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| | | | | | | | Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Broncos edge Jets
Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Brian Griese looked like his old
man and Terrell Davis looked like his old self. That was enough for
the Denver Broncos to beat the New York Jets 30-23 Sunday.
The comeback magic the Jets have possessed all season helped
them overcome a 17-0 hole. But they couldn't stop Denver's offense
when it mattered most, and they couldn't get in from the 2 in four
tries in the final minute.
|  | | After a week filled with controversy, Broncos QB Brian Griese rebounded by passing for 327 yards and two touchdowns. |
"It's big," said Griese, the son of Hall of Fame quarterback
Bob Griese. He was coolly efficient, particularly on third downs,
in passing for 327 yards and two touchdowns to Ed McCaffrey.
"I'm happy the way this game ended, because it will give the
defense extra confidence in the big plays they made."
Most of the big plays belonged to Griese, however. Denver (5-4)
converted 12 of 18 third downs, including a 47-yard pass to Ed
McCaffrey for the winning points. He also had a 49-yard connection
with Rod Smith on third down to set up Jason Elam's third field
goal, a 23-yarder that broke a 20-20 tie.
"He made great throws in a lot of different situations,"
McCaffrey said. "He's still young, but he keeps making the
plays."
An arrest on suspicion of drunk driving during the bye week
didn't bother Griese, the son of Hall of Fame quarterback Bob
Griese. He was 23-for-35 in exploiting the Jets' leaky secondary.
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TOM DONAHOE'S BREAKDOWN |
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Question on the Broncos: Is the AFC West title still up for grabs
with Terrell Davis back?
Donahoe: It had been reported over the last couple of weeks that Terrell Davis was looking good in
his workouts, and he looked good today. Denver's offense is built around
Davis; if he is 100 percent healthy, he'll give the Broncos a huge boost in
the season's second half. But with the Raiders at 8-1 and the Broncos just
one game over .500, it may be asking a lot for the Broncos, even with
Terrell, to make it a race again in the AFC West.
Question on the Jets: How much is Vinny Testaverde's inconsistent
play hurting the Jets?
Donahoe: Vinny
Testaverde is a difficult quarterback to figure out because he looks
different in different stages of the game. He started out today with a rough
first half, rallied in the second half, but then missed on four
opportunities from the 2-yard line where he had a chance to tie the game at
the end of the fourth quarter. There's no question that his inconsistency
today, especially late, hurt the Jets' chances to win the game. Testaverde
is coming off a serious Achilles tendon injury from last year as well as
some nerve damage in his neck from this year. It is not certain that he's
100 percent healthy. Some of the inconsistency in his play might be due to
these lingering injuries.
Tom Donahoe, ESPN.com's NFL analyst, was formerly the Steelers' director
of football operations.
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"It's been a tough week for me and I was happy to go back on
the field and put all that stuff behind me," said Griese, who has
thrown 18 touchdowns and three interceptions this season.
Davis, returning from foot and ankle injuries that hobbled him
since the season opener, rushed for 115 yards -- his first 100-yard
game since Denver won its second straight Super Bowl in January
1999.
"It felt pretty good," Davis said. "It felt like a normal
game, normal flow."
New York (6-3) threw four times from the 2 on its final drive,
including Vinny Testaverde's lob under heavy pressure that fell
short of wide-open Richie Anderson in the end zone on fourth down.
"We ran those same plays and had success with them,"
Testaverde said. "That's not anything new for us. All the plays we
called were good plays. We just have to get them done as players."
Griese's precision passing was evident almost immediately as he
led Denver 70 yards on 13 plays on its second series. He converted
four third-downs with passes, including the 1-yarder to McCaffrey
to make it 7-0. McCaffrey never got into the end zone, but
stretched the ball over the goal line.
The Jets had four in a loss at Buffalo last week and three in
the first half Sunday. Curtis Martin bobbled a pitchout and Maa
Tanuvasa recovered at the New York 31, leading to Elam's 31-yard
field goal. Then Testaverde's pass from the Denver 11 was tipped by
John Mobley and intercepted by Kenoy Kennedy to end a Jets threat.
Griese and Davis led the Broncos 94 yards in 15 plays, including
two more third-down pass conversions. Davis had eight runs for 35
yards on the drive he capped with a 4-yard run for a 17-0 margin.
New York avoided mistakes long enough to stage a 73-yard drive
Martin finished with a 1-yard run. James Farrior grabbed Griese's
tipped pass on the next play at the Broncos 43, but Testaverde's
floater for Chrebet, who appeared to be held on the play, went
directly to safety Eric Brown.
A 33-yard pass to Smith set up Elam's 41-yarder for a 20-7 lead.
The Jets, who have won four games with fourth-quarter comebacks,
didn't flinch. A 45-yard field goal by John Hall with nine seconds
left in the half and a third-quarter opening drive capped by rookie
Anthony Becht's first NFL score on a 1-yard pass made it 20-17.
Hall's 26-yarder on New York's next series tied it, but then it
was Denver that found the late-game winning touch.
Game notes
After yielding 407 yards rushing in their last game at
Cincinnati, the Broncos allowed 88 ... Smith had five catches for
134 yards, giving him 969 yards this season ... McCaffrey caught
six for 96 yards ... Griese hit eight receivers ... Rookie Mike
Anderson, who had 676 yards rushing filling in for Davis, had one
carry for 3 yards ... Farrior's interception was the first of his
four-year career ... New York played three free safeties -- Chris
Hayes, Scott Frost and Kevin Williams -- and all were burned by
Griese.
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