Jets’ Crowell looks to build off record-setting performance
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. >> Isaiah Crowell kept hitting the holes cleared by the New York Jets’ offensive line and ran.
And, ran some more. All the way into the franchise record books.
Crowell rushed for a whopping 219 yards on just
15 carries in the Jets’ 3416 victory over Denver last Sunday, setting the team mark for yards rushing in a single game.
“Every time I got the ball, it was like at any given time, it could be a big play,” Crowell said Friday. “That really was because of my offensive line. I feel like they did their part, so I’ve got to credit them.”
Big rushing performances are usually the product of great O-line play. But Crowell also deserves some kudos for his big day.
After all, he became the fourth player in NFL history to run for 200 or more yards on 15 or fewer attempts, and his 14.6-yard average was the highest by any player with at least 15 carries.
“It hasn’t been like that since high school,” a smiling Crowell said. “In high school, I think I ran for 300 yards or something like that and five touchdowns in a playoff game, but not since then. Each level, you progress and the talent level progresses, so it hasn’t been like that since then.”
Crowell broke the Jets record of 210 yards rushing previously set by Thomas Jones in 2009. He was selected the AFC offensive player of the week and also won the league’s weekly award for FedEx Ground Player of the Week.
Packers kicker Crosby looks to bounce back after awful game
GREEN BAY, WIS. >> Mason Crosby survived one of the worst seasons of his career by putting together five of his best.
The veteran Green Bay Packers kicker isn’t looking at what happened in
2012, when he made just
21 of 33 field-goal attempts, as a pathway to bouncing back from a nightmarish performance last week at Detroit.
Crosby missed four field goals and an extra point, those 13 lost points looming large in a 31-23 loss Sunday. He had never missed more than two kicks in a game in his 12-year career.
“I look at what happened on Sunday as I’m lumping it into one kick, one entity,” Crosby said Friday. “That was a game, that was a moment, that I couldn’t have ever imagined happening, but it did happen and I can learn from it. I don’t reset, I don’t go looking for things. It’s more, all right, get back into it. What am I going to do better this week? How am I going to improve?
“So far this week, it’s been good getting out at practice, hitting the ball, trusting that I’ve done this for 12 years in the NFL and a long time before that. What went down on Sunday is unacceptable for the career I’ve had, but it did happen and I’m going to be better off because of it.”
Brady, Pats await ‘future of the league’ in Chiefs’ Mahomes
FOXBOROUGH, MASS. >> Patrick Mahomes was barely 5 years old when Tom Brady completed his first NFL pass in 2000.
Now Mahomes, whose undefeated Kansas City Chiefs play at New England on Sunday night, is the talk of the NFL in just his second season.
“That’s the future of the league, so it’s always great to see young players come in and learn from the guys in the past,” the 41-year-old Brady said Friday. “Just like I did when I was young. I had a lot of guys that I looked up to, got to play against Brett Favre and some other really great players.”
Mahomes has thrown 14 touchdown passes and just two interceptions to go with a quarterback rating of 112.7. His team is second in the league with 35 points a game.
Speaking on a conference call this week, Mahomes said he watched Brady a lot in college at Texas Tech.
“My coach in college was Kliff Kingsbury, and he actually was a backup for Brady at one point,” he said. “And so he showed me things that he liked with Tom and his pocket movements and stuff he did within the pocket that I’ve tried to put in my game a little bit.
“He’s someone that’s had a ton of success in this league and is someone that you do take stuff from.”