HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - New York Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde has watched the film several times, replaying it like a bad dream. Looking at it now, it's almost as though it happened to another quarterback, with another team, in another lifetime.
Trailing 14-9 at home against the Buffalo Bills last December, the Jets got to the Bills' 24-yard line with 13 seconds left and no timeouts. Testaverde threw a dump-off pass over the middle to Curtis Martin, and the rest was history. There was barely enough time left for a desperation pass to Kevin Swayne, which fell incomplete in the end zone.
The embarrassing finish resulted in a week-long war of words between Testaverde and offensive coordinator Paul Hackett, who disagreed on several counts about how that final series was supposed to play out. How appropriate that the Jets open the 2002 season against the Bills.
"I don't think that the uncertainties that surrounded that play and surrounded that situation exist anymore," Hackett said Wednesday. "They were things that you have to go through, things that you have to learn."
In some of their comments after that meltdown, Testaverde and Hackett pointed the finger at each other. Both were treading uneasily in a new relationship, with plenty on the line for both. Asked Wednesday if it's still a sore subject, Testaverde said, "No, I don't view it as that anymore. Maybe the first time sitting down together, we kind of discussed it. But we've watched it a number of times and now it's just another play to us that we've learned from. Hopefully, we won't make that same mistake."
Hackett said, "I think that what he's referring to is, when you look at those things, you don't even think about that anymore ... We're so much more in tune now than we've been before."
A major point of emphasis in the offseason was correcting game-management problems like the one that caused that implosion at the end of the last Buffalo game. Jimmy Raye, a 26-year NFL veteran who worked with Hackett for five years in Kansas City, was hired to fill the game-day role of experienced offensive line coach Bill Muir, who left for Tampa Bay.
The Jets initially stated that Raye would be in the press box with Hackett to assist with down-and-distance strategy while Hackett called the plays. That's how they worked together in Kansas City. Instead, Raye will be positioned on the field, where he will coordinate personnel and communicate with coach Herman Edwards and Hackett between series and at halftime.
"He's kind of the senior spokesman on the field," Edwards said of Raye. "Paul and Jimmy decided that's the best way to operate. Paul's one of those guys that basically, when he's up in the box, he's always concentrating on the next play. He doesn't like conversation. That bothers him. That's just his deal and I understand that."
Just like last year, Hackett will have tight ends coach Phil Pettey charting drives in the box and offensive assistant Eric Price relaying plays to Testaverde on the sideline. Even though some terminology was simplified, there were still several occasions in the preseason when the Jets had to call timeout or take a delay-of-game penalty because of problems getting the correct play or personnel into the game - shades of last year's frequent glitches.
So it's not exactly clear how having Raye on the field will smooth out the offensive operation. It is clear that Raye's presence there is needed; Muir's replacement, offensive line coach Doug Marrone, will be coaching his first NFL game Sunday.
"It's very smooth," Hackett said. "There is more of a coordination on the sideline and with information and getting everybody on the same page."
Everyone involved seems to agree on two things: A repeat of last year's Buffalo meltdown shouldn't happen again. If it does, they'll handle the fallout better.
"We've prepared well," Hackett said. "But we are going to make mistakes down the road. I don't know when or how or what it's going to be. But we are a lot better off, a lot smarter, a lot further along than we were a year ago. All of us."
