O’Brien Finds the Mark Against Falcons, 28-14 : He Hits 17 Passes in Row as New York Wins 8th Straight

Ken O’Brien wasn’t counting, but he completed a team-record 17 straight passes Sunday in the New York Jets’ 28-14 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

All that mattered to O’Brien was that the Jets won their eighth straight to improve to 9-1 and hold their two-game lead over New England in the AFC East.

O’Brien, who finished with 322 yards in 26 of 33 attempts, was 13 for 13 for 195 yards in the second quarter.

“It’s unbelievable what he can do,” said Wesley Walker, who was on the receiving end of two of O’Brien’s three second-quarter touchdown passes.

“I’ll tell you what, over the years I’ve played with a lot of quarterbacks,” Walker said. “No one throws like he can.”

Atlanta Coach Dan Henning said: “O’Brien had a hot hand, and we gave up some big plays that we haven’t given up before. And that was the story.”

O’Brien’s 17 consecutive completions tied for the fifth best string in NFL history, breaking the Jets’ record of 15 set over a two-game span by Joe Namath.

It was only three shy of the all-time record set by Kenny Anderson of the Cincinnati Bengals against Houston on Jan. 2, 1983.

O’Brien broke a scoreless tie on the first play of the second quarter when he connected with Al Toon on a 59-yard scoring play and he threw two more touchdown passes in the same period to Walker covering 46 and 16 yards.

Atlanta, losing for the third week in a row, fell to 5-4-1 after a 4-0 start.

O’Brien was perfect in the three second-quarter scoring drives--completing 3 for 75 yards in the first, 5 for 75 in the second and 7 for 61 in the third.

The Jets expanded their 21-0 halftime lead to 28-0 on Freeman McNeil’s three-yard run less than three minutes into the second half.

David Archer threw two touchdown passes for the Falcons, a 20-yarder to Arthur Cox late in the third quarter and a 23-yarder to Ken Whisenhunt with 1:16 left in the game.

Defensive linemen Joe Klecko and Marty Lyons of the Jets were injured Sunday.

Lyons suffered a tendon injury to his right shoulder and is expected to be sidelined two to four weeks. Klecko reinjured his left knee in the fourth quarter. Klecko’s condition is a wait-and-see situation.