The New York Jets rallied from a 21-10 deficit at halftime to beat the San Diego Chargers on Sunday by causing two turnovers in the fourth quarter and outscoring their opponent 17-0 in the second half. The stellar surge in the third and fourth quarters by the Jets seemed to signal Gang Green's emergence as the contender that bombastic coach Rex Ryan had proclaimed them to be.
The defeated Chargers, though, do not agree with this appraisal of the game. On the contrary, they don't the Jets had much of anything to do with the outcome.
Chargers cornerback Quentin Jammer, who was flagged twice for pass interference, was quick to blame the referees to the New York Post's Bart Hubbuch.
"No way it was called fairly. No way. Not at all," he said regarding the officiating. "It wasn't called fairly at all. Maybe I'm being biased, but I'm just judging off what I saw. It wasn't a fair game called."
Jammer then brought up the fact that San Diego received 13 penalties at MetLife Stadium after playing two straight games without getting flagged once.
Chargers tight end Randy McMichael also refused to credit New York.
"The San Diego Chargers beat ourselves, OK? It’s all about us. We took our foot off the gas pedal, and we lost because of it," McMichael said, per ESPNNewYork. "Their secondary isn’t anything. It’s our fault. It had nothing to do with anybody on their team. It's all about the guys in this locker room room, we lost the game. They didn’t do anything."
The anything that the Jets' defense failed to accomplish inclided picked off Philip Rivers twice in the fourth quarter and completely shutting out San Diego's offense in the entire second half. On the other side of the ball, Plaxico Burress had a breakout game, scoring all three of the Jets touchdowns.
When Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis heard about McMichael's comments, he pretended to not even know the tight end's name and said "whatever he's talking about is bogus."
Antonio Cromartie told Jenny Vrentas of the The Star-Ledger: "When you're up by 11 points in the fourth quarter, and you can't even finish the game up, that shows what kind of team you are: a team that can't finish."
Hmm.. perhaps Cromartie is also crediting the Chargers with their own demise.