Look At Jets, They’re In First

Bill Parcells recently said he won’t apologize for any wins the New York Jets earn this NFL season, no matter how close or unartistic.

He is, however, willing to make light of being in first place, even if it’s a spot the Jets rarely have occupied.

A 23-21 victory over Minnesota, perhaps the best team they have played this season, gave the Jets sole possession of the top spot in the AFC East. They haven’t stood there alone this late in a season since 1986.

And they’ve never won a division title since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.

“It doesn’t even cross my mind, that stuff,” said Parcells, who isn’t doing anything to harm his reputation as a coach who turns around franchises. “I’m trying to get this team to reach its potential. Not what anybody says here or what prognosticators or people who evaluate say, just what I think. And we have a chance to do that and that is why I am fired up.

“They have been walking around here, listening to that stuff, hearing, ‘Oh, you guys (lose).’ Well, you can’t say it now and the players feel good about that and should feel good. They have worked hard. I think they are hungry and they like this.”

Second half not enough for Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers have received an unwanted break for their stretch drive - running back Jerome Bettis has a cracked rib.

Bettis showed no visible signs of the injury in the Steelers’ 23-20 loss Sunday in Philadelphia, although he fumbled on the second play of the game. He had 80 yards on 20 carries and scored on a 19-yard pass reception.

Bettis missed practice last Wednesday and Thursday with what was described as a back injury, but no mention was made of the rib on the team’s injury list.

Blockhead blues

Gus Frerotte must feel like Charlie Brown.

You know how the Peanuts manager will lie awake crying “Why? Why? Why?” after making another silly blunder to cost his team a baseball game? That’s pretty much what Frerotte did Monday.

“I haven’t had anything else to do except stare at the ceiling and think about it,” Frerotte said of his bizarre decision to head-butt a concrete wall to celebrate his touchdown in Sunday night’s 7-7 tie with the New York Giants. He missed the rest of the game as Jeff Hostettler came in.

“It was a stupid thing to do,” Frerotte said. “You have to laugh about it and move on. It might have cost us the game. I was happy, excited. We had scored. … I’m embarrassed and mad at myself. I felt I let my teammates down.”

Plummer to the rescue

With 10 losing seasons in 10 years in Arizona, the Cardinals will take a victory any way they can.

Coach Vince Tobin likes the way rookie quarterback Jake Plummer is developing. But for his blood pressure’s sake, he wishes Plummer, who thrilled Arizona State fans with lategame heroics in the Sun Devils’ 1996 Rose Bowl season, wouldn’t save his best for last in the NFL.

Plummer engineered a 55-yard drive that led to Joe Nedney’s 43-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Cardinals a 16-13 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

“The great ones are the ones that can move the football and get you points when it looks like all is lost,” Tobin said. “Usually with 34 seconds or a minute and you’re behind or tied, it doesn’t look very good.”

“To come back and win on the road and get the guys to rally, it’s definitely a stepping stone and something to build on,” Plummer said.