Jets get wild win over Andy’s fading Chiefs
Jets get win after Chiefs’ Peters walks off
EAST RUTHERFORD » The Jets walked away with a win.
A fan walked away with an authentic National Football League penalty flag.
And Marcus Peters just walked away ... and then came back without his socks.
Gang Green’s often-entertaining and sometimesbizarre 38-31 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday had a little bit of everything, but did a lot to help them cling to hopes of advancing to the postseason.
“I felt like we started the fourth quarter in the first quarter,” quipped Jets head coach Todd Bowles about his defense. “We gave up two touchdowns quick. But our offense ran the ball well…I thought they executed very well. It’s big to win one, it gives you a lot of confidence going in, and you can breathe a sigh of relief before you get to next to week. To finally win one, it’s refreshing.”
Now 5-7, the Jets found themselves in a quick 14-0 hole just 4:24 into the game, however. Alex Smith drove the Chiefs down the field in an impressive five-play, 75-yard drive that took just two minutes and 38 seconds to complete; Travis Kelce was on the receiving end of a 22-yard Smith pass that gave Kansas City an early 7-0 lead.
Following a Jets threeand-out, Kelce caught his second touchdown pass of the quarter just a minute and 46 seconds later, this time from 36 yards out.
It was the last pass Kelce would catch until the fourth quarter.
“We got some good looks, he matched up on some guys that we felt good about,” Smith said.
“To be honest, there aren’t many matchups that aren’t favorable there, he has that type of ability. There were some missed opportunities there, and it’s going to be hard to look at the film. There were some times there at the end of the first half where I could have forced some more balls his way, I felt like.”
Before the first quarter had expired, the Jets had erased the Chiefs lead; Bilal Powell and Josh McCown each ran the football in from one yard out to make it a 14-14 game headed to the second, where the teams would swap the lead again.
Harrison Butker’s 36yard field goal with 2:49 left in the first half put the Chiefs on top, but McCown’s 11-yard strike to Matt Forte with just 23 seconds remaining — one that was reviewed, but ultimately upheld after it was determined Forte did get the ball over the plane of the goal line — gave the Jets the lead heading into halftime.
Where the Jets defense managed to take away Kelce, however, they left an opportunity for speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill. After one of three Chandler Catanzaro field goals on the day extended the Jets lead in the third quarter, Smith found Hill for a 79-yard scoring strike to once again tie the game at 24-24. In-between two Catanzaro kicks, Smith and Hill found paydirt again; a 40-yard touchdown catch with 9:13 remaining in regulation seemed to send the Jets on their way to blowing a fourth quarter lead for the fourth time this season.
Gang Green had other ideas. Catanzaro had seemed to give the Jets a 3331 lead, but a late personal foul call on Chiefs defensive tackle Bennie Logan gave them a new set of downs, and Jets head coach Todd Bowles elected to take the points off the board.
The decision proved to be a wise one — McCown again ran the ball in from one yard out with just 2:15 remaining to give the Jets the lead back for good — but what happened on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt will be the topic of conversation for some time.
After a long scramble, McCown’s pass was incomplete, but a penalty was called. Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters proceeded to pick up the flag, throw it into the stands and promptly walk off the field, believing he’d been ejected despite the fact he hadn’t been. He was later seen having returned on the sideline, sans socks, taunting the MetLife Stadium crowd.
“He thought he was disqualified, and that’s why he left the field,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid. “I don’t know what was said to him or not said to him, but he thought he was. That’s why he came back out.”
Somewhat lost in the craziness of the game was the return of Darrelle Revis, the long-time Pro Bowl cornerback for the Jets who made his return to the NFL in this game and actually led the team in tackles at the first half before being taken out by Reid shortly thereafter.
“He was up to like 39 snaps, and I thought that was plenty,” Reid said. “He’s just getting back into the game…I appreciated him being out there competing, and that’s what he did.”