Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew amassed 145 yards of total offense Sunday against the New York Jets. But it was one yard he didn’t gain that sealed the win for the Jaguars — and that has everyone talking a day later.
With less than two minutes remaining and Jacksonville down 22-21, Jones-Drew took a handoff up the middle and had a clear path to the end zone. But instead of scoring, he knelt down at the 1-yard line to keep the clock running. The Jaguars then ran the rest of the time owith three straight kneel-down plays and kicked an extra point-length game-winning field goal as time expired.
The play was reminiscent of a similar play made by Eagles running back Brian Westbrook in 2007, and it showed that Jones-Drew, who was instructed before the play by coach Jack Del Rio to go down, understands that effectively managing the clock is more important than padding stats.
After the game, Jones-Drew revealed that he was selfless in more ways than one: Not only did he give up a touchdown on his stat line, but he also sacrificed some points on his own personal fantasy football team.
“To my fantasy owners, I apologize,” Jones-Drew said. “I have myself today, so it was a tough call. But whatever it takes for a victory, that’s all that counts.”
Jones-Drew’s fantasy numbers were plenty good anyway, and he wasn’t the only one: Jaguars quarterback David Garrard completed 16 of 26 passes for 221 yards and a touchdown, and he also ran for an 11-yard touchdown.
“That’s what good quarterbacks do,” Del Rio said afterward.
Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, on the other hand, did not do what good quarterbacks do. Sanchez threw two interceptions while completing 16 of 30 passes for 212 yards, continuing to show flashes of talent at some times while looking like the rookie he is at others.
Sanchez started his post-game remarks by giving a speech in which he addressed his own mistakes but also insisted that the team can turn things around.
“The bottom line to this whole thing, to this entire game, to our entire season is find a way to find a way,” Sanchez said. “Coach [Rex Ryan] challenged us already. We’ve got to find a way to win some games. Right now we’re finding ways to lose, but we’re in a position right now to sink or swim.”
Sinking in the standings is what the Jets have done in losing their last two games. They’re now 4-5, two games behind the AFC wild card-leading Steelers and Chargers, and two games behind the Patriots in the AFC East. The Jets looked like a team with real playoff aspirations early in the year, but they’re not looking like a playoff team now.
Ryan was asked after the game what kind of chances he thinks his team has of making the postseason. He didn’t go off on a Jim Mora-style “Playoffs?!?” rant, but he didn’t sound optimistic, either.
“Not very good,” he said. “We just spent all of our room for error. It’s ridiculous.”
The Jaguars, however, have rebounded nicely from a slow start and are now, at 5-4, within striking distance of the wild card. It’s not realistic to think Jacksonville will catch the Colts in the AFC South, but the Jaguars should be in the thick of things down the stretch.
And if the Jaguars make the playoffs, we’ll all look back on one of the key plays that got them there — the one touchdown that Maurice Jones-Drew didn’t score.
Sanchez will look back and laugh at this game when he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame… first ballot.
What lame excuse is Fatzo Ryan going to use this time? Surprised that he, like Peavy, has been humbled to the point of keep the tongue from wagging incessantly when not warranted.
Re: giving a speech from prepared notes.
Probably a good move by a rookie quarterback to the vicious media of New York, especially after a loss in a close game. It gets his thoughts organized ahead of time so that he says what he really wants to say. Good job, Mark Sanchez.
During the game Dan Fouts referred to Rex Ryan as “Rex Reed”. Rex Reed might be a better coach.
it was a tough game to watch, i was there. Its a tough loss…but who are we kidding. We all knew this wasnt going to be an amazing season but i think we have a heck of a team building here and we are going in the right direction…
Simple Jack Garrard? Where are you now David hater? It is funny how decent pass protection and a WR corps that has four legit NFL WRs (AS OPPOSED TO 3 UNEMPLOYED SCRUBS AND NORTHCUTT) makes Garrard look like a genuis. Did he lock on to Marcedes on that last pass or did he look off the safety and make the throw on a rope? One thing about Garrard haters is you know their football knowledge is limited. If the Jags can beat BUF at home and pull out a win at SF, all of a sudden the Jags are 7-4 with three straight homes games, where they are 3-1 thus far, despite the low attendance. If the Jags make the playoffs MJD will be right there with Manning, Brees and Favre for the MVP.
MJD is one of the toughest and classiest players in the league. You’ve got to love his heart and determination, much less his talent.
I loved MJD’s heads up play – not only was it smart, it screwed over fantasy football dorks. Why do idiots even watch the games? All you need to do is print out a damn box score and let us real fans have fun actually viewing football.
@ Seeryer
AMEN BROTHER!
People of Jacksonville can no longer use the excuse that this team is not exciting to watch for not going to the games. The first half of that game was amazing.
I don’t know why anyone would applaud the decision to take a knee at the 1 yard line while the Jags are behind on the scoreboard. The standard NFL thinking is to NEVER take points off the board. If that kick gets blocked, muffed, or missed, everyone who is hailing this as a “great” use of the clock would be calling for Jack Del Rio to be fired. Just like Bellichick last night, Del Rio must have absolutely no confidence in his defense to seal the game.
The Jets can talk a good game, too bad they can’t play one.
Ryan needs to tone down his act, and get his team to perform better.
@Seeryer – Uh, calm down. Garrard has more games played than he does touchdown passes so far. The teams winning because they’re riding Maurice Drew, not because Garrard is beating teams through the air.
Speaking of limited football knowledge, Garrard did not look off the safety on the Lewis pass. Jim Leonard was trying to get Kerry Rhodes attention pre-snap to tell him to back up instead of playing in the box and couldn’t get his attention and Lewis just ran past him. There was no safety to look off. You’d know this if you simply just watched the play live and when Fouts explained it right afterwards.
But instead of scoring, he knelt down at the 1-yard line to keep the clock running. The Jaguars then ran the rest of the time owith three straight kneel-down plays and kicked an extra point-length game-winning field goal as time expired.
The Jags sure seem to have no confidence in their defense.
It’s not like Sanchez is Manning or Brady…
“@Seeryer – Uh, calm down. Garrard has more games played than he does touchdown passes so far. The teams winning because they’re riding Maurice Drew, not because Garrard is beating teams through the air.”
Garrard went a month without a TD pass. He is just another Kyle Orton/Jake Delhomme type who will only take you as far as his defense and running game allow.
Garrard has limited football IQ. On one play he ran out of bounds before the line of scrimmage instead of throwing the ball away. On another play he slid instead of throwing the ball away. These are plays that you might expect from a college backup QB forced into action not a QB in his eighth season in the NFL.
The kneeling down was smart and dumb. It’s smart b/c it worked. if it didn’t, it’s dumb. Of course Del Rio doesn’t have confidence in our defense and anyone that follows the Jags shouldn’t either. The defense have a long way to go before we’re back in the top 5 defenses again.
With that being said you have to take the point’s though and score the TD. I’m a diehard Jag fan and I know the history of this team losing games we should have won b/c of botched snaps or ridiculous fumbles and horrible INT at the most terrible time of the game. I still believe the game has passed Del Rio’s way of thinking, but kudos for pulling out a must win game. In the words of Herm: YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!!!!!!!!
MJD is on how way to a hall of fame career. I hope he doesn’t fall short of Emmit’s all time TD record by 1 TD.
You guys who are saying that the kneel-down was dumb, what are the percentages on a 18-yard field goal? It’s basically an extra point. Suppose the Jags score the TD then kickoff to the Jets. What are the Jets’ chances of scoring? Even if you estimate it to be only 10 percent, you’re still better off kicking the FG.
I completely agree with TitanofNewYork. It wasn’t realistic to expect phenomenal things from the Jets this year, but they have surprised people. They’ve won games people didn’t think they would and lost games people thought they should have won. All I know is that the future looks bright as we are stocking up on young talent and have showed that we can compete with the best. Sanchez is only going to get better and Brady has only got but so many years left. It’s almost the Jets time to take over complete domination in the AFC EAST.
It’s amazing to me how ignorant many football fans are and how seemingly incapable of logical thinking they are.
If MJD had scored a touchdown, then the Jets would have had almost two minutes to either tie or win the game.
Since he didn’t and they ran the clock down to 3 seconds, all Scobee had to do was make an extra point, which is made around 97% of the time.
So his decision left the Jets a 3% chance of winning, a much lower chance than if they had almost two minutes to score a touchdown.
I don’t always agree with Del Rio, but here he was smart to ignore the conventional wisdom that you always score a touchdown when you can. Well done.
What was the jets record at this time last year?
The Bengals missed an extra point vs pittsburgh yesterday because of a muffed snap. Even if you want to believe the percentages of making a short feild goal, that’s fine, but the percentage of MJD scoring was 100 percent!!!! You don’t take points off the board, period. All you worshippers would be livid about the decision if they missed the kick. So, please….. save the praise.
I wonder if Coach Ryan still wants to play the Niners?
Go Niners!
First, MJD isn’t a genius. Jack Del Rio instructed him to take a knee. His only genius is actually listening, and making sure he was down before coughing up the ball.
Secondly, you’re right JDR has no confidence in his defense. Because the defense isn’t very good and I think they know that.
4-5, heading into a game with N.E….
JETS fan, please tell me again how much “fun” your players are having now, that Mangini has left.
Good thing you have allot of draft picks for next year… oh wait, you gave all those away too!
PS. how is Braylon Edwards working out for you?
Downing the ball was the smart play. It was thinking outside the box and gave you a better chance to win than scoring and then trying to stop the Jets. A huge kickoff run could have happened, or heck, all it takes is one PI penalty to give you a good 40-60 yard play.
@ Alfie,
Leonard never made contact with Rhodes, therefore Leonard should have sagged to the middle because that is where Rhodes was expecting him. However, because Garrard pumped right, Leonard imediately turned and ran towards the sideline. If Garrard looks straight up the field and never pumps right Leonard is in a position to possibly make a play on the ball. Also, he ran out of bounds after picking up a half a yard. On the play he slid down for a five yard loss, if he would have thrown the ball away the Jets would have taken the penalty setting up a 1st and 20. However, they declined the penalty because of the five yard loss setting up a 2nd and 15. In reality, that means the Jags were in a better position then they might have been after a 1st and 20 play. 5 yards is considered a solid gain on 1st and 20. Does it really matter how many TDs he throws for? At 5-4 they have a chance to make a playoff run. I would take the 7 TDs and 5INTs he has now as long as the Jags win. 16-26 for 225 and a TD with a rush TD and zero INTs against one of the elite defenses in the NFL is not something a backup college QB could do. With all due respect, go blow yourself.
Overkil2:
Don’t be a jerk and generalize. Before the season started what person would realistically expect the playoffs with a rookie QB and coach. They won the first three and it was a nice change but I wasn’t expecting anything. As a Jets fan I have come to learn to expect the worst and hope for the best. Don’t think you know any or everything and stop coming onto our message boards to talk trash. Get a life d-bag.