With their backs against the wall, the New York Jets rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit to beat the San Diego Chargers for their fourth straight home victory.
The Jets defense was shaky early on, giving up 21 14 points in the first half, but they buckled down and pitched in a shutout after halftime to compliment a solid effort from the offense, led by Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene.
The game started with a deflating defensive touchdown by San Diego on the Jets’ first drive, as Dustin Keller had the ball ripped from his hands. The Jets were down 11 points early, but their confidence never wavered.
While LaDainian Tomlinson was supposed to the feature back against his former team, an illness left him “barely able to stand” by his own admission, and he heeded way to Greene, who responded with a season-high 112 yards.
Sanchez threw three touchdown passes to Plaxico Burress, as the Jets continued their strong red zone offense efficiency that has been one of their biggest improvements this season.
The Jets converted a very nice 61% of their third-down conversions (8 of 13) and out-gained the Chargers in nearly every category.
Darrelle Revis had his third interception in two weeks, his fourth of the season, taking a deflected pass back 64 yards to set up the Jets’ go-ahead touchdown.
Cornerback Kyle Wilson, the Jets’ 2010 first-round pick who struggled as a rookie, made a great play on the ball in the 4th quarter, getting his first career interception.
In fact, the Chargers offense was completely neutered in the second half. Their final six drives ended in a punt, punt, punt, interception, interception, and turnover on downs respectively.
Whatever Rex Ryan told his defense at halftime, it worked.
The Chargers looked confused by the defensive looks and the Jets forced them into being one-dimensional, shutting down the run game even without Mike DeVito.
You can watch some of the highlights of the game below.
The Jets can now rest easy, as they enter their bye week with a 4-3 record, and they’ll have a chance to get right back into the AFC East race in Week 9 when they head to Buffalo to face the Bills.
After a rough 2-3 start to the year, the Jets are really trending the right way now heading into the bye. It sure is going to be a fun second half of the season, that’s for sure.
Follow me on Twitter @metsjetsnets88 / Contact me at
Buy New York Jets Tickets | Buy New York Jets Apparel
[...] the New York Jets won their fourth straight home game with a solid comeback victory over the San Diego Chargers, the Jets are feeling pretty good going into their bye [...]
Actually, the jets defense gave up 14 points, not 21 due to Keller being stripped for the fumble return td in the first quarter.
Ah, you’re absolutely right about that. Thanks, I’ve fixed that. The defense held up extremely well and got better as the game went on. I think overall it was the most impressive game the Jets have played all year. The offense was clicking, the defense was locking them down and they fed off each other. They picked each other up. It really was great to see. Hopefully they build on it and continue to improve each week. There’s too much talent on this roster to play as poorly as they played in Oakland or Baltimore. I think this team is really going to take off in the second half of the year and into January, as they’ve tended to do under Ryan the past two years.