More Fourth-Quarter Fireworks in Jets Victory

Jets rally in fourth quarter once again

Would you rather watch a snuff film or watch Mark Sanchez run the Jets offense? 

For most of Sunday, the question wasn't a particularly ridiculous one. The Jets offense alternated between committing stupid penalties, taking useless timeouts, missing open receivers and running a limp Wildcat before Sanchez finally connected with Santonio Holmes for a 30-yard touchdown with just under five minutes to play.

The pass looked like something out of a completely different offense as Sanchez froze the defense with a perfect pump fake while Holmes was embarrassing Redskins corner Josh Wilson on a double move for the ages. The ball floated right into Holmes' hands, the Jets had a touchdown and they were on their way to a 34-19 win. 

It wasn't over there, obviously, but a small lead is all you need when you're facing Rex Grossman. Grossman fumbled on a sack by Aaron Maybin to end the next Redskins possession, and Shonn Greene ran in an insurance touchdown two plays later to put the game on ice. 

Greene would add another one later in the contest to help make this game look very different on the scoreboard than it did on the field.

This isn't a game that anyone will want to watch again in the future, nor is it one that fills you with a tremendous amount of confidence about the Jets' chances to pull off this real-life "Survivor" pool, but at the end of the day, they got the result they needed. Another win means that the playoff dream lives for another week, and once again, it is because Sanchez made a play in the fourth quarter.

His knack for doing that is about the only good thing he has going for him these days, but it is an awfully nice thing to have in your back pocket. Sanchez and Grossman spent most of the day having a contest to see which of them would throw the pick-six that wound up leading to a loss.

Neither defense would comply, though, which meant that everyone had to watch two terrible offenses make mistake after mistake. When the Redskins hit a field goal to go up 16-13 in the fourth and Sanchez wasted a second timeout after a penalty, it seemed like a comeback was beyond reach.

But then he hit Greene for a first down to set up the second straight game-winning play to Holmes. It doesn't erase what came before because they still haven't invented some kind of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind way to wipe out bad memories, but Tim Tebow is being hailed as a hero for doing about the same thing while saving the Broncos' season. 

Ultimately all that matters is getting the wins, and Sanchez has found a way to do that the last two weeks. If he can keep doing it, even if it is as ugly as Sunday's performance, people are going to quibble a lot less and celebrate a lot more.

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