The Jets came home to the Meadowlands and donned the white uniforms for their 3rd away game of the season, hoping to secure a victory and takeoff in the right direction at this critical junction of the season.

The Giants, meanwhile, brought a two-game winning streak into the Meadowlands. They had given up just 3 points in the last 6 quarters and were coming off an NFL record-tying, 12-sack performance against the Eagles last week.

It was Chad vs Eli, captain vs captain, #10 vs #10. A quarterback constantly fighting the critics vs a QB fighting his family name.

The game went back and forth, with the Jets ahead by ten points at two different times during the game, but never putting the Giants away. The Giants took their first lead of the game with 8:07 remaining in the 4th quarter and never looked back.

The game started as if it was going to be what it was, a back and forth battle that would come down to which team wouldn’t make the critical mistake in the end to cost their team the game.

The Jets and Giants both went three and out on their first possessions. Game on!

The Jets had 4th and 1/2 yard on their next possession at the Giants 49. They appeared to be going for it, but Head Coach Eric Mangini clearly showed he has no faith in his team’s running game, just faking and hoping the Giants would jump offsides before accepting the delay-of-game penalty (for the 2nd week in a row). As Randy Cross said on the CBS broadcast:

“They have no reason to jump offsides, they don’t fear the Jets’ running game.”

Ben Graham’s punt pinned the Giants deep and on 3rd down, Kerry Rhodes stripped Brandon Jacobs and ran it in for the first score of the game, putting the Jets up 7-0. 

Mike Nugent missed a 42-yard field goal and the Giants responded with a scoring drive, capped-off by Derrick Ward running over the defense like a herd of buffalo (pun intended) for a game-tying touchdown.

The Jets scored with 28 seconds left in the half to go up 14-7. Pennington engineered a perfect, 9 play, 93-yard drive highlighted by a leaping catch by Coles and Brad Smith’s first NFL-TD reception.

Rather than take a knee, The Giants’ Manning threw an interception (Jonathan Vilma) which allowed Mike Nugent to nail a 47-yard field goal to send the Jets into the locker room with a 17-7 halftime lead.

The Giants drove 80 yards to open the 2nd half and scored on a 19-yard TD run by Brandon Jacobs.

Leon Washington responded with a 98-yard TD return to put the Jets right back up by 10.

Eli Manning then threw to Jeremy Shockey for his first TD of the season to cap a 68-yard drive and pull the Giants within three.

Pennington piloted the Jets right back down the field with passes that looked Tom Brady-like, only to be picked off on a pass that Randy Cross called, “just awful.”

On the next drive, Plaxico Burress ran over Andre Dyson to score on a 53-yard TD pass from Eli Manning. Dyson might want to skip the film sessions tomorrow, it was embarrassing.

But not as embarrassing as Pennington’s interception on the next drive, which blatantly displayed how his lack of arm strength continues to hurt the Jets and will ultimately lead to his benching. He floated a pass that was picked-off and returned for a TD by Aaron Ross (his 2nd INT of the day) to douse any hopes for a comeback.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Penalties continue to haunt the Jets. They were penalized 6 times for 40 yards.

The only passes thrown to Justin McCareins were during warm-ups.

Darrell Revis made a great open-field tackle on a key 3rd-down play in the first quarter following the Jets’ touchdown.

The Jets’ offense has scored just one first-quarter touchdown all season, and now their defense has as well. Maybe they should just keep the special teams and defense on the field the entire game.

Mike Nugent missed another make-able 42-yard field goal that would have put the Jets up 10-0. Fortunately, unlike against the Ravens, the Jets didn’t lose by three.

Whenever the Jets needed to stop the run, they couldn’t. There were several 3rd and short situations and the Giants executed all of them for first downs and a few for big gains.

Laveranues Coles made a spectacular 28-yard catch, on a perfect throw by Pennington, to keep a 2nd-quarter drive alive. The play forced Tom Coughlin to waste a challenge (and lose a timeout) when he questioned whether or not Coles had possession when he was forced out-of-bounds by the defender. Anyone watching the replay from their couch at home could see that he did. I’m not sure what the Giants’ replay coach was looking at? If it was a Jets’ home game, you could blame the flag team. Coughlin challenged two plays and lost both.

The Giants had only one sack the entire game, and it occurred late in the 4th quarter when the game was all but over.

Dick Enberg botched at least five calls during CBS’ broadcast of the game. He confused Thomas Jones and Leon Washington more than once, and in the 3rd quarter accused the Giants’ defense of being offsides (they were on the sideline).

Speaking of Thomas Jones, he continues to disappoint with just 36 yards on 13 carries.

The Jets host the Eagles next week and Head Coach Andy Reid is a perfect 8-0 after the bye. In their last regular season meeting (2003) at the brand-new Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Vinny Testaverde opened the game with a perfect flea-flicker but the Eagles came back to beat the Jets, 24-17.

The questions have already started about who will play QB next week. Mangini will tell you that Chad is still the starter and that there are many reasons for any interception (good defense, rushed pass, missed blocks, etc).

Pennington can still thread the needle with the best of them as he proved with his pinpoint passes to Brad Smith and Laveranues Coles, among others. But he also demonstrated his biggest weakness, one that his critics argue will never allow him to lead the Jets deep into the playoffs, his lack of arm strength that led to his three interceptions.

Let the controversy begin!

Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist who can be reached through his website at www.jonbuzby.com.