11/30 — The Jets stop the Broncos on the opening drive of the second half, but now comes our third officiating "situation" in this game. Brett Kern's punt bounces toward the goal line and Mario Haggan appears to step on the goal line as he bats the ball back onto the field of play. Head coach Eric Mangini challenges again. Ref Walt Coleman again upholds the call on the field.

The Jets start out at their 2, they've lost one of their three timeouts this half, and with his second replay challenge, Mangini has no more this game.

But the home team gets 15 of those 18 lost yards back when Thomas Jones has his facemask grasped at the end of a run by LB Wesley Woodyard, so the Jets quickly get out from the shadow of their goalposts. Oh, sorry, no shadow today. The rain continues to fall steadily, as it has all game.

And the adverse conditions aren't limited to falling from the sky for the home team. The Jets try to convert on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 with pass plays. Brett Favre's first pass can't find Brad Smith. He never gets his second off, scrambling and falling short of the marker for a 1-yard sack recorded by Haggan.

The Broncos drive and appear to have scored again on a burst by the aforementioned rookie fullback find, Peyton Hills, for a 14-yard score. But flag on the play: C Casey Weigmann is called for holding the shoulder pads of C.J. Mosley, whom Hills breezed past. First-and-20 at the Jets 24.

And three plays later, the Jets get Jay Cutler on the move to his right. He tries to salvage the third-and-long field goal position but he fails as his overthrow of TE Tony Scheffler is picked off in the end zone — by Dwight Lowery. The rookie corner, who had been starting up until three games ago when Ty Law arrived, comes up with the first interception of his pro career. It couldn't come at a more opportune time.

And shortly after it's Leon Time, as Leon Washington takes three Favre passes and moves the chains deep into the red zone — on a 34-yard screen pass from Favre, then 14 yards on a blitz-beater to the Denver 19., then a 12-yarder to the 7.

Three Broncos players are injured, one on each of those plays — LB Spencer Larsen on the screen, then DE Ebenezer Ekuban on the quick outlet, then CB Dré Bly on the final completion.

But Bly comes back after a one-play rest and Favre can't find an open receiver, so the Jets have to settle for Jay Feely's 30-yard field goal with 2:50 left in the third quarter to cut the Denver lead to 27-17.

After the kickoff, Cutler, being chased from his 11 by Vernon Gholston, makes another strong pass to open TE Tony Scheffler for 24 yards. And on a third-down incompletion, Eric Barton celebrates by throwing the dead ball into the air, drawing a 5-yard delay of game. But neither of these plays prevents a punt by the Broncos, and at the end of the third quarter the Jets are moving toward midfield.

Fourth Quarter

The Green & White appear to be stalled on third-and-8 at their 38. But not with Favre and with Chansi Stuckey. The QB hits the second-year WR over the middle for 16 yards. Stuckey is stuck by S Marquand Manuel, but Manuel is the player who gets up slowly after the hit. The fans boo at yet another Broncos player on the wet turf.

The Jets find themselves fourth-and-3 at the visitors' 39 and the call is to go for it. Favre, well-protected, checks down from one receiver to another. He sees Jerricho Cotchery break free down the right sideline and puts a ball up inside the 10 that looks like it has a real good chance. Except that it hangs up just a little too long and CB Karl Paymah catches up to J-Co and forces an incompletion. Favre puts hands on head, then bends over at the missed opportunity. The Jets still trail by 10 with 12:10 left in the game.

Then comes the Jets' worst adversity yet. On third-and-2 at the Jets 36, Cutler rolls right and he's got Brandon Stokley open behind Abram Elam. Cutler hits Stokley in stride for the touchdown. It's now Broncos, 34-17, with 9½ minutes left. It's a dagger. Is it the final dagger? The Jets need three scores with time dwindling away.

The Jets defense force a thiree-and-out but it's too late. Then Favre on his first play loads up and throws to a temporarily open Laveranues Coles. But the ball hangs and slides to the outside and CB Josh Bell catches up to deflect it away. Coles is still catchless on the day.

Finally, Coles catches a pass, and it converts a second down, and Dustin Keller and Brad Smith add nice grab-and-runs, but it's taking too long to punch the ball in. In fact, the Jets fail to punch it in as Favre throws three incompletions on first-and-goal at the 2, the final one on a reverse of the play the Jets scored on at Tennessee last week, with the pass to Coles at the back of the end zone batted away by Bell.

With 2:43 to play, this game is over. The Broncos' Hillis completes an uncanny 129-yard rushing game on 22 carries before Cutler starts his kneeldowns. The rain continues to come down as the players flood the field after the Jets were unable to seize the reins of opportunity in their 34-17 loss to the Broncos.

Eric Allen's game story will be live soon, Tim Carlson will report from the Jets locker room on Darrelle Revis, who led the effort to hold WR Brandon Marshall to five catches for 55 yards, and Dwight Lowery, who came up with his first pro interception, and I'll have the postgame Radar entry in a few hours.