Selected quotes from the Jets' and Jaguars' locker rooms at MetLife Stadium following the Jets' 23-20 overtime triumph over the Jaguars this afternoon:
Jets head coach Todd Bowles on the Jets surviving Jacksonville's long TD return on their busted play in the Jaguars' red zone...
"Three weeks ago we wouldn't have recovered from this. Right now they're growing every week. They didn't flinch. They stood up and made some plays at the end. They knew the game wasn't over, which is a credit to those guys."
QB Josh McCown on the big holes that sprung open several times against the Jaguars defense...
"I love to watch the tape and love watching that because you hand the ball off and it's the Red Sea and Bilal and Elijah make great cuts. Hats off to them for being able to take the ball the distance like they did. Those are good things to put on tape because it shows we have home run hitters in the backfield and we've got the group up front that can open holes for them. That makes us dangerous."
RB Bilal Powell on his 75-yard touchdown run...
"It was a good drawn-up play. I just saw the guy going for my legs and I just jumped. I didn't feel anyone touch me and I didn't hear a whistle. That's something that we practiced throughout training camp — effort, finishing — and that showed today."
Powell on rookie RB Elijah McGuire...
"He approaches the game like a true professional. You can't even tell that he's a rookie just by the way he approaches it. He's just so explosive, so smart and saw coachable, and you saw that out there today."
McGuire on how great it felt to break free for his 69-yard TD run...
"Oh, you can cancel Christmas."
LB Darron Lee on the Jets being able to persevere and pull out the win...
"We're all going to have our nicks and bruises. The offense will have some, the defense will have some. That's all right. I think that's another thing we have is that if something happens, we all pick each other up. We didn't have that last year."
Bowles on if the Jets are gaining an identity now...
"It's getting there. We have some toughness. We dealt with adversity today. We have to keep building on those things and our identity will come."
CB Morris Claiborne on using doubt about the Jets outside the locker room as motivation...
"We know what we have in this room. We know the work we put in during the offseason to be where we are right now. We're just going to keep pounding away and sooner or later that rock is going to break."
Marcus Williams on if his pro reception for 31 yards on a fake-punt pass from Lachlan Edwards late in the first half was anything like an interception...
"It's much different but it's still a big play, a momentum builder, and at that time it was what we needed. We didn't get any points out of it, but I know on the sideline everybody was pumped. That gave us momentum for the second half as well."
Edwards on if he did any throwing in the different sports he played in Australia growing up...
"No, I never did. That's why I got into punting, because I can't throw. The pass didn't get tipped, it was just an ugly throw. But it went to where it was supposed to go."
Jaguars LB Myles Jack on his 81-yard fumble-return TD...
"I was blitzing off the edge, I saw the running back flaring. He wasn't looking at the ball but the quarterback threw it, so it kind of threw me off. When I saw the ball hit the ground, I just picked it up because I knew it was a backwards pass. I took off for about 10 yards, I was waiting to hear the whistle, so I looked back to see where everybody was, and I saw the running back still chasing me. So I was like, OK, we've got action."
Jaguars HC Doug Marrone on seeing Jets Ring of Honor inductee Kevin Mawae, whom he coached with the Jets from 2002-05...
"Yeah, I saw him before the game. Obviously, I had a great experience with him. It's an honor that's well deserved., I know that the next honor for him is also well deserved in being in the Hall of Fame. He deserves that. He's an outstanding player, an outstanding friend and person. It was good."
