TEARS & JEERS
SOX TOAST AL EAST TITLE — ON YANKEES’ SOIL JETS, SAM HAND BROWNS THEIR FIRST WIN SINCE ’16
Baker Mayfield, a controversial pick over Sam Darnold, comes off bench to lead long-suffering Browns to 21-17 win over long-suffering Jets.
CLEVELAND – Sam Darnold didn’t make any excuses following the Jets’ 21-17 loss to the Browns Thursday night, but it’s clear that less than 72 hours isn’t adequate prep time for a rookie making his third career start in 11 days. Darnold – and his offensive line — had his fair share of struggles against Gregg Williams’ aggressive defense.
“I felt really comfortable throughout the whole game,” Darnold said. “Just stupid mistakes in that fourth quarter and some missed opportunities throughout the whole game.”
Darnold finished 15 for 31 for 169 yards, two INTs and 38.2 passer rating in his second consecutive loss.
“I just have to play better,” Darnold said. “It is as simple as that. It’s not acceptable the way I played. I know that… and I have to take it like a man. I feel like I’m responsible for the stagnant offense we had.”
Said Todd Bowles: “I thought he battled. I thought he took care of the football for the most part. He gave us a chance and we have to help him out more.”
The Jets leaned on the running on the ground game to help take a two-touchdown lead in the first half before Baker Mayfield rallied the Browns in relief.
“Baker is a great competitor,” Darnold said. I loved playing against him tonight. Obviously you wish you could win those games…. He’s going to be in the league for a while.”
WIPED OUT
Bowles wasn’t a fan of Isaiah Crowell’s touchdown celebration after a two-yard score midway through the second quarter. The former Brown treated the ball as it if were toilet paper and wiped it on his butt before holding it up to the home crowd.
“That was inexcusable,” Bowles said. “We addressed it and it will never happen again.”
Crowell was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty.
“I didn’t plan it,” Crowell said. “It was just like passion when I got in the end zone.”
THIS AND THAT
Kevin Pierre-Louis’ blocked punt late in the first quarter set up the Jets first touchdown…
Cornerback Trumaine Johnson left after getting drilled by Antonio Callaway on Tyrod Taylor’s 22-yard scramble on Cleveland’s second drive of the game. The Jets’ top cornerback returned in the second quarter after being examined for a head injury.
BROWNS 21 JETS 17
CLEVELAND – The Jets finally gave joy to everyone inside the Factory of Sadness with a stunning collapse to a franchise that had endured 635 days without a victory. The Browns got a jolt from electrifying rookie Baker Mayfield to stun Gang Green, 21-17, Thursday night. The Jets (1-2) seemingly had control of the game before coughing up a two-touchdown lead against a kid making his NFL debut. Cleveland snapped a 19-game winless streak to send the First-Energy crowd into a frenzy. How inconceivable was all of this? The Browns were 1-72-1 since 2008 when they trailed by 14 points — at any point during a game — according to ESPN Stats and Information.
“I don’t want to lose to anybody,” Todd Bowles said. “The fact that we lost to them is no different than if we lost to New England or anybody else. I don’t like to lose games. Period. They don’t either. So, it doesn’t really matter who we lost to. We’re pissed when we lose.”
The Jets punctuated their third game in 11 days with a second-half disappearing act that will surely sting.
“We have some smart players. We just didn’t play smart football,” wide receiver Quincy Enunwa said. “I don’t want to say we were better because obviously wer- en’t…. We were doing dumb stuff and hoping that our athletic ability… was going to ride it to the end. And that’s not the case. You have to play smart football for four quarters. We didn’t do that.”
It was a familiar formula for defeat for the Jets: Ill-timed bone-headed penalties coupled with an inability to finish.
“It keeps happening,” wide receiver Jermaine Kearse said. ‘We’re still dealing with the same issues of not being able to finish when we’re up. You got to find a way to find a way. That’s something that we’re just going to really harp on. Being able to stay composed and poised whether we’re up or whether we’re down. If we want to be a great team and get to where we want to go, that’s something that we’re going to have to start fixing now.”
Sam Darnold (15 for 31, 169 yards, 2 INTs, 38.2 passer rating) looked every bit like a rookie on a short week, while Mayfield (17-for-23, 201 yards, 100.1 rating) looked like a guy shot out of cannon, ready to prove that Cleveland made the right decision to take him with the top overall pick in the draft.
The Jets held Cleveland to 112 total yards before intermission before Mayfield & Co. racked up 212 yards against Bowles’ defense in the second half. Darnold threw two interceptions in the final two minutes to end any hope of a comeback.
“I know Baker’s a great player,” Darnold said. “He’s obviously done great things at Oklahoma and he continued to do great things tonight. I thought they rallied pretty good around him… I just got to continue to do my job and keep the offense rolling.”
Isaiah Crowell’s pair of touchdown runs helped the Jets to a 14-0 lead before it slowly unraveled. Bowles defense played a nasty, suffocating style that racked up four sacks, 10 quarterback hits and held the Browns to 3.1 yard per play before intermission.
The Jets held Tyrod Taylor to 4-for-14 for 19 yards before they knocked him out for good with a concussion late in the second quarter. It turned out to be the worst thing that could have happened to Bowles’ team.
Mayfield led the Browns to a field goal before halftime before rallying his team to victory in the second half. The Jets did their part to help out the home team with silly mistakes along the way.
“We let them back in the game with some key penalties and that cost us,” Bowles said. “We lost our composure. I told the team that we lost our composure. We should be pissed off up until we play the game next weekend. That’s the way it’s going to be… We’re going to have a good football team.”
Robby Anderson’s second fumble in as many games helped the Browns inch closer from their 11-point halftime deficit in the third quarter. Denzel Ward stripped Anderson on a 17yard completion before returning the fumble to the Jets 8-yard line. The Browns settled for a 27-yard yard field goal to cut the Jets’ lead to 14-6 with 5:21 left in the third quarter.
Then, Mayfield got into a rhythm. The rookie hooked up with Jarvis Landy on a 16-yard pickup on third down before the duo did it again. Landry somehow hauled in a pass with Doug Middleton draped all over him at the Jets 1. Carlos Hyde scored on the next play to draw within 14-12 with 42 seconds left in the third quarter.
Then, Mo Claiborne committed a critical defensive holding penalty to wipe out Cleveland’s failed two-point try. With second life, the Browns dipped into the reigning Super Bowl champions’ playbook to tie it up. The Browns unveiled their version of the Philly Special. Duke Johnson took the shotgun snap tossed it to Landry, who threw it into Mayfield’s waiting arms for the two-point conversion to make it 14-14 with less than a minute to go in the third quarter. “Blown assignment,” Bowles said.
After the Jets re-took the lead on Jason Myers’ 28-yard field goal, Mayfield orchestrated a 15-play, 75-yard march capped by Hyde’s 1-yard touchdown on third down to give the Browns their only lead of the game. “We got too excited,” Enunwa said. “We lost our composure. We’re a smarter team than that. It’s unfortunate that we put that out there on Thursday night in front of everybody.”
This one might hurt for a while.