Emotion Carries Jets to Victory

Defensive end Marvin Washington walked off the field alone, away from the celebration at midfield. Washington, Dennis Byrd’s best friend, pulled off his helmet and glanced at the gray sky. He took a deep breath.

“It’s a relief,” Washington said after the New York Jets defeated the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills, 24-17, Sunday. “We’ve been waiting for a week to exhale. Now we can. I just wish Dennis was here to enjoy it.”

But he was here.

Inspired by the spirit and courage of their partially paralyzed teammate, who watched the game with his wife and parents in his private room at a Manhattan hospital, the emotionally charged Jets pulled off one of the season’s biggest upsets.

Just when it appeared the Jets were ripe for another last-minute loss to their nemesis, safety Brian Washington delivered their biggest play of the season--a 23-yard interception return for the winning touchdown with 1:41 left.

Tragedy to triumph in a span of seven days. In the aftermath, the Jets rejoiced as though someone had opened an emotional spigot.

Quarterback Browning Nagle, who played a terrific game, described the team as “a snowball, packed in and then exploding with emotion.”

Defensive tackle Mario Johnson, who wept openly last week after Byrd was carried off the field with a broken neck, said: “This is like a fairy tale. But you know what? It’s not a fairy tale. It’s the real deal.”

Moments after Brian Washington made a second interception, picking off Jim Kelly’s Hail Mary pass with 11 seconds left, the Jets staged a celebration reminiscent of last season’s playoff-clinching victory in Miami.

Moments later, the players crammed into a side room off the locker room, like fraternity brothers trying to squeeze into a phone booth. Team president Steve Gutman called Byrd’s hospital room, and about a dozen players formed a line to talk with their fallen teammate. Gutman, Bruce Coslet and owner Leon Hess also chatted with Byrd, who postponed an X-ray session so he could watch the fourth quarter.

“I can’t really describe it,” Coslet said minutes after the long-distance love-in. “Am I on the ground? I’m walking like six inches off the ground. My moonwalk is working good.”

This wasn’t supposed to happen. The Jets (4-9) had lost 10 straight to the Bills (9-4) dating to 1987. They had a swiss-cheese lineup, missing four injured starters. They had nothing going for them. The oddsmakers made the Jets a 17-point underdog.

“You can’t put a point spread on the human spirit,” tight end Mark Boyer said.

The Jets already had been uplifted by Saturday’s medical report, which brought the first positive news of Byrd’s rehabilitation. Byrd, who underwent a seven-hour spinal operation Wednesday, moved his toes for the first time since the injury.

Led by Brad Baxter (98 yards, two touchdowns), Nagle (14 for 22, 176 yards) and the defense, the Jets took a 17-10 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Bills, however, tied the score early in the quarter and got the ball back with 1:53 to play and it had the makings of another heartbreaking loss. It happened Oct. 26, when the Bills scored the game-winner with 51 seconds left. “In the back of your mind, you’re going, ‘Oh, no, not again,’ ” Boyer said. “Then I thought, ‘No, we’re going to win this one.’ ”

From his 18, Kelly threw over the middle to Andre Reed, but Washington stepped in front, made like a running back and scored the winning touchdown.

Byrd was given the game ball. He deserved it.