IT’S NOT TWO BE

Stunning win streak officially knocks Jets out of Trevor hunt

The Jets are playing their best football in December … much to their fans’ frustration.

The Jets won their second straight game, a 23-16 nail-biter over the Browns at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

The win, coupled with the Jaguars’ loss to the Bears, gives the Jets the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft, ending any hope of them drafting Clemson star Trevor Lawrence.

Je t s coa c h Adam Gase is expected to be fired, but his team continues to play hard for him. After stunning the Rams a week ago, the Jets shocked the Browns, who were trying to secure a playoff berth.

The Jets dominated early, but needed a fourth-and-1 stop late to win the game.

“It proves that we don’t quit, that we still approach every week to win,” said linebacker Tarell Basham, who forced two Baker Mayfield fumbles, including one on fourth-and-1 to seal the game. “We’ve come in the last two weeks and played two really good teams and were able to pull out some wins on two potential playoff teams. That’s big for our team. That’s big for our organization. That’s big for our players, our pride. It’s big.”

The Jets jumped out to a 20-3 lead against a Browns team that lost six players to the COVID-19 list on Saturday, including its top four wide receivers. The 10-5 Browns could have locked up a playoff berth with a win over the Jets, but now must beat the Steelers next week to get in.

The Jets dominated the game in the first half, but the Browns began to chip away in the third quarter and cut the Jets’ lead to 20-16 with 12:38 left in the game. A missed extra point on their final touchdown by Browns kicker Cody Parkey meant they had to play for a touchdown late.

Mayfield had a rough game, fumbling three times and losing two. He lost a fumble with just over three minutes left in the game after Basham came around the end and knocked the ball free for John Franklin-Myers to recover. Sam Ficken kicked a 34-yard field goal three plays later to give the Jets a 23-16 lead.

Ficken’s ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, giving the Browns the ball at their own 40 with 2:52 left in the game. They moved the ball to the Jets’ 16 and had a fourth-and-1. Mayfield had successfully run a quarterback sneak twice earlier in the game. He tried again, but got stuffed and Basham knocked the ball out of his hands again. Browns running back Kareem Hunt recovered, but it was behind the line of scrimmage, giving the Jets the ball back and the win.

“There’s no excuse,” Mayfield said. “I failed this team. I put three balls on the ground, two of them that they recovered and the other on fourth down — just hold onto the damn ball. Plain and simple. I have to hold onto the damn ball. I failed this team. We had exactly what we needed to win this game and I didn’t do good enough. It’s that simple.”

The win moves the Jets to 2-13, preventing them from tying the 1996 Jets for the worst record in franchise history. The back-toback wins should not change anything about the fate of Gase, who is now 9-22 in his two years with the Jets. But it has shown this team has resilience.

“I wish I had an answer for why things didn’t go our way earlier,” Gase said. “We didn’t do enough to win those games. We were in a few of them and there was a lot of them where we didn’t keep it tight enough and execute in the fourth quarter. I just feel like guys are doing a good job of finishing the games the right way.”

Gase said he is not focused on his job status.

“It’s something I can’t worry about,” Gase said. “I’ve got to focus on getting us ready for the next one.”

The Browns had to deal with their missing receivers, but the Jets did not exactly line up with the 1985 Bears defense. Cleveland entered the game with the No. 3 rushing attack in the NFL, but gained just 45 yards on 18 carries, a 2.5 yard per rush average.

“It had nothing to do with the guys we didn’t have,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “We got flat-out beat, flat-out outcoached with the players we had, myself included.”

Jets wide receiver Jamison Crowder scored a touchdown with his arm and one with his hands. He threw a pass on a trick play for a 43-yard touchdown to Braxton Berrios for the Jets’ first touchdown. Sam Darnold then found him in the third quarter for a 30-yard touchdown to put the Jets up 20-3. Darnold also threw a touchdown pass to Chris Herndon.

“I’ve never played quarterback, but I’m an athlete,” Crowder said of his first career completion.

Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt each found the end zone in the second half and it looked like the Jets might blow the game. Instead, the defense came up with the big stop when it was needed.

The Jets now go to New England to finish the season against the rival Patriots. The back-toback wins may have angered the fan base, but the Jets players and coaches are relishing them.

“It means a lot to us as players to come out to play to win, to actually win a game and not just continue to go home losers,” Basham said. “We’ve got children. That’s the last thing you want to go home and explain to your kids every week is why you’re a loser. … This is big for us as players, as men, as coaches, as an organization. This is big.”