By Art Spander
Special to NewsdayOAKLAND, Calif. -- Ground it, pound it. Rex Ryan kept emphasizing his philosophy, kept talking about a Jets team that ran and ran and ran; a Jets team that lost its No. 2 rusher, maybe for the season, but didn't lose its direction or its push on the offensive line.
Five minutes into a game that would serve as much as a reminder as a result, Leon Washington incurred a season-ending injury, a compound fracture of the fibula in his right leg.
Almost before teammates were airborne on their flight back home, Washington was on the operating table at a hospital. "They needed to get surgery done,'' Ryan said, an indication of the seriousness of the injury. "They didn't want to wait to get back to New York.''
It was a sobering comment about an otherwise delightful afternoon along San Francisco Bay. The Jets, rushing for more than 300 yards for a second straight week -- the first time that had been accomplished by anyone in the NFL since 1975 - crushed the Oakland Raiders, 38-0.
"This is as good as it gets from an offensive standpoint,'' said Ryan after a game in which the Jets, ending a three-game losing streak, gained 447 yards of total offense. "We were able to control the ball as good as we did.''
They did it because rookie Shonn Greene from Iowa, who had only seven carries the first six games, carried 19 times for 144 yards and two touchdowns and because Thomas Jones rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.
They did it because the offensive line pushed around a Raiders team that showed a bit of life a week ago in upsetting the Eagles but now, at 2-5, seem pathetic once more.
"When we took the young man,'' Ryan said of Greene, whom the Jets acquired with the 65th pick in last spring's draft after a complex trade, "how we visualized our team was that we would ground it, pound it, and let the young kid hit you when you were on your heels. But he's a talented back, and you can't have too many good players.''
Nor can you have too much vengeance. Jets offensive line coach Bill Callahan led the Raiders to the Super Bowl in 2002 and then was fired after a 4-12 season in '03. So at game's end it was Ryan himself who gave Callahan a Gatorade dousing.
"He probably won't say it,'' Ryan said of Callahan, "but this game was really important to him. We just wanted to show him our support. He means a lot. And this game was special to me, with my brother.''
That would be Rob Ryan, longtime Raiders defensive coordinator, dismissed after last season.
No one was dismissing Greene's performance, including Greene. "I was upset when the injury happened [to Washington] but I was prepared. I just followed that offensive line. They did a great job sustaining blocks. Give them the credit for all the hard work. [Jones] and I just followed them the whole way.''
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