EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — If only punches translated into points.
The inaugural MetLife Bowl didn’t live up to the hype as far as the scoreboard was concerned. But tempers simmered just enough to sustain the bad blood between the city rivals until their next meeting.
Fans who were forced to wait two days to witness the Jets-Giants preseason game because of the storm surge of Hurricane Irene were treated to a rather listless showing early on from both clubs Monday night. But the 17-3 Jets victory contained enough glancing blows and muttered curse words to prolong the anticipation until Christmas Eve.
"That was a typical Jets-Giants slugfest," said Rex Ryan, who beamed as he stood next to his team’s reward: a bronze Snoopy trophy. The Jets coach also received a $40,000 check from the MetLife Foundation to the Jets’ charity, "The Trust for Public Land."
"The fireworks will fly come December 24th," Ryan said.
Though the Giants had more total yards (327) than their opponents, the Jets (233) found their way into the end zone twice and didn’t cough up an interception.
"We had some real chances and didn’t finish anything offensively," Tom Coughlin said. "We have some work to do there, no doubt. We had some positives ... but lots of yards and no points."
Eli Manning, who was sacked for a loss of 3 yards by cornerback Kyle Wilson to close out the first half, finished the game 15-for-30 for 200 yards, but was picked off twice.
Conversely, Mark Sanchez went 8-for-16 for just 64 yards and a touchdown.
In all, there were 16 penalties for 125 yards, including two unnecessary roughness penalties and two disqualifications. Jets rookie Mo Wilkerson and Giants running back Brandon Jacobs were tossed from the game for throwing punches after Eli Manning threw a 7-yard pass to receiver Mario Manningham with 8:51 to go in the third quarter.
"That’s not good football," Coughlin said, referring to Jacob’s involvement and an unnecessary roughness penalty on safety Deon Grant. "You can’t lose your cool."
But long before tempers began to flare, it seemed the anticipation surrounding the MetLife Bowl had waned just minutes into the opening drive. Inconsistency on both sides of the ball plagued both sidelines, as Sanchez and Manning struggled to find chemistry with their receivers in the third preseason game for both clubs.
Neither team looked efficient or energized in the early going, and when their defenses stole the momentum with an interception or a sack, the offenses soon stalled. Both Ryan and Coughlin played their starters into the third quarter.
Plaxico Burress’ hyped meeting against his former club was anticlimactic, as the wide receiver had zero catches. But his presence did help set up Santonio Holmes’ 17-yard second-quarter touchdown, which gave the Jets a 7-3 lead.
"You’ve got to honor Plax running out into the middle of the field at 6-6 — and a guy that can play," Jets receiver Derrick Mason said. "He kind of opened it up for Santonio. Santonio ran a good route and Sanchez put it right where he needed to put it."
Holmes finished with two catches for 37 yards. Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks had five catches for 71 yards (including a 21-yard catch) and Jacobs ran a total of 51 yards on 10 carries. Shonn Greene ran 42 yards on 11 carries to lead the Jets.
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