Steel curtained
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – As the ball left Mike Nugent’s foot and floated through the uprights, the New York Jets stormed the field and celebrated their first win in nearly two months.
“When that final kick went through,” quarterback Kellen Clemens said with a smile, “that was one of the best feelings we’ve had in a while.”
With thousands of Pittsburgh fans at Giants Stadium waving their yellow Steelers towels, Nugent kicked a 38-yard field goal 5:03 into overtime to give the Jets an unlikely 19-16 victory Sunday.
The kick broke a six-game losing streak for the Jets (2-8), who celebrated their first win since Week 3 against Miami in a huge circle around Nugent.
“I was hoping it was straight,” Nugent said. “That’s what you’re looking for. I could’ve hit it a lot better.”
It was plenty good enough.
In front of a crowd that sometimes looked as if it was a home game for the Steelers (7-3), with fans decked out in black and gold waving their Terrible Towels, the Jets hung tough.
Thomas Jones was a huge reason, running for 117 yards on 30 carries and becoming the first running back in 35 games to reach 100 yards against the top-ranked Steelers defense.
“Quite simply, we missed tackles,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said. “We missed more tackles than I’ve ever seen us miss. That’s the story.”
Actually, that was only part of it. The Jets defense had its best game – by far – by sacking Ben Roethlisberger seven times and holding Willie Parker to 52 yards on 21 carries. New York came in ranked 30th overall on defense, and last against the run.
“We did a great job in the bye,” said defensive end Shaun Ellis, who had two sacks. “We just broke everything down and came out and executed today. We came out, made up our minds and said, ‘Enough is enough.’ We just wanted to play a full game.”
After the Jets went three-and-out to open overtime, the Steelers did the same. Leon Washington took the punt 33 yards to the Pittsburgh 26 to put New York in scoring position immediately.
Jones ran three times for 6 yards and then Nugent booted his fourth field goal of the game.
Nugent came up big just minutes earlier when he tied it at 16 on a 28-yard field goal with 23 seconds remaining in regulation.
Clemens finished 14 of 31 for 162 yards and one touchdown with an interception to win for the first time in three NFL starts.
Roethlisberger was 15 of 25 for 195 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
“We’ve got to come out and play Steelers football,” Roethlisberger said. “I don’t feel we did that today. They were probably the more physical team. I think it showed.”