Week 1, September 4th, 1988. New York Jets @ New England Patriots

Sunday, September 4th, 1988 4:00PM
New York Jets (0-0) @ New England Patriots (0-0)
Sullivan Stadium
Weather: 63 degrees, relative humidity 96%, wind 14 mph
Line: New England -6 (new york), O/U 45 (under)

Attendance:  44,207 (60,794)

New York Jets 23, New England 16

Two AFC East Rivals kicked off the 1988 season at 4:00.  The Jets and Patriots both plan on being in the thick of the Divisional race.

The Jets elected to receive and immediately went deep, as Ken O'Brien connected with Al Toon for a 28 yard pass on the 1st play from scrimmage.  The second play was another 10 yard pass to Toon, who would only catch 1 more pass on the day for 10 yards. Andre Tippett had a huge sack on 3rd and goal and fored the early Pat Leahy 31 yard field to put the Jets up 3-0

The Patriots went 3 and out and punt Jeff Feagles shanked a 32 yard punt to give the Jets a drive start at their own 45.  The Jets capitalized on the drive, highlighted by Heath Shuler's shoestring 9 yard catch on 3rd and 1, and a huge 15 yard personal foul on the Patriots defense as they held on 3rd down on their33, which extended the drive.  The Jets went for it on 4th and 2 from the 5 and Freeman McNeil charged up the middle and scored to put the Jets up 10-0 at the end of the 1st quarter.  

New England got on the board in the 2nd quarter, breaking their season-opening streak of futility of 3 consecutive 3 and outs, in which they had 3 total yards.  This drive would go 8 plays for 89 yards, highlighted by a 32 yard pass from Steve Grogan to Stanley Morgan, and the touchdown play, a 38 yard sweep for Halfback John Stephens (15-82 1 TD).  Stephens' 1st NFL touchdown.  This was one of few highlights for Grogan as he struggled all day, along wiith the Patriot offense.  Grogan was 12-31 for 111 yards and 2 INTS, and all game the Patriots only managed 90 more yards.  The score was still close, 10-7 at the half.

Freeman McNeil hits the whole for his longest run of 9 yards late in the 4th quarter 

The teams exchanged punts back and forth over te course of the 3rd and early 4th quarter, only broken up by a Jason Staurovsky 25 yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10,  Jojo Townsell became an unlikely here for the Jets, returning a Feagles punt 78 yards for the go-ahead touchdown that would turn out to be the game-winner with 9:01 remaining.

Oddly, the Patriots would only run 4 more offensive plays for the rest of the game.  One 3-and-out, and a Steve Grogan interception to Ken Rose.  The Jets were able to move the ball and run clock, leading to 2 more Pat Leahy field goals (27, 22).  However, Sammy Martin ran a Leahy kickoff back 96 yards for a touchdown to draw the Patriots to 23-16 with 1:15 remaining.  However, they were unable to recover the onside kick and all Ken O'Brien needed to do was take a knee to close out the Jets win.

Player of the Game:

Jojo Townsell - Jets

Jojo Townsell scored the game winning touchdown in a defensive struggle.  The score was on special teams, a 78 yard punt return in the 4th quarter.

1988 New York AFC 23, 1988 New England 16
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
1988 New York AFC	10	0	0	13	0	23
1988 New England	0	7	3	6	0	16

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
1	11:09	1988 New York AFC	P.Leahy 31 yd. field goal	3-0 NYA
1	4:59	1988 New York AFC	F.McNeil 5 yd. run (P.Leahy kick)	10-0 NYA
2	7:40	1988 New England	J.Stephens 38 yd. run (J.Staurovsky kick)	10-7 NYA
3	6:14	1988 New England	J.Staurovsky 25 yd. field goal	10-10 NEA
4	9:01	1988 New York AFC	J.Townsell 78 yd. return (P.Leahy kick)	17-10 NYA
4	3:30	1988 New York AFC	P.Leahy 47 yd. field goal	20-10 NYA
4	0:00	1988 New York AFC	P.Leahy 22 yd. field goal	23-10 NYA
4	1:15	1988 New England	S.Martin 94 yd. return (kick failed)	23-16 NYA

Team Statistics
	1988 New York AFC	1988 New England
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	5-9-2-16	3-6-4-13
Third Down Efficiency	3-15-20%	3-13-23%
Fourth Down Efficiency	1-1-100%	0-0-0%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	13-21-62%	3-7-43%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	274-66-4.2	182-58-3.1
Total Net Yards Rushing	148	96
Total Rushes	38	24
Average Per Rush	3.9	4.0
Passes Completed/Attempted	13/26 (50.0%)	12/31 (38.7%)
Net Yards Passing	126	86
Avg Yards Per Pass	5.2	3.6
Sacked/Yards Lost	2/8	3/25
Punts/Average	6/43.5	8/37.6
Punts Received/Return Yardage	6/109	3/41
Kickoffs/Returns	3/49	4/149
Interceptions/Returns	2/2	0/0
Penalties/Yards	11/90	5/53
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	3/1	1/0
Time of Possession	28 mins 38 secs	31 mins 22 secs
Average Drive Start	NYA 38	NEA 26

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
1988 New York AFC
Ken O'Brien	26	13	134	50.0	5.2	0	0	0	0	28	2/8	65.2
1988 New England
Steve Grogan	31	12	111	38.7	3.6	0	0	2	6.5	32	3/25	22.4

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
1988 New York AFC
Freeman McNeil	17	61	3.6	9	1	0	0/0
Johnny Hector	10	50	5.0	18	0	0	1/1
Roger Vick	8	36	4.5	17	0	0	0/0
Ken O'Brien	3	1	0.3	3	0	0	0/0
1988 New England
John Stephens	15	82	5.5	38	1	0	0/0
Bob Perryman	6	14	2.3	5	0	0	0/0
Reggie Dupard	2	0	0.0	1	0	0	0/0
Mosi Tatupu	1	0	0.0	0	0	0	0/0

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
1988 New York AFC
Mickey Shuler	5	56	11.2	13	0	0
Johnny Hector	3	20	6.7	8	0	0
Al Toon	3	48	16.0	28	0	0
Kurt Sohn	1	5	5.0	5	0	0
Roger Vick	1	5	5.0	5	0	0
1988 New England
Stanley Morgan	5	53	10.6	32	0	0
Irving Fryar	3	28	9.3	14	0	0
Cedric D. Jones	2	10	5.0	6	0	0
Lin Dawson	1	13	13.0	13	0	0
Bob Perryman	1	7	7.0	7	0	0

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
1988 New York AFC
Pat Leahy	0/0	1/1	1/1	1/2	0/0	3/4	75.0
1988 New England
Jason Staurovsky	0/0	1/1	0/0	0/0	0/1	1/2	50.0

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
1988 New York AFC
Joe Prokop	6	43.5	33.3	1	2	51	0
1988 New England
Jeff Feagles	8	37.6	24.0	0	0	42	0

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 New York AFC
JoJo Townsell	3	49	16.3	19	0
1988 New England
Marvin Allen	2	33	16.5	18	0
Sammy Martin	2	116	58.0	94	1

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 New York AFC
JoJo Townsell	6	1	109	18.2	78	1
1988 New England
Irving Fryar	3	0	41	13.7	22	0

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
1988 New York AFC
Marty Lyons	5	2	0
Kevin McArthur	4	0	0
Troy Benson	4	0	0
Kyle Clifton	4	0	0
Alex Gordon	3	0	0
Erik McMillan	3	0	0
Paul Frase	3	0	0
John Booty	3	0	1
James Hasty	3	0	0
Ken Rose	2	1	0
Scott Mersereau	2	0	0
Bobby Humphery	2	0	0
Rich Miano	0	0	1
1988 New England
Johnny Rembert	10	1	0
Larry McGrew	10	0	0
Brent Williams	5	0	0
Ed Reynolds	4	0	0
Roland James	4	0	0
Fred Marion	3	0	0
Andre Tippett	3	1	0
Ronnie Lippett	3	0	0
Tim Goad	3	0	0
Raymond Clayborn	3	0	0
Garin Veris	2	0	1
Irving Fryar	0	0	1

Interceptions
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 New York AFC
Ken Rose	2	2	1.0	2	0
1988 New England

Game Story

In a close battle the visitors from New York AFC topped New England by the score of 23 to 16. Ken O'Brien threw 26 times for 134 yards. New York AFC controlled the ground game, out-rushing New England 148 to 96 yards. New York AFC took the early lead outscoring New England 10 to 0 in the first quarter. The game was tied after three quarters, 10 to 10.