Jets Find Time to Pull One Out

Curtis Martin’s injured knee wouldn’t let him play Sunday. His heart wouldn’t let him quit.

Knowing he was too hurt to be effective, Martin still wanted to be in the huddle as the New York Jets tried to rally in the fourth quarter. So he went to Coach Herman Edwards and asked a favor.

“I said, ‘Just let me go in there, look the offensive linemen in the eye and see if we can’t get this thing going,’ ” Martin said.

One week after mismanaging the game clock, the Jets beat it as Quincy Carter threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Justin McCareins with 5 minutes 32 seconds to play to give New York an ugly 10-7 win over the Cleveland Browns.

Last week, the Jets (7-3) bungled an overtime loss against Baltimore because they failed to manage time wisely and because of some questionable play calling. New York cleaned up those issues, but there was little else it did well offensively until Carter rallied the Jets from a 7-3 deficit with a 75-yard touchdown drive.

Sacked six times and under pressure all afternoon, Carter completed a crucial third-and-11 pass to McCareins, who stretched out to pick up the first down at Cleveland’s 24. After a 13-yard pass to Santana Moss, Carter again connected with McCareins, who stepped out of a tackle and scored.

“We made the right plays at the right time,” Moss said. “It doesn’t matter how pretty it was as long as we did what we came here to do.”

LaMont Jordan, filling in for a banged-up Martin, rushed for 61 yards in the fourth quarter. Jordan, whose poorly executed option pass a week ago underscored the Jets’ woes, had 34 yards as the Jets ran out the final 3:55 to hand the Browns (3-7) their fourth loss in a row. Jet safety Erik Coleman had a key sack to end Cleveland’s final drive.

The Browns also were hurt by usually reliable kicker Phil Dawson, who was wide right on two field-goal attempts -- his first misses after making 27 in a row.

“It’s hard to swallow,” Dawson said. “I proved today that I’m not perfect, unfortunately.”

Martin rushed for 88 yards in 17 carries but bruised his right knee in the second quarter and carried just twice in the fourth.