the NFL touchdown leader, had a field day against the Jets’ number-two ranked defense, piling up 123 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown, his 12th of the season. He also had two catches for 22 yards in the come-for-behind win.
Afterwards, Jones-Drew walked into the press conference room and apologized to all of the fantasy owners who had him on their team this week, acknowledging the kneel down limited his point total. Jones-Drew then admitted the move cost him points too since he owns himself.
“We’re a young team, but we fight. Effort has never been an issue and that’s something that I wanted to harp on big the last couple of weeks, that our effort has never been an issue,” Jones-Drew said. “These guys just love to play the game, are having a good time and we’re just happy to get a victory here.”
Jets safety Jim Leonhard said the defense was allowing Jones-Drew to score so they could get the ball back. Perhaps they should have had someone give him a one-yard push.
“We need to make that stop,” Leonhard said. “If we’re the defense we think we are, we need to make that stop and get a win.”
The Jaguars (5-4) started the game by deferring to the Jets (4-5) after winning the coin toss. New York chose to receive and on their first play from scrimmage, Mark Sanchez (16-for-30, 212 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) was intercepted on a deep ball to receiver Jerricho Cotchery. Jacksonville, in turn, ran five plays, all handoffs to Jones-Drew, who scampered in from 33 yards out for the touchdown.
Jacksonville head coach Jack Del Rio said the plan was to get Jones-Drew running early and often.
“I talked to the offensive line that we had to get Maurice going and that we had to move the front enough to create gaps. So we were determined to come in here and get Maurice established,” Del Rio said. “We worked hard at that and I thought the combination of how we planned, how we blocked and how Maurice hit it came off well early and was really effective. It was a great start for us.”
New York’s first touchdown came two drives later on an 11-yard hookup between Sanchez and Cotchery. It was only their second connection of the season. Two Jay Feely field goals would bring them within eight at the half.
Jacksonville’s two second-quarter scores came on an 11-yard rush just outside of the left hashmarks by quarterback David Garrard and a 26-yard reception by Mike Sims-Walker. Garrard gained a new appreciation for his offensive line on his run.
“I really see what Maurice sees now when he gets that hole,” Garrard said. “I wanted to raise the ball earlier than I was supposed to because I was in the end zone, then I had my wife’s voice in my head telling me that there’s always someone behind you. I kept it tucked all the way into the end zone and then I finally raised it.
“Just to be apart of the ball game and being able to score points throwing and running is really cool. I love rushing touchdowns. I love passing touchdowns, too. But it’s a little bit more special when I can run the ball in.”
The third quarter featured back-to-back-to-back sloppy plays. First, Sanchez threw his second interception of the day to Quentin Groves, who had a clear path to the end zone, but stumbled and fell four yards shy. Jones-Drew fumbled two plays later, giving the ball back to the Jets on their own 3 yard line. Another two plays after that, Sanchez hit Braylon Edwards (3 catches, 79 yards) for a 41-yard gain, but then he fumbled, giving it back to the Jaguars.
“I fumbled on the goal line and that’s just something unexplainable,” Jones-Drew said. “The defense came back caused another turnover and got the ball back. That’s just us feeding off one another.”
The Jets took their first lead of the game on Shonn Greene’s third rushing touchdown of the season. The rookie has been filling in for Leon Washington, who went down with a season-ending broken leg. New York tried to make it a three-point game by going for the conversion, but Sanchez couldn’t find any of his receivers. That failed attempt shut the door on the game for the Jets.
New York’s defense certainly wasn’t proud of their effort after allowing 347 total yards, including 139 up front.
“We’re hurting ourselves,” linebacker David Harris said. “It’s not necessarily what other teams are doing, we’re hurting ourselves. It’s time to really not let that happen anymore and take control of our destiny”
The defeat really hurt the Jets even more later on when the New England Patriots lost to the Indianapolis Colts. Had New York won, they would be just one game behind the Patriots for the AFC East lead, with a meeting against the Patriots scheduled for next week in Foxboro. A win there would mean the Jets hold the season-ending tiebreaker over the Patriots, who they beat 16-9 on Sept. 20. That’s still possible, but they’ll also now have to pick up some games in the win column.
“We got to get a win, no more playoff talk or all that,” defensive end Shaun Ellis said. “We take care of business then we see what happens.”