‘Low-risk, high-reward’ trick play works for Jets ... sort of

The Jets pulled off a wild fake punt at the end of the first half Sunday, and then found a way to waste it, squandering away points that could have been useful in their 23-20 overtime win against the Jaguars at MetLife Stadium.

The trick play was a bright spot in a minute-plus span that otherwise served as a practice in futility for both teams.

Facing a fourth-and-21 from his own 47, Jets punter Lachlan Edwards took the snap and instead of kicking it away, threw a midrange pass to Marcus Williams for a 31yard gain. With the Jaguars often using two punt returners, it was a look the Jets were expecting to get and Edwards let it fly.

“It was kind of a low-risk, highreward type thing,” Edwards said. “I threw the ugliest ball you’ve ever seen, but we made it work.”

Once he caught the ball, Williams took off down the field but needed some help to get the first down. It came in the form of teammate Rontez Miles, who jumped on Williams’ back to help push him a few yards further, all the way to the Jaguars’ 22-yard line.

“I was glad it was [Miles] and not someone else,” Williams said.

“I was actually running for the dude that was coming down to get [Williams], but he cut back and it just happened so fast,” Miles said. “We’re going to tell everyone we planned that, though, so it looks good on paper.”

Williams got out of bounds with 12 seconds left, but the Jets had no timeouts left. Instead of trying to take one shot at the end zone, they called for the field goal.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” Todd Bowles said.

But the fake punt was still so fresh that Edwards, the team’s holder, was still getting congratulated by his teammates and didn’t hear the call for the field goal, which resulted in a delay-of-game penalty. That made it a 45-yard field goal attempt for Chandler Catanzaro, who missed it wide left as the Jets came up empty.

“I should have put it through the pipes for those guys,” said Catanzaro, who would later boot the winner. “I felt terrible about it.”