Editor: Joe Bryant. Game Recap Contributors: Mike Anderson, Michael Brown, Chris Burtt, J.D. Caldwell, David Dodds, Bobby Elder, Jim Enochs, Joel Faulhaber, Michael Flynn, Kevin Goldblum, Clayton Gray, Bob Harris, Fred Hebert, Jesse Hilsenrad, Drew Kendall, Jeff Lewis, Joey Matusek, Justin Oliver, Steve Prosapio, David Shick, Cody Smith, Scott Smith, Jeffrey Stout. NY Jets 31 at Detroit 14 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW New York Jets: RB Curtis Martin had a nice day running the ball, carrying the ball 22 times for 112 yards and catching 4 passes for 28 more yards. Martin showed good power and nice speed on his runs, keeping the Lion defense honest and allowing the Jets to utilize play action passes to confuse the Lion defense. The Jets did not go to Lamont Jordan as often as had been talked about due to Martin's excellent performance. QB Chad Pennington looked very good while going (21/26 with four TD's and one INT. Pennington was able to take advantage of play action passes to beat the Lions secondary, who bit on every play action Pennington gave them. Very nice performance, but it was against a weak Lion defense who also lost key defensive lineman Robert Porcher to injury during the game. WRs Laveranues Coles and Wayne Chrebet both had good games, with Coles catching 7 passes for 114 yards... but no TD's. Wayne Chrebet caught four passes for 46 yards and two TD's. The Jets receivers had an easy time against the Lions weak secondary. The Jet run defense got beat up by James Stewart. The Jets had major problems stopping the Lions run attack up the middle. The allowed Stewart 93 yards on 16 carries (5.8 yards a carry)... most of it in the first half alone. The Jet pass defense was a little spotty, playing well most of the time but showing some lapses at others. They allowed a 37 yard TD pass from Lion QB Joey Harrington to Bill Schroeder and a 47 yard one from Harrington to (FB) Cory Schlesinger... most of which came after the catch. Detroit Lions: The Lions suffered two potentially devastating injuries. The first was Az-Zahir Hakim, Joey Harrington's favorite WR target, and the Lions best receiver. He was carted off the field during the Lions first possession of the game. Hakim dislocated and fractured his hip. He's out for the season. The second major injury was to defensive lineman Robert Porcher. He left in the middle of the fourth quarter. Porcher is the Lions best defensive player and the leader of the lion defense... though the Lion defense was poor to begin with, the loss of Porcher would make them completely useless. QB Joey Harrington completed 15/30 for two TD's and one INT. Harrington was extremely inaccurate the whole game, completely muffing several throws to wide open receivers. He should have had at least two more INT's, but one that was actually picked off was nullified by a (questionable) roughing the passer penalty on the Jets, and one other went right through the hands of a Jet defender. The INT that did stand was a pass intended for TE Mikhael Ricks in the Jet endzone. WR Bill Schroeder got some redemption after his awful performance against his former team (the Green Bay Packers) last week. Schroeder was benched in the second half of the Packer game and demoted to third WR for this game. He moved up to the number one spot after Az-Zahir Hakim went down with an injury very early in the first quarter. Schroeder proceeded to catch 3 passes for 57 yards and two TD's, including a nice 37 yard pass from Joey Harrington. With Hakim's injury, Schroeder will see increased play time. The Lion secondary looked bad... very bad. Jet QB Chad Pennington had no problems throwing against the Lions almost non-existent pass defense. The Lions did manage to pick off Pennington once. The Lion run defense was no better, allowing RB Curtis Martin to run rampant on them even with a sore ankle. They did manage to keep both Martin and RB Lamont Jordan out of the endzone, however. WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW New York Jets QB: Chad Pennington had a great day against the weak Lion secondary, completing 21/26 passes for 229 yards and a career high 4 TD's. Pennington's favorite target was Laveranues Coles, though he did give Wayne Chrebet a lot of looks also. Pennington did throw one INT - a bad pass intended for Santana Moss. Besides the INT, Pennington was nearly flawless, and did especially well on play action passes. RB: Curtis Martin looked and ran the ball like his old self, showing little or no ill effects from his sore ankle. Martin carried the ball 22 times for 112 yards and added 4 receptions for 28 more yards. Martins running opened up the play action pass for Chad Pennington, who took full advantage. Despite running well the whole game, Martin was held out of the endzone. Martin and RB Lamont Jordan both had several short yardage attempts in the redzone for TD, but neither were able to punch it in. Lamont Jordan was used to spell RB Curtis Martin and as a change of pace. Jordan carried the ball 11 times for 63 yards, and added 10 more yards on one reception. Both Jordan and Martin were utilized in the redzone and had opportunities to score but weren't able to. WR: Laveranues Coles (7 rec for 114 yards) was Pennington's favorite target in the game, but Coles seemed not to get too many looks in the red zone from Pennington. Coles was wide open downfield several times in the game, but Pennington failed to see him. Wayne Chrebet caught 4 passes for 46 yards, two of which were TD's. One was a perfect 23 yard pass from Chad Pennington, the other Chrebet was wide open in the endzone from 8 yards out. Pennington seemed to look for Chrebet in the redzone most often, and another pass to Chrebet in the endzone was batted away at the last minute by a Lion defender. Santana Moss had only one catch for 13 yards in this game. He didn't get too many looks, but was targeted in the endzone a couple times. TE: Anthony Becht got very few looks from Chad Pennington, however, Becht did make a nice leaping TD catch in the back of the endzone on a hard pass from Pennington from the one yard line. Becht finished with 2 receptions for 8 yards. K: John Hall hit one of one field goals, but had one of his extra point attempts blocked. Pass Defense: The Jet pass defense did well most of the game. They didn't really pressure Lion QB Joey Harrington too much with their pass rush though, and Harrington was able to make a few long plays on the Jet secondary. Run Defense: The run defense got a bit beat up by Lion RB James Stewart in the first half, but did better after the Lions had to go to a more pass oriented attack in the second half. The Jets had trouble controlling the middle of the line, and Stewart was able to rip off some nice gainers up the middle. /**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/**/** Detroit Lions QB: Joey Harrington put up good numbers but looked shaky. He had some accuracy problems and tended to under throw his receivers. He threw one interception in the Jet endzone that was intended for TE Mikhael Ricks, and should have had two more interceptions. One went right through the hands of a Jet defender, and the other was in fact intercepted but was nullified by a (questionable) roughing the passer call on the Jets. Harrington did make the most of that Jet mistake and ended up throwing his second TD pass to Bill Schroeder a couple plays later. Harrington ended up going 15/30 for 279 yards, 2 TD's and one interception. Harrington was also hampered by the loss of his favorite target Az-Zahir Hakim very early in the game and ended up targeting Bill Schroeder most of the time the rest of the game, hitting Schroeder on a nice 37 yard pass for his other TD. RB: James Stewart (16 carries for 93 yards, 2 rec for 8 yards, 5.8 yards per carry average)) had a very nice first half. His first run from scrimmage was a nice 39 yard rumble. Stewart ran well up the middle, and the Jet defensive line had trouble stopping him all game. Stewart's production dropped off significantly in the second half after the Lions fell behind and went to the pass to catch up. Cory Schlesinger carried the ball only twice for 11 yards, but added two receptions for 43 yards... all of which came on one play after the Lions got lucky with a roughing the passer penalty which gave them the ball back after the Jets had intercepted Joey Harrington. Schlesinger's 43 yard reception led to a TD to Bill Schroeder. Aveion Cason played but was not a factor in this game. WR: Az-Zahir Hakim, the Lions best WR and Joey Harrington's favorite target, was injured and carted off the field during the Lions first possession. Hakim dislocated and fractured his hip, and was down on the field in extreme pain for quite a while. He'll miss the rest of the season. This obviously is a devastating blow to the already shaky Lion offense. Hakim out spells big problems for Joey Harrington. Bill Schroeder got himself a little redemption after being demoted to third receiver as a result of dropping all passes thrown his way during last weeks game against the Green Bay Packers (his former team). Schroeder stepped in for the injured Az-Zahir Hakim very early in the game and caught 3 passes for 57 yards ... two of which were TD's. Harrington ended up giving Schroeder the most looks the rest of the game, and most of his looks in the redzone. Schroeder played very well, and appeared to be concentrating on catching the ball much better than the previous week. Germane Crowell caught 3 passes for 15 yards and was not a factor in this game. TE: Mikhael Ricks caught 2 passes for 17 yards and no TD's. Ricks still remains one of Harrington's favorite targets in the endzone, and a pass intended for Ricks was intercepted in the Jet endzone early in the game. K: Jason Hanson had a quiet day, hitting 2 of 2 extra point attempts. Pass Defense: Nothing much to say here but poor... very poor. The Jet receivers were open all day long, there was no significant pass rush by the Lions, even before Robert Porcher was injured. The secondary did manage to pick off Jet QB Chad Pennington once, but the Lion offense failed to capitalize. The Lion secondary has been a weak spot all year long. Run Defense: The Lion run defense also played poorly, allowing Jet RB Curtis Martin to run very well despite Martin having a sore ankle. The loss of defensive lineman Robert Porcher late in the game will present the Lion already weak defense with a huge problem if it is serious. Porcher is the Lions best defensive player and the leader of the Lion defense.