11/30 — The rain is falling steadily — at times up here in the pressbox it looks as if it's falling at times almost horizontally. And a wet one is under way.

The weather seems to have affected the Jets and Broncos in their opening possessions. Brett Favre can't hook up on second and third downs with passes for his tight ends, Chris Baker and then Dustin Keller, and the Jets go three-and-out. More important, they fail to score on their opening drive for the first time in seven games.

The Broncos pick up a first down when rookie FB Peyton Hillis bursts off his right tackle for 19 yards into Jets territory, but the defense stiffens there and the visitors punt.

Next the Jets go to their Brad Smith option package and the weather appears to have contributed to a disastrous result. Smith takes the direct snap, then flips to Jerricho Cotchery on the end-around. It appears Cotchery has a wide-open left side to maneuver downfield — but he never gets a handle on the ball.

Further, when he fumbles and then tries to cover up at the Jets 23, S Vernon Fox hits J-Co while he's on the ground, the ball comes out, and Fox picks it up and goes for a touchdown.

Head coach Eric Mangini throws his red replay challenge flag, but referee Walt Coleman doesn't accept it, saying the play is not reviewable. The TD stands, to the irritation of the hardy souls who have come out to the Meadowlands today, and the Broncos take the early 7-0 lead.

"That's OK," my partner, Eric Allen tells me after Leon Washington's 31-yard kickoff return to the Jets 41. "We'll get it back."

How right he is. Thomas Jones gets the handoff off Cotchery motion, veers to his right around a block by RG Brandon Moore — and there are no Broncos to be seen. Jones tears off down the right sideline, not unlike Washington on his 61-yard TD run at Tennessee last week, only this time there is no safety to even make a play on Jones before he scores.

Jones flips the ball into the stands as the Jets even the score at 7-7 a mere 20 seconds after they fell behind.

Jones, who came into the game needing 50 yards for his fourth consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season, gets 59 in one lump sum. It is his longest career touchdown run, breaking his personal best of 58 for Arizona at Seattle in 2002, and it is his longest run since his career-long 61-yarder for Tampa Bay at Favre's Green Bay in 2003.

But no sooner is this play in the books than the visitors from the west strike right back with a 59-yard play of their own, Jay Cutler's TD pass to rookie WR Eddie Royal, who catches the ball inside the Jets 40 past CB Ty Law, shrugs off Abram Elam's late tackle attempt, and takes off down the sideline.

This play also survives a Mangini red-flag challenge. This time Coleman accepts the challenge, that Royal stepped on the sideline, but then upholds the original call that he never stepped out of bounds. The Jets lose a timeout and they lose the lead as Denver breaks back on top, 14-7. All this activity has taken place in the first 8:16 of the game.

Is this the Jets' 19th nervous breakdown today? Hills rips off his second 19-yard run of the game past Kris Jenkins, who is engaged with C Casey Wiegmann, then Cutler hits WR Chad Jackson for a 19-yard completion to first-and-goal just inside the 10. 

But a holding penalty on RT Ryan Harris and a third-down defense of a Cutler end zone throw for Brandon Marshall that Ty Law (with a hand from the wet weather) broke up forces the Broncos to settle for Matt Prater's 25-yard field goal and a 17-7 Denver advantage.

Second Quarter

And now it's the Jets' turn to come up with a brilliant play that may or may not be overturned by replay. Jones does it again, this time carrying off his favorite right side and coming down on the back of DT Kenny Peterson. The play looks dead.

But TJ and the Jets don't play it that way. Jones rolls over Peterson's back, bounces up and keeps going for a 29-yard touchdown run, his second TD in the game's first 17:16. Now it's Denver coach Mike Shanahan's turn to throw his red hanky. Coleman reviews the play and determines "The ruling on the field stands. Touchdown."

Jay Feely's extra point makes it Broncos 17, Jets 14. This is a wet and wild one.

The Broncos punt, and then the Jets do just as good as punt because Favre lets one fly for Laveranues Coles down the left sideline but the ball is clearly thrown too far. CB Dré Bly waits for it to come down, ahead of Coles' attempt at a PD, and it's a Favre INT and the Broncos ball on their 32 halfway through the second frame.

And then it's Broncos, 24-14, as Cutler leads a march downfield for a third TD by the visitors, aided mightily by a third 19-yard run by Hillis and Hillis' 1-yard TD run. He has 87 yards on 11 carries.

It's true that this rookie FB, carrying because the Broncos' RBs are decimated, doesn't stop moving his feet and doesn't go down. It's also true that the Jets are treating him as good as they've treated any opposing fullback since Tim Tindale caught four balls for 105 yards for the Bills back in 1997.

The Jets punt and the Broncos move out from their 16. Tough play: On second-and-11, Cutler hits Marshall, who cuts back and gets away from a sure tackle by Calvin Pace before going 16 yards for a first down. On the play, ILB David Bowens goes down with what looks like a hamstring injury. He walks off slowly and Cody Spencer, who's been getting playing time on the inside in the sub packages, is now in the base as Coleman gives the two-minute warning.

The defense fails to get to a third-down completion from Cutler to Brandon Stokley, then the Broncos QB rolls to the right, away from two blitzing Jets, and throws back across his body to Marshall for another third-down pickup. What's more, there's enough time for Prater to try a last-second field goal. He converts from 35 yards out with three seconds left and the half ends with the Jets trailing, 27-14.