Selected quotes from the Jets' and Giants' locker rooms at MetLife Stadium following the Jets' 23-20 overtime road win on Sunday afternoon:
Head coach Todd Bowles on if this game was the best he's seen QB Ryan Fitzpatrick play...
"I thought it was great last week as well, so I don't know if it was the best I've seen him, but it was the most poised I've seen him in these situations. We had Buffalo in a big game, we didn't get it done. We had New England, we didn't get it done. So to come out in a meaningful game, for them to get it done in the fourth quarter, we obviously learned some things."
WR Brandon Marshall on what he said to Fitzpatrick before the Giants' overtime field goal try...
"I looked up and saw that he was 31-for-42 and I asked him, 'Do you want me to hold my praise?' and he said, 'Yeah, hold your praise.' I just wanted to tell him how proud I am of him leading us not only today but this whole season. It got to the point where [Josh Brown] was about to kick the field goal and I told him they're going to miss it. I said, 'Hey, I've been in the league 10 years, haven't made the playoffs, you 11. We've bounced around from team to team. The football gods are hearing us right now so he's going to miss this kick.' "
Fitzpatrick on the game-tying TD pass to Marshall with 27 seconds left in regulation...
"That dude, he makes my job so easy. We've got single coverage, which we put him to the wide field and basically just threw it up and said, 'Brandon, make a play.' Came down with it, made it look easy. It's not easy to do, but he made it look easy."
WR Eric Decker on how he'd describe this victory...
"This is a statement game for us as far as coming from behind and winning one. We've had a couple of opportunities in the past, but to win one this time of year ... We know we made a bunch of mistakes, and the Giants played well, they put a lot of pressure on Fitzpatrick. To get the win is bigtime for us."
Fitz on if this win will galvanize the Jets down the regular-season stretch...
"It was a big one. We needed it. We were down and we needed it. So hopefully you just try to build off of the last game to the next one. We go out and lay an egg next week, then this feeling goes away and you forget about it."
Giants coach Tom Coughlin on going for it on fourth-and-2 at the Jets 4 ahead, 20-10, with 8:50 left in regulation...
"Didn't finish. Didn't finish. ... I went for it on fourth-and-2 thinking that that would certainly give, after the long drive and the amount of time used up in the drive, I thought that was the play at the time. I still do. Obviously we didn't score there, we had an interception there. They drove, kicked a field goal, and then we didn't do anything with the ball again."
DE Muhammad Wilkerson on the Giants' decision to go for it on fourth-and-2...
"As a defense, we try to eliminate touchdowns, if anything, give up three. But we did a great job just throughout that drive. They drove the ball the length of the field and we bowed up, got a good stop and got a turnover. You can't ask for anything better than that as a defense."
Bowles on Wilkerson not playing in the game until the second quarter...
"It was a coach's decision. Obviously, Mo is one of our best players and we respect him a lot. It was something we handled in-house and we went to the game and that's what we decided."
S Rontez Miles about coming back from his offsides on a punt to extend that Giants drive to end the drive with his interception...
"I've been through a lot worse in my life to be worried about jumping offsides, but it was an incredible thing."
Giants K Josh Brown on his missed 48-yard FG try in overtime that gave the win to the Jets...
"A 'W' forgives a lot of things, but this is painful. We had that game in hand. We have to make the opportunities we're given and I didn't make my opportunity."
Fitzpatrick on if this game felt noticeably different from a Jets home game in the same stadium...
"It did, it felt different. Even in pregame it felt a little bit different. The atmosphere, the buzz, all that stuff. I had no idea coming into it, but certainly it was a rivalry and you could feel the buzz in the stadium throughout the game."
