Stamp This Victory Special Delivery

For too many years and more Sundays than they care to remember, the New York Jets have lost games like this one. So excuse them for being jubilant and even optimistic about the future after an improbable 23-22 comeback victory over the Oakland Raiders.

Outplayed on offense and defense nearly all game, the Jets did something special with their special teams and avoided tying an NFL record for home futility. Corwin Brown blocked a field goal and Ray Mickens went 72 yards with it for the winning touchdown with 12:51 remaining.

“We’ve got to win our home games and that win will be a big boost for us,” Mickens said after the Jets (2-2) snapped a 13-game home slide, one short of Dallas’ league record, set in 1988-89. “We won’t quit. Everybody underestimates us, saying we are average or mediocre. We believe in our hearts that we are better than that.

“[Coach Bill] Parcells stressed all week to get a field-goal block and we made the extra effort. The kicker was erratic all day and we felt we’d be able to get one.”

Brown broke through almost untouched and dived to block Cole Ford’s kick. It was the most damaging of Ford’s four misses--he also failed from 44, 27 and 47 yards and botched an extra point. The snaps were poor or mishandled on three of the kicks.

“It was a low snap and a low kick,” Raider Coach Joe Bugel said of the decisive block.

Asked how many of the snaps were poor, Bugel added, “Probably all of them.”

Ford declined to blame the snaps.

“Who knows? I felt comfortable with everything,” he said. “Joe might be trying to take some pressure off me. I don’t think I ever missed a kick on turf.”

In the third quarter, Brown caught Brian Hansen’s short pass on a fake punt and turned it into a 26-yard gain, setting up rookie John Hall’s third field goal, from 26 yards.

“Bill is one of the few coaches who puts in fakes and runs them,” said Hansen, who threw a touchdown pass for Cleveland in 1991. “Bill has a reputation for not being afraid to run them. He says, ‘Whatever it takes.’ ”

The Raiders (1-3) seem to do whatever it takes to lose; their losses have been by a total of five points.

“It’s very discouraging,” James Jett said. “You put up 468 yards, no turnovers and you ask, ‘What do you have to do to win?’ I don’t know.”

The kicking-game woes negated strong efforts by Jeff George, who threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns; Tim Brown, the league’s leading receiver entering the game, who had 10 catches for 153 yards with a 29-yard touchdown; and Jett, who caught five passes for 148 yards and two scores.

All three of George’s touchdown passes came against cornerback Otis Smith, who started for the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl last January. He was no match for the speedy Jett on his two touchdowns, and was not within five steps of Brown on his score.

The Raiders went for a two-point conversion after Brown’s touchdown, but Jett slipped in the end zone, sparing Smith further embarrassment.

The victory was the Jets’ first at home since Oct. 22, 1995 against Miami.