Jets Play Well Enough to Defeat Bengals, 17-12 : AFC: Esiason sticks to basics against former team, becomes all-time passing leader among left-handers.

Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular. Just a job well done--with a strange ending--that gave the New York Jets their fourth consecutive victory.

The Jets stuck to the basics in handing the NFL’s only winless team, the Cincinnati Bengals, a 17-12 loss Sunday.

Boomer Esiason, acquired from the Bengals in the off-season and now the leading passer in the AFC, directed a workmanlike offense that wore down the league’s worst team with several long drives.

“When you can put four in a row together, it’s very important,” Esiason said. “It was important to get a roll going after a miserable six games, no matter who we’re playing.”

Mixing the running of Johnny Johnson and rookie Adrian Murrell with pinpoint passes to Johnson and Rob Moore, Esiason completed 17 of 26 passes for 192 yards. He would have had more but was victimized by some drops.

Esiason became the career passing leader among left-handed quarterbacks with 28,130 yards, surpassing Kenny Stabler.

“We were a better football team than they were,” Esiason said. “We knew the only way to lose was to make some stupid mistake.”

The game ended on a weird note. The Jets chose to take a safety rather than punt, with punter Louie Aguiar running backward before throwing the ball out of the back of the end zone. The Jets also were guilty of holding on the play.

Although the clock had run out, the officials ruled that one second remained. After a long discussion, the Bengals took the safety, forcing the Jets to punt. Aguiar squibbed a punt that was lateraled several times before Patrick Robinson was tackled near midfield to end the game.

“We had everything but the Stanford band,” Bengal Coach David Shula said.

The last second took more than five minutes to be played, and Jet Coach Bruce Coslet yelled angrily at the officials as he left the field.

“It was total confusion,” Coslet said.