11/18 — Just when you think you have this crazy game of football figured out, up comes a game like today's Jets-Steelers affair.

But as crazy as it seemed, the Jets players will let the fans think about falling into the rabbit hole and visiting Wonderland. They said they always knew they had it in them.

"This team is very competitive," QB Kellen Clemens said after the 19-16 overtime toppling of the Steelers. "Whether our record was 1-8 or 8-1, we wanted to get the win, we wanted to get the taste out of our mouths. It says a lot about this team that we were able to come out on top."

"It was joyous. Guys were feeling it was about time, it's something we deserve," said Leon Washington, who was kicked away from all game but finally broke free for the key 33-yard punt return that set up Mike Nugent's game-winning field goal. "We just came into the game wanting to get some respect. We feel like a lot of teams don't respect us anymore."

"Where's it been, right?" DE Shaun Ellis said about a defensive effort that baffled Ben Roethlisberger into seven sacks and bottled up RB Willie Parker for 52 yards on 21 carries. "We did a great job in the box, breaking everything down. We made up our minds that enough is enough."

"This is not a bad team," rookie corner Darrelle Revis said of his Jets. "Our record is 'out there,' but we're not a bad team. We believe in everybody here. A lot of veterans just stepped up and said 'We're going to play 60 minutes today.' We ended up having to play 65 minutes, but we did it."

Not many fans wanted to hear such pleasantries as the Jets lost one close game after another. But today those sentiments ring true. Although this was another close game that the Jets led by double digits early, then fell behind in the fourth quarter, this time they had the wherewithal to get the job done — and get it done against one of the NFL's elite teams.

Perhaps nothing underscores how the Jets did as much as their performance in their running game and in stopping the Steelers' run.

On offense, the Jets were going up against the No. 1 rushing defense in the league. But Thomas Jones and the O-line had a determination that they were going to get it done on this gray day in North Jersey.

"We knew what Thomas was capable of whenever he gets the ball," guard Brandon Moore said. ""Feature backs get better as the game goes on. We've improved the last five weeks in our aim points and things like that. At one point in the game he has 75 yards and we said, 'No, we're going to get him 100 yards.' "

Jones and his blockers did better than that. He rushed for 117 yards on 30 carries and the Jets rushed for 151 yards overall. As a result, the Steelers will be either No. 3 or 4 against the run, but not No. 1, depending on the Monday night game.

Defensively, the aim was to somehow contain Parker, who entered with 873 rushing yards, second-best in the NFL, at 4.1 per carry, and to contain Big Ben. Or in the words of DT C.J. Mosley, to "fluster his brain before the snap."

Missions accomplished. Parker averaged 2.5 yards on 21 carries, and in allowing 112 yards, the Jets' run defense will be ranked either 29th or 30th but no longer 32nd and last.

And Roethlisberger was dropped on a regular basis. Rookie David Harris blitzed and dropped him for a 17-yard loss to end the Steelers' first drive and Dewayne Robertson had perhaps his most powerful game as a Jet with 2.5 sacks — the first Jet in three seasons to get at least 2.5 sacks in a game — while Ellis added two more.

The Jets had one thing working against them and that was the eerie home ambience. With many Green & White fans handing off their tickets ultimately to Pittsburgh's legion of traveling fans, there were as many twirling yellow towels in the stands as there were green jerseys.

"It definitely didn't feel like we were at the Meadowlands," Moore said. "It was more like Heinz Field, a lot of Terrible Towels. I just find it odd that they were waving the towels on their team's third downs."

But perhaps to counteract that effect, the Jets honored Curtis Martin at halftime of this game, and Martin, before he was a Jet and a Patriot, was a Pittsburgh high school and college standout.

Perhaps more important than Martin's subliminal influence on what he calls "my family" is the bye-week influence that head coach Eric Mangini and his staff had on the players. For the second straight year, the Mangini Jets came off their bye fully prepared and administered a defeat to one of the NFL's best teams. (Last year, of course, they went to New England after the bye and stunned the Patriots, 17-14.)

"When you lose five games by a total of 27 points, it comes down to a handful of plays," Mangini said. "Today we were able to execute those plays."

When asked if it felt good to be able to smile after a game for the first time in a few weeks, the coach kept right on smiling.

"It seems like it's been a little bit longer than a few weeks," he said. "Yeah, the apple is going to taste better. It's going to be a lot better Sunday night."

But the Jets will get less time than usual to savor this NFL-headline triumph, because for the first time since 1985, they will be playing on Thanksgiving Day. That year it was Detroit. This time it's the 9-1 Cowboys in four days.

"It's a quick turnaround, but we're rejuvenated a little bit," Clemens said after notching his first victory as an NFL starting QB, adding redundantly but happily that today's win "is a positive step in the right direction."