RING OUT THE OLD ... NEVER!
Brady stuns Jets in last minute as Antonio quits on Bucs mid-game
The Jets almost shocked the NFL.
Gang Green entered MetLife as a 13-point underdog and had Tom Brady and the Buccaneers on the ropes in the fourth quarter.
But after all was said and done, the Bucs snatched victory from the Jets, 28-24.
There was 2:17 remaining in the game and, on fourth-and-two, the Jets were going for the kill. The Buccaneers, after all, had zero timeouts left. The play call: Zach Wilson sneak. The play that occurred: Wilson tried to sneak up the middle but didn’t manage to gain yardage and the Jets ended their drive with a turnover on downs.
“We got the play call and I liked it just because it has two different options,” Wilson said. “And right there I was just thinking to do my job. We had an open “A” gap there and unfortunately came up short.”
But the play wasn’t supposed to include the sneak.
The call was supposed to be an end around to Braxton Berrios, according to coach Robert Saleh.
Wilson had the option for both, but Saleh wanted it in Berrios’ hands. It was the same play the Jets ran with Elijah Moore against the Texans on fourth-and-1 late in the fourth quarter.
Saleh laid blame on the coaching staff because the play wasn’t communicated well enough to Wilson.
“It’s a designed end around to reverse to Berrios. It’s a short-yardage goal, so if Zach sees a look that’s favorable for a quarterback sneak,” Saleh said, “we’ll sneak for that half a yard . ... It’s what we wanted. Like I said, we did a very poor job communicating that to Zach, to just hand it to Berrios no matter what. Let him strain for the first down and the game would be over. And we had it, we had the look.”
Brady and the Bucs received the ball with 93 yards separating him from the end zone. In nine plays they scored on a 33-yard throw from Brady to Cyril Grayson with 15 seconds left.
The Jets defense allowed Brady to finish with 410 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
Some may view battling the defending champion Buccaneers to the wire as a moral victory, but a visibly frustrated Saleh dismissed that notion.
“I don’t believe in moral victories,” Saleh said. “You win and you lose.”
The Jets dropped to 4-12 on the season.
The finish was crushing, but Antonio Brown’s antics in the third quarter were bizarre. As the game went on, the wide receiver took off his jersey, pads and shirt and left the field while waving to fans, no doubt ending his career with the Bucs.
“He is no longer a Buc,” coach Bruce Arians said after the game.
It overshadowed what was almost a tremendous Jet victory. Despite the blunder on fourth down, Wilson played extremely well considering he was down seven starters. He finished with 234 yards, one touchdown, another game without an interception and a passer rating of 90.
“I think I’m just starting to get a better grasp for the offense,” Wilson said. “I thought Mike’s LaFleur’s done an amazing job just putting me in a good position…I thought he called a good game as far as just scheming guys open and a lot of really good plays. We got things rolling on offense and got into a rhythm and I just felt comfortable with what was going on.”
Even though the Jets came in as heavy underdogs, they threw the first punch at the defending champion Buccaneers.
On the second play of the day, Michael Carter raced down the sideline for a 55-yard gain and set the tone for an offense that finished the first half with 240 yards and 17 points.
Wilson’s passing attack without the Jets’ three leading receivers— Corey Davis, Jamison Crowder and Moore—looked good. He went 12-of-21 for 149 yards with a touchdown in just the first half.
He dissected the defense presnap, which allowed him to get the ball out fast. On passes under 2.5 seconds, Wilson went 8-of-12 for 79 yards and that touchdown, according to Next Gen Stats.
The defense, meanwhile, held Brady’s high-octane offense to 10 points. Brandin Echols caught an interception with under a minute left in the half, which positioned the Jets for a successful last-second 51yard field goal from Eddy Pineiro.
Wilson began the second half by leading the offense on a nine-play touchdown drive. His 21-yard laser to Keelan Cole placed the unit on the Bucs’ 1-yard line. Ty Johnson capped the drive with a rushing TD. That put the Jets up 24-10. Brady answered with a TD throw to Cameron Brate on the Bucs’ next possession to cut the lead to seven.
The Jets responded with a threeand-out on the next drive and the defense held the Buccaneers to a field goal, maintaining a lead of 24-20.
Then, with an opportunity to seal the game, the Jets ran a terrible play call and allowed Brady to march down 93 yards for the win.