Jets Come Close, But Still Lose 25-29! added on 10/06/2002 8:36 PM At least this time the New York Jets fought and did not look totally hapless, but failed to end the losing streak, falling to the Chiefs, 25-29. QB Chad Pennington made his first NFL start and threw two touchdown passes to TE Anthony Becht and WR Santana Moss. Overall, Pennington played a pretty good game, as he completed 23 of 30 passes for 245 yards with an outstanding quarterback rating of 108.3. RB Curtis Martin finally looked totally healthy and recorded his first 100+ yard game of the season. Martin ran for 119 yards on 21 carries and a score, and also caught 4 passes for 25 yards. WR Laveranues Coles starred for the second week in a row, as he caught 8 passes for 116 yards. WR Santana Moss finally scored his first NFL touchdown, Moss also caught 5 passes for 65 yards, exceeding his previous NFL total in just one game. The Jets defense was atrocious once again. For the second week in a row they allowed over 200 yards on the ground, allowing RB Priest Holmes to gain 152 yards on 23 carries. Holmes also made 9 receptions for 81 yards, including the game-winning TD pass with just 27 seconds left in the game. QB Trent Green did not have any trouble finding open receivers, as the Jets pass-rush was nowhere to be seen. Green finished the game 23/33 for 296 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Well, the Jets are 1-4 heading into the bye week. The season is practically over and the only reason to continue watching this embarrassment is to follow the development of Chad Pennington who sure looks like he can be a good one. After the bye week the Jets will face the defenseless Minnesota Vikings, and then it's Cleveland, Miami, and San Diego - three teams with good defenses. That's when we'll see what Chad Pennington is really worth. Oh yeah, Woody, get rid of this coaching staff, please. Sound familiar? I just thought it would be interesting to post this heading into what should be the first start of the Clemens era... (I don't count the Baltimore game, since it was a spot-start) Also makes you wonder about how long it took to put Clemens in... 1-4 and 1-7 are very different, and, believe it or not, these teams (2002 and 2007) are really not all that different talent wise.... Now, I'm no fool, and I wouldn't expect to have come back and make the playoffs from 1-4 if Clemens had gotten the start then, but I just find it interesting how similar the mindsets on this site were in both these years.... Oh, and for the record, the headline on TGG, 5 days after this was one very familiar to the site this season: 2002 Jets Vs. 1996 Jets. Are They As Bad? :rofl2:
How do you get 2002 results? I thought there was a database meltdown at some point that wiped the DB? I don't know, maybe I'm just becoming senile or something.
The message board went down, but the front page of the site has an old news archive.... I discovered it in the dreadful 2005 season....
Or, if you want a few real nice kicks, try www.archive.org. You'll know what to do when you get there.
The biggest difference btw now and then was we were really beat up early in the season in '02 and we are healthy now PLUS we had 6 new defensive starters that season and it was taking the D time to adjust, this year we have mostly returning starters in year 2 of a system.
We loved and hated the guy at the same time. He was a big reason why the OL was so strong in those years, yet you shuddered at the mere thought of the guy having a pass thrown his way.
Is that seriously a question? We still have a competent running game, but back then we had a Hall of Fame quality running game, with out Hall of Fame runner.... Not to mention, as much as I like Mangold & Brick, the line was much better then.... Mawae was a great outside run-blocker, and McKenzie was a beat on that right side.... Plus we had Richie Anderson in the backfield, who, although he wasn't a great blocker, was a receiving threat, and someone the D had to keep an eye on, taking away a little of their focus... Not to mention Becht at TE..... And Hackett's playbook didn't have so many formations... As predicitable, situationally, as he was, we ran and passed out of every formation, so the D couldn't just key that when the QB is under center and the RB is 8 yards deep, we're going to run...
