New York Jets vs. Oakland Raiders: Postgame Thoughts from MetLife

Dec 8, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets free safety Antonio Allen (39) blocks a punt by Oakland Raiders punter Marquette King (7) and returns it for a touchdown in the first half during the game at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Big game for the Jets today, hanging in the playoff race with a 37-27 win over the Oakland Raiders. Let’s hear some thoughts from the stadium in the post game. First we have Antonio Allen about how they knew the blocked punt was going to be successful:

Yeah, we did. Ben (Kotwica) made a nice play. He (had) been talking about the long snapper the whole week, how he doesn’t get back to his proper drop. So, we swung a dude across his face, Ellis Lankster swung across his face and I just hit the gap right between the A-gap. (I) made a big play (and) got the touchdown as well.

Jeremy Kerley on Geno’s confidence, having his three top guys available to him:

It gave him confidence. We had a great week of practice leading up to this game. We felt good. Santonio (Holmes) was clicking. (Kellen) Winslow was clicking. We felt good and we just came out and executed what was in front of us.

Geno talked about if today’s game showed that he is resilient:

I don’t think one game can show that. I think I try and tell you every single day, I try and go out there with that same chip and edge on my shoulder in practice and even in games and I try to prove it to my teammates and coaches every single day. I’m not the type of guy that’s going to take it easy on myself or lightly or feel sorry for myself when things aren’t going well because I know there’s, like I said, a light at the end of the tunnel. I just keep working. I just keep plugging at it. I just keep working. I just stay confident in myself and exhibit that throughout the week in practice.

During the pregame, Woody Johnson spoke on the radio about how he likes the direction of the team. Here is coach Ryan’s reaction:

I feel great about that, but again, we know we have a ton of work to do and that’s the focus. We haven’t put two wins together all season. We know how big of a challenge it’s going to be in front of us against Carolina, but again, that’s what we have to do. Shoot, it’s funny because we usually give victory Monday this time of year. Every team in the league does. So I mentioned it, I looked, and I’m like, ‘Nah, let’s not do that, let’s go to work.’ Everybody’s like, “Yeah, let’s go to work.” And that’s what we have to do. We have to. This is about as good as I’ve seen a group of guys prepare and that was not just in the classroom or on the practice field, but guys stayed after. Guys stayed around. They were in the film rooms watching tape together. This team wants it in the worst way. Will we get it? I don’t know. But I know how bad we want it. How bad a taste we had in our mouth, the performance we had in front of our fans the week before. That wasn’t just lip service from me, that’s telling you how the entire team felt. You never want to lose in this league. You never went to put on a “laid egg” so to speak, lose that poorly, especially in front of your own fans, because our fans, as I’ve mentioned before, deserve better than that, and we were certainly going to put forth every bit of effort we had into it. That’s what I saw from our guys.