MNF: Jets Top Patriots

E A S T  R U T H E R F O R D, N.J., Sept. 12, 2000 -- Skeptics kept telling the New YorkJets they needed a No. 1 receiver to replace Keyshawn Johnson.

They had one all along in Wayne Chrebet, who caught twotouchdown passes from Vinny Testaverde in the final 6:25 Mondaynight as the Jets beat the New England Patriots 20-19.

Give Him the Damn Ball

“Just give me a chance,” Chrebet told Testaverde before thewinning 28-yard TD pass with 1:55 left — a fitting turn ofJohnson’s phrase: “Just throw me the damn ball.”

“This is a huge win for us and sets us up for the wholeseason,” Chrebet said.

John Abraham and Shaun Ellis, selected with first-round picksthe Jets got for Johnson and as compensation for allowing BillBelichick to leave to coach the Patriots, combined on two sacksthat ended New England’s last shot.

Tuna Helpers Square Off

This game was billed in New York and New England as the “TunaHelper Bowl,” — Belichick and Jets coach Al Groh, both in theirfirst years, spent much of their apprenticeship under Bill “Tuna”Parcells.

Belichick was Parcells’ designated successor but asked out afterspending one day last January as Jets coach. For most of the game,Belichick’s knowledge of New York’s offense seemed to stifle theJets (2-0).

But he had some residual admiration at the end.

“Vinny made some great throws, Wayne made a couple of greatcatches,” said Belichick, who could have been on the oppositesideline.

“I give them credit. At the end they came up with more playsthan we did.”

Pats Take Early Lead

New England built up a 12-7 lead on four field goals by AdamVinatieri and extended it to 19-7 on Drew Bledsoe’s 4-yard TD passto Eric Bjornson with just under 10 minutes left.

That seemed to energize the Jets, who drove 85 yards in 10 playsto score on Testaverde’s 2-yard TD pass to Chrebet. Fullback RichieAnderson 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, thenthrew from 28 yards out to Chrebet, who caught the ball at the 3and dove into the end zone with 1:55 remaining.

The 2-point conversion failed, but New England (0-2) wentnowhere. Abraham and Ellis combined on one sack of Bledsoe, andAbraham got another on fourth down.

“As I was leaving the field, I kept thinking about howfortunate we were to draft Ellis and Abraham,” Groh said.

The Jets moved the ball only once during the first half, going74 yards on 12 plays on their first possession, scoring onTestaverde’s 4-yard pass to Fred Baxter. Despite his three TDpasses, Testaverde was just 16-of-37, although he did throw for 291yards.

Vinny Shows His Rust

Testaverde continued to show signs of rust from last year, whenhe tore an Achilles’ tendon in the first half of the first gamewith 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, gettingfield goals of 32, 35, 30 and 33 yards from Vinatieri.

Two were set up by punt returns of 31 and 38 yards by TroyBrown, who had a 66-yard TD return and a 39 yarder last week. Athird was preceded by an interception that Antonio Langham returned24 yards to the New York 14. But the Patriots never got close toscoring a touchdown on any of those threats.

New England drove from its own 26 to the New York 11 with theopening kickoff of the second half. But Vinatieri’s field-goalattempt went wide left.

Bledsoe completed 25 of 43 passes for 229 yards but just the onetouchdown.

The rest of the scoring was Vinatieri and that made thedifference.

“We need to get the ball in,” Belichick said. “We were downthere plenty of times. We’ve got to come up with more points.”