Two familiar weapons from their late-season surge of 1999 got the New York Jets headed into the regular season on a positive note.
Ray Lucas threw for three touchdowns and Curtis Martin dominated on the ground Friday night in a 27-24 victory over the New York Giants. It was the Jets' fifth straight win in the annual preseason series.
The Jets led most of the way in their final preseason game - they have a bye next week. But the Giants tied it with 2:25 remaining in the third quarter on Kerry Collins' second touchdown pass of the night, a 10-yarder to Ike Hilliard.
The Jets (2-2) responded behind Martin, who finished with 107 yards on 18 carries, and Lucas, the keys to their four-game winning streak to end last season.
Martin, who has looked sharp throughout the preseason, went over 100 yards rushing with a 24-yarder late in the third quarter. That set up Hall's 39-yard field goal for a 20-17 lead.
Lucas stayed in to lead an 81-yard drive, hitting first-year tight end Jermaine Wiggins on a 30-yard scoring pass against Giants backups. He finished with 19 completions for 286 yards.
The Giants fell to 0-3 with a sloppy effort that had coach Jim Fassel seething on the sideline. Collins, however, threw for 275 yards on 16 completions, but the Giants had 16 penalties for 105 yards.
An entertaining first quarter degenerated in the second period. Turnovers and penalties slowed things to a crawl; the Giants alone had 10 penalties for 61 yards in the second quarter and cost themselves at least a field goal try in the dying seconds.
Both sides had trouble holding onto the ball. Martin and Richie Anderson lost fumbles for the Jets, while Tiki Barber bobbled the ball away at the Jets 5 and Collins was intercepted by Marcus Coleman in the end zone on the final play of the first half.
There also were some fireworks, including Lucas' perfect 52-yard touchdown pass to Wayne Chrebet on a flea-flicker. Lucas handed off to Martin, who flipped the ball back to the quarterback, who found Chrebet well behind double coverage.
The Giants answered just 1:25 later as Amani Toomer toasted Coleman for a 73-yard bomb, bringing the Giants within 14-10. John Hall's 26-yard field goal capping a drive on which the Giants had three straight penalties made it 17-10 at the half.
Lucas' first scoring pass, on the opening series, was a 6-yarder to Richie Anderson that capped a precise 66-yard drive.
Joe Jurevicius caught a 16-yard TD pass from Jason Garrett with 15 seconds remaining to close the scoring for the Giants.
The Jets scratched No. 1 quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who sprained the big toe on his right foot last week. The wet conditions at Giants Stadium might have had something to do with benching Testaverde, who is coming off a torn Achilles' tendon.