Jets Stop ‘Fins Party with Pulsating 31-23 Win

By Randy Lange

Posted Sep 26, 2010

This one wasn’t set up for a celebration of the South Florida Jets Fan Club. It was “Orange Crush” night at Sun Life Stadium, with the Dolphins coming out in their orange jerseys for only the fourth time in their history. More than the usual number of Dolfans seemed to be in the stands, more than the usual number of Miami celebrities, Dolphins owners, and Miami Dolphins celebrity owners on the field.

But despite the Dolphins’ comeback efforts in their home opener, the Jets weathered all storms and gave notice that they’re the players in the AFC East they said they were all year.

The Jets opened the scoring in their 31-23 victory with two Mark Sanchez touchdown passes to tight end Dustin Keller , furthered it with Sanchez’s third TD, a catch-and-dash with Braylon Edwards , and finished it with another LaDainian leap.

But the “W” wasn’t secured until Drew Coleman intercepted a Chad Henne fourth-and-4 pass from the Jets 5 with 27 seconds to play that was batted into the air by Brodney Pool .

“I always thought our offense could play at this level, but I never thought our defense would play at that level,” head coach Rex Ryan said in the Sun Life Stadium visitors’ interview room. “Both teams had over 400 yards of offense.  It was just an unbelievable performance by our offense and our special teams.  Our defense was as resilient as can be and found a way to get it done at the end.”

The win lifted the Jets to 2-1 and into a first-place tie in the AFC East with Miami and New England — or in Rex’s new math, “a half-game ahead in the division” with tiebreaking victories over both the ‘Fins and Pats now — and a chance to further improve their early division success with another chance for a division road win next Sunday at Buffalo.

“We had back-to-back wins which is great and this is the first win on the road, which is even better, but two divisional opponents is huge,” said Sanchez, who had another strong passing line of 15-for-28 for 256 yard, three TDs, no INTs and no sacks behind an O-line led by Nick Mangold , his center with the aching shoulder. “These guys are no slouches, they’re very good teams with great defenses and we need our best effort every week. I’m proud of our guys for bringing our focus and our attention to detail on the road.”

The win also simultaneously removed a little of the sting from last year’s 30-25 Monday night loss in this stadium, which except for the ending had a lot of the same attributes of this exciting triumph over these tough Dolphins.

“I thought the big difference last year at the end of the game was when someone had to make a play, they made it,” said Eric Smith , one of the timely defensive/special teams stars with a blocked punt to set up the Jets’ early fourth-quarter field goal. “This year we made it.

The biggest storm of the night for the Green & White came when Sanchez threw a high, hard one from near his goal line that sailed off Jerricho Cotchery ‘s fingers and was picked by diving CB Jason Allen and returned to the Jets 5.

But not so fast. Ryan challenged the call of interception, ref Jerome Boger reversed and Steve Weatherford punted 61 yards out of his end zone. Major disaster averted, although the Dolphins did creep back to within 24-23 on Dan Carpenter’s third field goal.

And then the Jets offense iced it by moving 79 yards to a second-and-goal at the ‘Fins 1. That’s where LaDainian Tomlinson put up another monument to his new career in green as he leaped over the right-side blocking of Mangold, Brandon Moore and Damien Woody to open the Jets’ eight-point lead with 1:55 to play.

“It was a great feeling, my first as a Jet,” Tomlinson said of the score. “We wanted to close the game out. We knew what was on the line. Everybody was talking about it in the huddle.  Guys were saying, ‘Come on LT, andlet’s get the ball in.’ And it was a great feeling to get the ball over the goal line.”

The second half developed into a bit of a horse race after the Jets went into the locker room with a 14-10 lead. The Dolphins assembled their second consecutive six-minutes-plus drive to Chad Henne’s third-down 11-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Marshall and took their first lead of the night at 17-14 with 8:47 left in the third quarter.

One play and 18 seconds later, the Jets had the lead back and didn’t lose it again. Edwards, who entered the game on the first play of the second quarter after sitting out the first period due to his Tuesday morning arrest for DUI in NYC, ran an out route, then spun Jason Allen into the Sun Life grass and took off down the left sideline. He was never tackled and didn’t stop until he’d covered the 67 yards to the go-ahead TD.

“It was the perfect thing that could have happened to him. He worked so hard all week long and as soon as he stepped in the building, he let everything outside of that building go,” Sanchez said. ”Everybody checks their baggage at the door and he just focused in. I couldn’t have asked for a better week for him. We had all the confidence in the world in him, we loved him all week long just as we did before the incident and we’ll continue doing the same thing. That’s the kind of team we have.”

For Sanchez, that was his third TD pass of the game. In the first 19 games of his NFL career, the young passer had no three-TD games. At this point he got his second in two games.

“He’s been playing great,” said Tomlinson of Sanchez. ”For a young guy, second year in the league, second year in this offense, it’s incredible what he’s doing.  He’s really playing out of his mind. He hasn’t turned the ball over at all. He’s in control — in the huddle and on the sideline. I really enjoy watching him play.”

The Dolphins motored right back, with Henne-to-Marshall for 40 yards to first-and-goal at the 7 before stalling and settling for Dan Carpenter’s second field goal to slice the lead back to one point, Jets by 21-20.

The Jets wasted field position on Carpenter’s out-of-bounds kickoff, but got it back and then some when Eric Smith blocked yet another punt, taking this one almost off Brandon Fields’ foot to set them up at Miami’s 17. It was Smith’s third blocked punt, beginning with the Patriots at New England last year and including the August Giants preseason game.

The visitors almost cashed it in on Sanchez’s 5-yard TD scamper, but Matt Slauson was called for holding and the Green & White had to settle for Nick Folk ‘s 30-yard field goal and a 24-20 lead with 12:55 to play. 

One of the keys to success for the Jets in this game was to take the two-thirds of the stadium’s orange-clad fans out of the equation early. And the offense did that on its first drive, a masterful march of 10 plays and 72 yards that concluded with Dustin Keller’s falling-down end zone grab of Mark Sanchez’s 24-yard double-pump pass, with safety Yeremiah Bell unable to prevent it.

Then two drives later, Sanchez and the offense moved 90 yards in seven plays. Keller had three catches on the drive, including a 31-yarder into Dolphins territory and the 12-yard scoring strike, which Sanchez threaded past the double coverage of Bell and LB Bobby Carpenter.

That gave the Jets a 14-0 lead and their first 14-point first-half lead in any game against the Dolphins since 2001, when the Green & White posted a 24-0 shutout of the ‘Fins.

But Miami wasn’t about to let this South Florida party be hijacked by any Big Apple city slickers. The ‘Fins put together their best series of the night, nine plays and 76 yards, to Chad Henne’s 3-yard TD dart to TE Anthony Fasano in front of S Eric Smith just over the goal line with 9:13 left in the first half. The play before that, Kyle Wilson was hit with a 27-yard pass interference penalty at the 3 for running into WR Brian Hartline.

The Dolphins came admirably off the 14-0 ropes to make a game of it on their big night. But the Jets, even without the injured Darrelle Revis and Calvin Pace and with the Edwards situation swirling all week, showed a little of that Ryan resilience.

“It’s a tough division,” said Keller, who ended with six catches for 98 yards, all in the first half. “The strongest team will be the team with the best defense and an offense that’s moving the ball without turnovers. So far I think we’re that team. I love our chances.”

Nacarano Racks Up the Miles to Visit Camp
Published: 08-05-09
By, Deb Handy-New York Jets Training Camp Reporter

Distance may stop some fans from coming out to see the Jets training camp in Cortland, N.Y., but it doesn’t stop everyone.

Robert Nacarano, co-founder of the South Florida Jets Fan Club, traveled seven hours by plane to see the players get put through their paces during the first four days of camp.

Nacarano started on a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Newark, then connected with a flight to Ithaca, N.Y., which is just outside of Cortland. He was still able to catch the camp’s first seven practices.

“It was kind of a long day,” he said early this week about his trip out, where he ran into a bit of a delay with his flight from Newark to Ithaca, “but that’s why I came the day before, because the trip was so long and I want to get in as many sessions as I can.”

The South Florida Jets Fan Club was formed in 2003 by Nacarano and a few other loyal Jets fans, Steve K., Joe C. and Bill C., and is dedicated to the fans of the Jets in Florida. The club does a lot for its members, including holding raffle drawings each week to win various prizes throughout the season and giving fans the chance to meet up with other fans to enjoy Jets games together.

“Everybody is all dedicated down there,” he said about the club’s members. “I’m sure they’re looking forward for the season to start and so am I.
Nacarano said he initially was told he was the Jets fan who came the farthest distance to attend the opening of camp. He was later told by a Jets staffer that he had been beaten out by a fan from Texas traveling to see the camp.

“Then yesterday I found out he wasn’t really a Jets fan, so I got back in first place,” Nacarano said while laughing.

Monday was the avid Jets follower’s last day in central New York.

“Camp is great. It’s a lot of fun. People in Cortland are very friendly and the facility is great,” Nacarano said. “Rex Ryan is working them hard. I think he’ll do a good job as head coach.”

The Jets are now six days into camp and fans of the Green & White are not letting mileage or the few rainy days stand in the way of supporting their team.

Miami Herald, The (FL)
January 28, 2008

Miami Dolphins-N.Y. Jets: Roots of a Rivalry

For the Miami Dolphins and their fans, nothing inspires such a fierce animosity as Sunday’s opponent, the New York Jet and their followers. Why we despise them so, and they us.

BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA

There is a time to (heart) New York and a time to hate New York. Sunday is a time for the latter.

One year removed from being the laughingstock of the NFL with just one victory in 16 games, the Dolphins (10 wins, five losses), led by castoff New York quarterback Chad Pennington and volcanic linebacker Joey Porter, are on the verge of returning to the NFL playoffs for the first time in six years.Win and they’re in. All that stands in the way is their most bitter rival — the Jets — New York’s living-legend quarterback Brett Favre and 80,000 hostile fans at the New Jersey Meadowlands.A matchup of this magnitude is what Jason Hirsch lives for. Hirsch, 31, grew up in Kendall but moved to New York City four years ago to pursue a career in advertising. He retains a devotion to his home-town team.
“Anytime the Dolphins play the Jets, it’s huge,” said Hirsch. “But this is a monster game.”
There are many storied sports rivalries — Red Sox-Yankees, Packers-Bears, Lakers-Celtics, Michigan-Ohio State. Each has its own reason for being, often rooted in geographic proximity.

The Jets-Dolphins rivalry may have sprung from the existence of so many people like Hirsch: transplanted New Yorkers or Miamians who have established new lives that are, in a football sense, behind enemy lines.
When the Dolphins play host to the Jets, the stadium reverberates with green-clad, beer-swilling New York expatriates bellowing their signature war cry — J-E-T-S Jets! Jets!! JETS!!! — a chant that makes true Dolphins fans want to vomit. Which is why the Jets fans do it.

Although he suits up in a vintage Dan Marino gear for every Dolphins-Jets game, Hirsch does not retaliate by going to the Meadowlands and singing the Miami Dolphins fight song. He watches the games in a neighborhood bar with fellow Miami fans, eliciting sneers from New Yorkers.

RIVALRY BEGINS

The Jets-Dolphins rivalry dates to 1966 when Miami entered the league as an expansion franchise, simmered through Miami’s early years, heated up during the Perfect Season of 1972 (the Jets nearly spoiled the Dolphins’ magical run before losing, 28-24), and came to a boil in the Mud Bowl, on Jan. 23, 1983, in Miami.
On that day, playing in swamp-like conditions, the Dolphins’ A.J. Duhe intercepted three passes, one for a touchdown, as the Dolphins beat the Jets 14-0 to win a trip to the Super Bowl.

Future years would bring the Helicopter Catch (Nat Moore hauls in a pass, is hit by two defenders, whirlybirds 360 degrees but hangs on to the football, helping seal a Miami victory); the Dan Marino-Ken O’Brien Shootout (quarterbacks combine for an outlandish 884 passing yards in Jets’ overtime win); the Pete Carroll ”Choke” Game, (Jets assistant coach makes makes ill-advised ”choke” gesture after the Dolphins’ kicker misses a critical field goal — only to see his Jets lose on a last-second kick); the Miracle in the Meadowlands (Dolphins blow a 30-7 fourth-quarter lead), and the Marty Lyons ”Cheap Shot” (Jets lineman shreds future Hall of Famer Dwight Stephenson’s right knee with what appeared to be an illegal “chop block.”)

And quite possibly the most memorable contest of all: the ”Clock Game” in which quarterback Dan Marino, with time running out and the Dolphins trailing but driving toward the New York goal line, fakes spiking the football to stop the clock and instead throws a decisive touchdown pass to Mark Ingram as Jets players watch flatfooted and slack-jawed.

”People are still talking about those games,” said Kim Bokamper, a former Dolphins linebacker who works as a sports broadcaster on WFOR-CBS 4. “Those types of games certainly go a long way in cementing the Dolphins/Jets rivalry.”

THE SURPRISE FACTOR

Never knowing what’s going to happen when the Dolphins and the Jets meet, but knowing that it will likely be memorable, fuels such an intense rivalry, said Jay Coakley, sociologist and author of Sports in Society: Issues & Controversies.

”When two teams are repeatedly facing each other in games for which there are heavy stakes and they generally split wins and losses, the rivalry grows over time,” he said.

In the case of New York-Miami, it’s almost a family feud, a battle between two regions that share many traits: ethnic diversity, a multiplicity of languages, vibrant nightlife and a reputation, justified or not, for having an in-your-face attitude.

And yet there are differences. While South Floridians can be blasé beach-goers when the home team goes into the tank, New Yorkers take fierce pride in showing up, win or lose, if only to boo. The zeal is an heirloom handed down through generations.

”We’re the best and most dedicated football fans out there,” said Robert Nacarano, 50, a Pembroke Pines accountant and devotee of the Jets. “We follow our team all the time — through good and bad.”

A LOYAL TRANSPLANT

A Brooklyn native, Nacarano fell in love with the Jets as a child when they won the 1969 Super Bowl, the Joe Namath ”We’ll-win,-I-guarantee-it” game in the Orange Bowl that helped elevate the Super Bowl from a humdrum contest into the over-the-top spectacle it is today.

When he moved to South Florida in the 1980s, Nacarano continued following the team. He watched games at bars and befriended other Jets fans. Five years ago, he started the South Florida Jets Fan Club, which has more than 400 members from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The group gets together on game days at Hammerjack’s, a Davie bar.

TEAM SPIRIT

Other South Florida football fans, like saleswoman Juliette Marotta, 35, will be riveted to their TV sets Sunday at 4:15 p.m., for the opening kickoff. Marotta, of Cooper City, is hosting what amounts to a home tailgate party.
The decor: helmets from both teams, balloons in team colors, and plates with each team’s insignia.

Although fans of both teams are on the guest list, Marotta, whose family roots are in New York, leaves no doubt where her own loyalties lie.

”Liking the Dolphins, it’s never gonna happen,” she said. “I always want them to lose.”

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