Former Jet Stuckey's overtime fumble a key play
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Chansi Stuckey has the ball knocked loose by Jets cornerback Drew Coleman in overtime. The Jets recovered the ball and eventually won the game 26-20 in overtime. (Nov. 14, 2010) Credit: AP
CLEVELAND - Chansi Stuckey said what his coaches and teammates wouldn't.
Without the former Jets receiver's overtime fumble, Mark Sanchez probably wouldn't have gotten a chance to hit Santonio Holmes with the winning touchdown pass with 16 seconds left.
"That changed the game," said Stuckey, who appeared disconsolate on the sideline. "We're within field-goal range . . . I felt bad for my teammates. I let everyone down."
The Browns, with the crowd roaring and riding the momentum gained from scoring the tying touchdown with 44 seconds left in regulation, held the Jets on their first possession of overtime. On third-and-4 from the Jets' 46, Browns quarterback Colt McCoy hit Stuckey with a short pass at the right sideline. Stuckey shed one tackler and nearly stepped out of bounds before continuing several more yards to the 32, which would have been within kicker Phil Dawson's range. But Drew Coleman stripped him of the ball and Antonio Cromartie recovered at the 36.
"Just trying to get some extra yards," said Stuckey, who was dealt to the Browns last October as part of the Braylon Edwards trade. "But Drew made a great play on the ball."
The Browns had two more overtime possessions but went three-and-out each time.
After Stuckey's fumble, and after the game, teammates approached him with the same message. "Stuckey didn't lose the game for us," former Jet David Bowens said.
Eric Mangini, whose face didn't hide his joy one week earlier after he beat mentor Bill Belichick, looked like a coach who had just lost a heartbreaker to the team that fired him.
He praised his team for overcoming the loss of three starters in the first half - cornerback Sheldon Brown, linebacker Scott Fujita and, most damaging, kick returner/receiver Josh Cribbs - and eventually forcing overtime.
Cribbs went down after a 37-yard reception put the ball at the Jets' 5 in the second quarter. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported after the game that he dislocated all of the toes on his right foot except his big toe.
"I thought the guys that filled in did a great job," Mangini said. "It's tough when you lose Josh like we lost Josh. It totally changed the return game and changed some of the things we had planned to do offensively."
As for Stuckey's mistake, Mangini didn't fault him.
"That's where a lot of fumbles tend to happen is when you're fighting for extra yards," Mangini said. "You don't want to discourage that; you just have to have that awareness of the amount of strips that go on at that point. Chansi did a great job on the run and I give New York credit; they did a great job of finding the ball . . . I'm sure he was thinking like the rest of us, get as close as possible and be able to kick the field goal, worst-case scenario."
Instead, from the Browns' perspective, another worst-case scenario played out.
