Jets running back Joe McKnight "earned his way out of" doghouse with performance against Buffalo Bills

As the waning minutes ticked off the clock, and the JumboTron favored candid shots of starters laughing in backward hats, running back Joe McKnight continued to chug along.
Yard after yard, he absorbed the familiar sting he hadn’t felt since college. Relegated to the bottom of the depth chart, he had waited patiently for the year’s most meaningless game to have his most meaningful moments.
“When I got into the shower, my body was burning from all the cuts I had,” he said at his locker after the Jets’ 38-7 drubbing of Buffalo Sunday. “Felt good just to get that burn on my body.”
With LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene inactive, the floor was finally McKnight’s to cap a season that started in the least desirable circumstances. He vomited in training camp after coming in out of shape. His coach labeled him a disappointment.
But as the featured back yesterday, he did his best to revamp his reputation, carrying the ball 32 times for 158 yards. He also had two receptions for 15 yards.
McKnight was the first Jets running back to gain 100 yards in a game since both Tomlinson and Greene did so the last time they played the Bills in Week 4.
“That’s all I was thinking about the whole season,” McKnight said. “All through the preseason I was just thinking about this day.”
Before the game, McKnight spoke with fullback Tony Richardson, one of the players he’d considered a confidant through the hard times. Richardson reminded him that he’d had this responsibility at USC, and to be prepared to move on from mistakes he’d inevitably make.
Jets coach Rex Ryan told him to expect 40 carries.
And from the Jets’ opening drive, it looked as though he would.
On the game’s first play, he bolted up the left side for a gain of 9, then up the gut for a gain of 4 and the first down. He carried seven times of the first 11 plays.
“You have to give this guy all the credit,” Ryan said. “He’s the one who made himself better.
“He got with (running backs coach) Anthony Lynn and humbled himself. He played defense and did all this other stuff — now you see why we were so excited to draft him.”
After the win, McKnight was quick to put things into perspective. He said it was only one game and that the offensive line deserved most of the credit.
But as those final minutes ticked away, his teammates joking on the sideline, he hoped someone would take notice as he carved up the lowly Bills.
And some did.
Said Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum: “He earned his way into the doghouse, and then he earned his way out of it.”

 

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