10/07 — Mike Nugent opens the second half up with his fourth touchback of the season — more in five games than he had in his first 33 games as a pro. But the Giants, smarting after a first half in which they managed five first downs and Eli Manning had a 0.0 passer rating, come out determined to pound the Jets.

And they do, moving 80 yards on six plays, five of them runs by either Brandon Jacobs or Derrick Ward. Jacobs finished the march with a right-slant burst for 19 yards, sending a message to the Jets and to their fans.

Jets 17, Giants 14

But no sooner do the blue-clad fans settle down from their celebration than the Jets send their own message. Specifically, Leon Washington did it again, drifting to his left to field Lawrence Tynes' kickoff at his 2, then taking the return right down the middle for his second kickoff return TD in three games, matching his 98-yarder going toward the same East end zone against the Dolphins.

Washington also ties the franchise record of most KOR TDs in a season of two, first set by Titans rookie Leon Burton in 1960 and matched by Chad Morton — in the same 2002 opener at Buffalo — and Justin Miller last season.

Jets 24, Giants 14

The Jets punt, and then the Giants would have been punting back, except that Jonathan Vilma made a rare presnap mistake, showing blitz and jumping offside on an Eli Manning hard count, wiping out the incompletion when Plaxico Burress dropped the sideline throw after getting a step on CB David Barrett and converting a third-and-4 into a first down. As Dick Enberg would say, "Oh, my!"

And similarly to how the Bills gave the Jets fits last week with Trent Edwards finding TEs Michael Gaines and Robert Royal, the Giants sting the Green & White on Manning's fifth straight completion, this one to TE Jeremy Shockey, who gets free over the middle and strides the rest of the 13 yards for his first touchdown of the season. It seemed Kerry Rhodes got caught up in the bodies and couldn't catch up to Shockey.

Jets 24, Giants 21

This one has become a real nip-and-tuck affair. Can the Jets nip back? Brad Smith takes the next Tynes kickoff and nearly breaks it up the middle as Leon Washington did minutes earlier, but he's tripped up at the Jets 33. Then Pennington executes a very nifty play-action fake and hits Laveranues Coles for the 10-yard completion that moves the chains as the third-quarter clock runs out.