Jets rookie McKnight rushes for 158 yards

The sting of hot water shooting down on open wounds surprisingly was comforting to Joe McKnight.

The Jets rookie had waited months for a shot at redemption and now, as he stood in the shower after yesterday's 38-7 win over Buffalo in the season finale, he welcomed the pain. "It felt good just to get that burn on my body," the running back said. "I ain't [had] that since college."

The former USC standout and fourth-round pick, whom the Jets chose in last year's draft after trading up, quickly fell out of favor with the organization during the preseason. Questions surfaced about his conditioning, commitment and skill between the tackles. And those criticisms - running backs coach Anthony Lynn ripped McKnight's fundamentals and his teammates mocked his supposed lack of toughness - were well-documented in HBO's "Hard Knocks."

The failed conditioning test and vomiting in first practice of rookie minicamp once were the indelible images of McKnight's Jets career. That is, until Sunday.

In his first NFL start, he ran for 158 yards on 32 carries - the highest single-game rushing total for the Jets this season. McKnight, who also was used extensively on special teams, caught two passes for 15 yards and had a 25-yard punt return. "I just wanted to go out there and do what I had to do and try to prove everybody wrong," he said. "That's all I was thinking about after the preseason. I was just thinking about this day."

McKnight said he has more to prove. He knows that one game against a 4-12 team that ranked last in run defense - a game in which the Jets' two top rushers, LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene, were inactive - isn't enough to change perceptions of him. But he's hopeful.

"I told him I was proud of him, I thought he handled himself well today," said fullback Tony Richardson, one of McKnight's mentors. "I'm not sure how much longer L.T.'s going to play, but I think they do know they have a capable backup and someone that can go in there and carry the load. As an organization, I think our people upstairs should be very pleased with what they saw out of Joe today."

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They were.

"It was great to watch the game with [VP of scouting] Joey Clinkscales today because he does a great job with our draft every year," general manager Mike Tannenbaum said. "We had a lot of good grades on Joe . . . He earned his way into the doghouse and he's earned his way out of it through hard work. He wasn't ready to help us in July and August. He got a lot better."

With veterans such as Richardson and Tomlinson in his corner, McKnight seems to have weathered the storm that is rookie life. "I felt like it was a good game," he said. "I just wish it happened earlier."