Eli Manning and Chad Pennington turned in performances yesterday that typified their teams’ seasons as a whole: Manning was just good enough, making some mistakes, but also sufficiently making plays to lead the Giants to a 35–24 win and helping them to improve their record to 3–2. Pennington had an abysmal outing, throwing three interceptions and dooming the Jets to fall to 1–4.

Pennington’s mistakes were in prominent view during the game. It’s one thing for a quarterback in a high-risk, big-play offense to throw balls into coverage, but Pennington can’t afford such miscues. What Pennington lacks in arm strength, he’s supposed to be able to make up for with accuracy and decision-making. Yesterday, his passes often missed their intended targets, and his throws into coverage sealed the Jets’ fate. It had been a close, hard-fought game for most of the day when, with 3:28 to play, Pennington dropped back to pass with the Jets trailing 28–24. But Giants rookie cornerback Aaron Ross stepped in front of Pennington’s throw and returned it 43 yards for the clinching touchdown.

That was Ross’s second interception of the fourth quarter. On his first, Pennington’s pass was even worse. With the Jets leading 24–21 and driving deep into Giants territory, Pennington made a terrible decision, inexplicably lobbing a ball off his back foot into heavy coverage, and Ross grabbed it just outside the end zone.

Pennington also threw an interception to Giants’ cornerback Sam Madison, on which Madison disguised his intentions, lining up on the sideline as if he would be in man coverage on the outside, but then moving to the inside at the snap and picking off Pennington’s pass. Like both of Ross’s interceptions, Madison’s interception was on a pass intended for wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, who seems to have become Pennington’s favorite target — even when he isn’t open.

Pennington’s mistakes were particularly inexcusable, because the Jets’ offensive line did such a good job protecting him. A week after the Giants tied an NFL record with 12 sacks against the Philadelphia Eagles, they were held without a sack for 57 minutes yesterday, until defensive end Osi Umenyiora finally got to Pennington with three minutes left. The Giants were so dedicated to rushing the passer that they had four defensive ends —Umenyiora, Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Mathias Kiwanuka — in the starting lineup. But their pass rush was generally ineffective, which is a credit to the Jets’ offensive line. Whereas the Giants’ best defensive strategy was to sit back and wait for Pennington to force the ball to Cotchery, their offense was at its best when Manning passed to Plaxico Burress. The offensive play of the game was a sensational catch-and-run by Burress, who reeled in Manning’s pass at midfield, stiff-armed Jets’ cornerback Andre Dyson, and then high-stepped as Dyson dove at his feet before strutting down the sideline and into the end zone. Burress caught five of the seven passes Manning threw him for a game-high 124 yards.

Manning made his share of mistakes, including a costly interception with 23 seconds left in the first half. Down 14–7, the Giants needed Manning to play it safe and go into the locker room at halftime down just one score. Instead, Manning foolishly passed to Amani Toomer, and Jets linebacker Jonathan Vilma stepped in front of the ball for the interception. A Mike Nugent field goal gave the Jets a 17–7 lead as time expired in the half.

The Giants benefited from the return of running back Brandon Jacobs, who played for the first time since suffering a knee injury in the season opener. Although Derrick Ward (who has played very well in Jacobs’s absence) was the Giants’ starter, Jacobs got most of the carries. Jacobs ran 20 times for 100 yards, and Ward ran 13 times for 56 yards. Each had a touchdown as well, although a fumble by Jacobs also gave the Jets a touchdown, when safety Kerry Rhodes pried the ball from Jacobs’s arm, picked it up, and ran 11 yards into the end zone.

The Jets also got a touchdown on special teams, as Leon Washington returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, his second since taking over the kickoff return duties from the injured Justin Miller. But expecting the defense and special teams to generate most of their points will not be a winning strategy for the Jets. The points need to come from the offense — and that isn’t happening.

Perhaps thinking they just needed to do something to get points on the board, the Jets tried, at times, to get creative. On one possession, both Washington and wide receiver Brad Smith took snaps: Washington ran for 10 yards on a direct snap when Pennington distracted the Giants’ defense by pretending to walk toward his receivers to call out an audible. Three plays later, wide receiver Brad Smith lined up under center for a quarterback sneak.

Ultimately, though, Jets fans won’t talk this week about Washington or Smith taking a couple of snaps on trick plays. They’ll talk about Kellen Clemens taking snaps on a permanent basis. As the backup quarterback, Clemens will be the Jets’ most popular player as long as Pennington keeps struggling and the Jets keep losing. But Clemens will probably not be the backup for much longer. With the Jets at 1–4, there’s no reason not to make the switch. The Giants, on the other hand, are on the right track. Just three weeks after a 0–2 start, everything is starting to click for Big Blue.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.