TAMPA, Fla. -- Clearly, the Jets offense isn't as exciting without Keyshawn Johnson. Go-to guys are hard to replace, but even Johnson learned a painful reality on a muggy Sunday evening in Tampa.
|  | | Keyshawn Johnson, left, hugs ex-teammate Curtis Martin after the Jets' 21-17 win. |
The Jets are a better team without him. As much as Johnson may be the player who propels the Bucs to the Super Bowl, Curtis Martin is the Jets' most valuable player and always has been. He doesn't have to write a book or hold press conferences to prove that.
Vinny Testaverde said it best in May that Martin is the one Jet that this franchise can't live without. And he said that knowing that Johnson is a close friend. Martin proved that by throwing the improbable 18-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Chrebet to give the Jets a 21-17 victory with 52 seconds remaining.
"Anything a team asks Curtis Martin to do, he does," Jets coach Al Groh said.
On Sunday, Groh and the team asked Martin to carry them for their most difficult test in years. The Bucs defense stifled the Jets offense for 55 minutes. For a little more than three quarters, Testaverde couldn't hit the broad side of a pirate ship with his passes. Chrebet was a non-factor with one catch.
The only constant was Martin. He took the pounding of running draws into the middle of a defense that had Warren Sapp and Anthony "Booger" McFarland. He motioned out into pass patterns to spread the field and force single coverages for his wide receivers.
But 18 rushes for 90 yards and seven catches for 27 more wasn't enough. After linebacker Marvin Jones forced a fumble from the hands of Bucs powerback Mike Alstott two plays after Martin's 6-yard touchdown reception cut the Bucs' lead to 17-14, offensive coordinator Dan Henning called for a halfback option pass.
Problem is, Martin has no arm and he hasn't done that in a game since high school.
"They laughed at me in practice because the first time we ran it, I rolled out and threw it, the ball wobbled and wobbled and wobbled," Martin said. "The players were yelling, `Quack, quack, quack.' I told them wait until I get to the game and get it done in the game."
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Double (Digit) Duty
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The Jets joined some very exclusive company with Sunday's 21-17 win over the Bucs. Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, only four teams have come back to win when trailing by 10 or more points with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
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Date
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Comeback
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9/24/00
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Jets trailed Bucs 17-6, won 21-17
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10/4/92
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Broncos trailed Chiefs 19-6, won 20-19
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11/12/78
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Falcons trailed Saints 17-6, won 20-17
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10/14/73
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Eagles trailed Cardinals 24-13, won 27-24
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For the Jets, he always does. The problem was Martin can't get the feel of the ball with a glove on his right hand. Deviously, as he stood behind Testaverde, he tried to disguise that he was taking the glove off finger by finger. Testaverde finished his play call, and Martin, with a final tug, dropped the glove on the ground and took the handoff to the right.
The Bucs reacted as they did all day. Their speedy defenders converged on Martin. "They like to give Curtis the ball and we respect him," cornerback Ronde Barber said. "On that last play, we respected him too much."
Which is why Wayne Chrebet got to the back of the end zone and needed only to wait for Martin's high, wobbly pass to reach him. Quack, quack, quack. The ball hung in the air so much that Chrebet jumped into the air too soon waiting for it to come down.
The ball hung so long that even Martin didn't immediately know that he had duped the Bucs defense for the game-winning play. "Somebody caught me right in the chin after I let the ball go," Martin said. "It was the hardest hit of the game."
What happened next tells you why this Jets team is no longer about Keyshawn Johnson and bragging. There was no fancy end zone celebration. Martin and Chrebet and teammates hugged. Their statement was a game-winning play that gave them the greatest start (4-0) in franchise history.
"We have a team of character," Martin said. "That character is not such that you get off the boat when things aren't going well. That's not the type of people we want. That's not the type of team we want. On this team, it's not about attitude. If someone isn't playing good, we expect someone else to come in and pick it up."
Martin's persistence saved the emotions of Testaverde and Chrebet, whose confidence may have withered with a loss. Testaverde was facing the demons of playing bad in the place that drafted him and the place he owns an offseason home. As one NFL scout put it, "All he does is live here."
Testaverde was terrible for three quarters. He completed 14 of his first 33 attempts and had three interceptions. Some of his passes were five to 10 yards off the mark. "It seemed like balls weren't coming off his hand the way he wanted them to," Barber said.
Groh pulled Testaverde back before going onto the field with 10 minutes left and let Ray Lucas handle it for a series. Teammate Bryan Cox came over to Testaverde and gave him a pep talk by saying, "If we go down, we're going to with you."
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“ |
We
have a team of character. That character is not
such that you get off the boat when things aren't
going well. That's not the type of people we want.
That's not the type of team we want. On this
team, it's not about attitude. ” |
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— Curtis Martin, Jets running back |
That eased Testaverde's mind. When he returned the next series, he completed nine of 10 passes in a 64-yard drive capped by Martin's 6-yard touchdown reception.
"The fourth quarter belongs to me," said Testaverde, the AFC's best fourth-quarter quarterback. "I've proven that over and over this year."
Chrebet also needed some reinforcement. He hid all week from reporters who hounded him about negative comments Johnson said about him. The game-winning touchdown reception -- similar to the one he caught against the Patriots on Monday Night Football in Week 2 -- sealed the idea that he is a legitimate, big-play receiver.
"I can stand here and say things and point fingers, but I'm bigger than that," Chrebet said. "I'm never ever going to answer a question with anything that has to do with that. I play for the New York Jets."
Groh, who took his own heat from Johnson, fired back: "I'm happy for Wayne. The power of 46 flashlights can be pretty powerful sometimes."
That comment was a shot at Johnson's statement that Chrebet is a flashlight who can burn out while Johnson is a shining star. With Keyshawn or without Keyshawn, the Jets are a team that believes in itself. Last year, they eventually recovered from the season-ending loss of Testaverde and won seven of their last nine games. This year, they are 4-0.
It was fitting that one of the first people Johnson sought out after the game was Martin. "You played good, man," Johnson said to Martin. "I'll get in touch with you."
With that, Johnson knew his Jets days were behind him. This is Martin's team. It always has been.
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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VIDEO
  Despite all the laughs in practice, Curtis Martin says his passing skills are no joke. wav: 118 kRealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 In practice, Wayne Chrebet had little confidence in Curtis Martins' quarterbacking skills. wav: 71 kRealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 |
