NFL

Hardly road warriors, Jets visit Falcons

Atlanta has turned Georgia Dome into one of most challenging venues

updated 5:17 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2005

ATLANTA - The New York Jets used to be the consummate road warriors. Lately, they’ve been road weaklings.

This probably isn’t a good place to turn things around.

The Atlanta Falcons (4-2) have transformed the Georgia Dome from a half-filled mausoleum into one of the league’s most challenging venues for opposing teams. They are 10-2 at home since Jim Mora took over as coach, including a rout of St. Louis in last year’s playoffs.

“We just love playing at home,” Mora said, recalling a recent conversation with defensive end Patrick Kerney. “We were talking about how sometimes on the road we come out a little flat and he said, ’You know, with our crowd, we could be asleep 30 seconds before we go on the field and because of the energy, we would still get pumped up.’ So that’s how our guys feel about playing at home.”

The Jets (2-4), on the other hand, have lost five straight regular-season games on the road (though, it must be noted, they did win at San Diego in the playoffs last season). Plagued by injuries at quarterback, they dropped their first three this season while averaging a mere nine points per game.

“We haven’t been very good on the road, and I don’t know what’s contributing to that,” coach Herman Edwards said. “We’ve handled it the same way. We just haven’t done the things that you have to do on the road to win. One of them is you’ve got to get the crowd out of it. We’ve always been behind, and that’s a little bit of our problem, too.”

New York’s lack of success on the road is in contrast to Edwards’ first season in 2001, when the Jets went 7-1 on the road (as opposed to 3-5 at the Meadowlands).

They were a respectable 4-4 away from home in ’02, and they matched that .500 record last season. But the Jets began to tail off late in the year, losing their final two road contests after a Nov. 28 victory at Arizona.

This season, the Jets have been downright dismal on the road. They started with a 27-7 loss at Kansas City, which came within 29 seconds of handing New York its first shutout in almost 10 years. Three weeks later, with third-stringer Brooks Bollinger taking over for injured quarterbacks Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler, the Jets managed only eight first downs and 152 yards in a 13-3 loss at Baltimore. Last week, with 41-year-old Vinny Testaverde taking the snaps, New York struggled again in a 27-17 loss to Buffalo.

Edwards pointed out that the Jets have scored only seven points in the first quarter, home and away. It’s easier to come from behind when the fans are behind you, much tougher when they’re cheering against you.

“When you’re behind, the crowd’s involved,” Edwards said. “We’ve kind of been a team that’s played from behind a lot, and that’s not good on the road.”

CONTINUED

1 | 2 | Next >