Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Former Bucs QB and his new favorite target hook up twice in the fourth quarter for a 20-19 Jets win.
©Associated Press
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 12, 2000
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Skeptics kept telling the New York Jets they needed a No. 1 receiver to replace Keyshawn Johnson.
They had one all along in Wayne Chrebet, who caught two touchdowns in the final 6:25 Monday night as the Jets beat the New England Patriots 20-19.
Moreover, John Abraham and Shaun Ellis, selected with first-round picks the Jets got when they traded Johnson to the Bucs and as compensation for allowing Bill Belichick to leave to coach the Patriots, combined on two sacks that ended New England's last shot.
This game was billed in New York and New England as the "Tuna Helper Bowl." Belichick and Jets coach Al Groh, both in their first years, spent much of their apprenticeship under Bill "Tuna" Parcells.
Belichick was Parcells' designated successor, but he asked out after spending one day in January as Jets coach. For most of the game, Belichick's knowledge of New York's offense seemed to stifle the Jets.
New England built a 12-7 lead on four field goals by Adam Vinatieri and extended it to 19-7 on Drew Bledsoe's 4-yard pass to Eric Bjornson with just under 10 minutes left.
That seemed to energize the Jets, who drove 85 yards in 10 plays to score on Testaverde's 2-yard pass to Chrebet. Fullback Richie Anderson had five catches for 78 yards on that drive.
New York got the ball back with 2:28 left.
On the first play, Testaverde hit Dedric Ward for 44 yards, then threw to Chrebet, who caught the ball at the 3 and dove into the end zone with 1:55 remaining.
The two-point conversion failed, but New England went nowhere. Abraham and Ellis combined on one sack of Bledsoe, and Abraham got another on fourth down.
The Jets moved the ball only once during the first half, going 74 yards on 12 plays on their first possession and scoring on Testaverde's 4-yard pass to Fred Baxter. Despite his three touchdowns, Testaverde was just 16-of-37, although he did throw for 291 yards.
Testaverde continued to show signs of rust from last year, when he tore an Achilles' tendon in the first half of the first game with the Patriots and missed the rest of the season. At one point, he threw six straight incomplete passes, hit Chrebet for 28 yards, then was sacked and threw two more incompletions.
Meanwhile, the Patriots plugged along between the 20s, getting field goals of 32, 35, 30 and 33 yards from Vinatieri.
Two were set up by punt returns of 31 and 38 yards by Troy Brown, who had a 66-yard touchdown return and a 39-yarder last week against the Bucs. A third was preceded by an interception that Antonio Langham returned 24 yards to the New York 14. But the Patriots never got close to scoring a touchdown on any of those threats.
New England drove from its 26 to the New York 11 with the opening kickoff of the second half. But Vinatieri's field-goal attempt appeared to be deflected and went wide left.
Bledsoe completed 25 of 43 passes for 229 yards but just the one touchdown.
The rest of the scoring was Vinatieri, and that made the difference.