How Fitzpatrick snuffed out Pats to connect with Jets’ stacked WRs

[Ken Schroy]

How Fitzpatrick snuffed out Pats to connect with Jets’ stacked WRs

It was fitting that receivers made some of the most decisive plays in the Jets 26-20 overtime win over the Patriots Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Jets fans, do you remember when Clyde Gates and David Nelson were catching passes for your favorite team? Fast-forward to this 10-5 season and the combination of Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker at the top of the depth chart, complemented by Quincy Enunwa and Kenbrell Thompkins, has had as much to do with the transformation of the Jets into playoff contender as the quarterback who fell into their lap. Yes, Ryan Fitzpatrick has been one of the revelations of the entire 2015 NFL season, but without Marshall and Decker, who knows where the Jets would be? Decker caught the game-winning 6-yard touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick 2:47 into overtime. It was his 11th touchdown reception of the season and it came against New England’s best cornerback, Malcolm Butler. “Decker, go-go, Mr. Red Zone, fade, touchdown,’’ cornerback Buster Skrine said. “Fun way to end the game,’’ Decker said. “It was thrilling. Those are moments that you cherish.’’ The game-winning play was a run-pass option, and Fitzpatrick saw the one-on-one matchup on Decker and called it at the line. Three plays before the game-winner, it was Enunwa catching a slant and taking it 48 yards to the New England 30-yard line to put the Jets at least in go-ahead field-goal range. Earlier, Fitzpatrick and Enunwa, who made the clutch catch of the game in Jets win in Dallas last week, failed to connect on a big play with a potential touchdown pass grazing off his fingertips. “Quincy and I, we didn’t connect on probably the biggest play of the game, and then all of a sudden, then creates a bigger moment or even bigger play with what he did on that catch,’’ Fitzpatrick said. “We had been running that play for a good amount of the game,’’ Enunwa said. “So we just came back to it. It had been working for us and it just so happened that we got the perfect rub. I was able to get outside and from there I was able to run to the races.’’ Earlier, it was Marshall, who led all receivers with eight catches for 115 yards, catching a 2-yard Fitzpatrick scoring pass for a 10-3 Jets’ lead and then a 33-yarder from Fitzpatrick for a 17-3 lead in the third quarter. Those were Marshall’s 12th and 13th touchdown catches of the season, surpassing his career high of 12, set with the Bears in 2013. With his first catch of the game, Marshall broke the Jets single-season record for receptions, set in 1988 by Al Toon (93). Marshall enters next week’s finale with 101 catches and became the first player in NFL history to produce six 100-catch seasons. Sunday was his ninth 100-yard performance of the season, matching a team record set by Don Maynard in 1967, and the 43rd such game of his career. Marshall and Decker improved their franchise record for receiving touchdowns in a single season to 24. The Jets are 7-1 when Decker and Marshall both have at least one touchdown in the game. “You guys talk about the combination between Deck and I and all the records we were breaking,’’ Marshall said. “What means the most to us is when you do it together with your teammates.’’

 

http://nypost.com/2015/12/27/how-fitzpatrick-snuffed-out-pats-to-connect-with-jets-stacked-wrs/