Penalties reign supreme as Jets hold off Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Osi Umenyiora went down in a heap at midfield, clutching his left knee and grimacing in pain. The New York Giants could only watch as one of their defensive leaders was carted off the field.

The two-time Pro Bowl defensive end left with a knee injury in the second quarter of the Giants' 10-7 loss to the Jets on Saturday night. The injury overshadowed a first-half quarterback duel between Brett Favre and Eli Manning that ended up being a penalty-filled snoozer.

"You are always concerned any time a player like that goes down," linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said. "That's not good. We know the type of player he is and if he can come back, he will, but we have the personnel to step up in his absence."

The Super Bowl champs would prefer to not have to find that out. The Giants said Umenyiora's knee "locked up" with 10:48 left in the half on an incomplete pass by Favre on third down. He couldn't put any weight on the leg, but X-rays were negative, and an MRI was planned for Sunday.

"The doctors told me there was no ligament damage," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said.

Umenyiora, who had a team-high 13 sacks last season, left the locker room before the game ended. Defensive end Justin Tuck said his teammate told him "he was good."

Brett Ratliff threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Paul Raymond with 6:08 remaining to put the Jets (2-1) ahead to stay. Drew Coleman's interception of Andre' Woodson with 1:06 left sealed the victory.

Favre, in his second start since being acquired from Green Bay, finished 9-of-12 for 96 yards in two quarters and had a pretty touchdown pass negated by a penalty.

"We had some big plays," he said. "Unfortunately, they were called back. I think all we have to do is watch the film to see we have a lot of potential."

Favre said he'd lobby to play at least one series in the Jets' preseason finale Thursday at Philadelphia, but would leave the decision up to coach Eric Mangini.

"I enjoy playing," Favre said. "In this case, it would be easily justifiable to say for me to play a series. If not, there are a lot of things we can learn from the film."

Manning was 10-of-17 for 113 yards, but had a scoring drive late in the second half short-circuited when he was sacked by Calvin Pace on third-and-goal from the 7. Josh Huston, in for the injured Lawrence Tynes, was then wide right on a 42-yard field-goal attempt.

"We're not playing badly," Manning said. "We need to make a few more plays. We just need to work on our third-down conversions and find a way to put more points on the board."

With the Giants (1-2) expected to pose a huge test for the Jets' revamped offensive line, it was the guys in green and white who constantly put the pressure on the quarterbacks. The Jets finished with eight sacks, including two by Pace, while the Giants had two.

"We know we gave up way too many sacks," Giants guard Rich Seubert said. "We'll fix that. It doesn't worry me."

The officials were also kept busy as the teams combined for 16 penalties, including 12 by the Jets -- who were whistled on three straight plays to open the second half.

"You can't win making those types of mistakes," Favre said. "That's all of us."

Favre, who last faced the Giants in a loss in the NFC Championship Game in January, received a standing ovation as he ran on the field with the first-team offense to start the Jets' first drive. The cheers didn't last as Tuck beat new right tackle Damien Woody and sacked Favre on the second play for an 8-yard loss. New York was forced to punt two plays later.

On the next series, Favre's 28-yard pass to Brad Smith down to the Giants 21 was wiped out by an illegal shift penalty. After another ho-hum possession, Favre got things going.

With the Jets starting on their 17, he hit Smith for 17 yards and Leon Washington for 10 yards two plays later. On third-and-11 from the Giants 49, Favre threw a perfect spiral down the right sideline to Jerricho Cotchery, who zipped into the end zone for what appeared to be the first score of the game.

But Bubba Franks, Favre's former teammate in Green Bay, was called for illegal motion on the play and the touchdown was wiped away. The Jets punted two plays later.

"Any time you have 12 penalties and 10 of them are on offensive plays, that's an issue," Mangini said.

Game notes
The Jets lost cornerback Justin Miller to a foot injury in the second quarter. He had X-rays on the foot, but Mangini was uncertain of the results. ... Among other Giants injured: LB Danny Clark (strained groin) and safety Craig Dahl (sprained knee).