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An Ugly Ending to an Ugly Season in the Meadowlands
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Herman Edwards made his first appearance back at Giants Stadium today as the Jets and Chiefs played their final games of the 2007 season today, Jets coming in 3-12 and the Chiefs 4-11. Both teams did a lot of substituting and evaluating as they looked for some positives for 2008, in the end the Jets came up winners in overtime 13-10.
Not a very exciting game today as it was an ugly cold day in East Rutherford. The Chiefs didn't record their first offensive first down until midway through the second quarter. The scoreless tie was broken nearly 2 minutes into the second when Thomas Jones took a Kellen Clemens pass from the 15 yard line to the house to give the Jets a 7-0 lead. They traded field goals as the half ended with the Jets leading 10-3.
A great moment came early in the third quarter, when Tony Gonzalez caught his 3rd pass of the game, which was his 816th reception of his career, passing Shannon Sharpe as the all time leader in receptions for a tight end. The game remained 10-3 until just over 3 minutes remained in the game, when Brodie Croyle connected with Jeff Webb on a 26 yard TD strike to tie the game up at 10.
In overtime, the Jets won the coin toss, and Kellen Clemens led them on an 11 play 45 yard drive that ended with a game winning Mike Nugent field goal from 43 yards out to end the season for both teams at a disappointing 4-12 record.
For the Jets, Kellen Clemens was 13-25 for 115 yards and 1 TD. Thomas Jones led all rushers, carrying the ball 25 times for 98 yards, as well as the 15 yard TD catch. Jerricho Cotchery led all receivers with 8 catches for 76 yards. On defense, David Harris had another big game, with 9 tackles, 2 assists and 1 sack, finishing the season with a whopping 127 tackles only becoming the starter when Jonathan Vilma was injured.
For the Chiefs, Croyle was 20-43 for 195 yards and 1 TD. Jackie Battle rushed 13 times for 44 yards, replacing the Kolby Smith who was injured after just 2 carries. Tony Gonzalez caught 7 passes for 64 yards.
Next for the Jets? An offseason that should see a lot of roster turnover. The Jets are around $27 million under the cap, so their will be a lot of room to make changes. Have we seen Chad Pennington leave the field a Jet for the last time? We will soon find out.
