A half century of Jets dread and gloom was supposed to finish Monday evening towards the Buffalo Payments amid the ceremonious debut of Aaron Rodgers, one of the prolific passers of his era. As an alternative, the Jets’ protection, younger receivers and a castaway quarterback, with assist from 4 turnovers from the Payments’ Josh Allen, fueled a 22-16 comeback, time beyond regulation win.
Capping a scoring rally that started with a game-tying landing drive late within the fourth quarter, the Jets rookie receiver Xavier Gipson returned a punt 65 yards for a landing in time beyond regulation to grab again a victory towards a division rival that appeared unlikely as soon as Rodgers was harm.
On the Jets’ third official offensive play of the sport, left sort out Duane Brown missed a block towards Payments linebacker Leonard Floyd. Rodgers tried to flee, however Floyd sacked Rodgers, rolling the quarterback’s legs as they each went to the bottom. Rodgers stood up, then sat again down earlier than strolling to the sideline with assist from Jets medical workers.
Rodgers was transported to the locker room on a cart and didn’t return after formally being dominated out with an ankle harm.
Jets Coach Robert Saleh stated after the sport that the workforce was involved that Rodgers had injured an Achilles’ tendon. “M.R.I. might be going to verify what we expect is already going to occur, so prayers tonight, but it surely’s not good,” he stated.
The cornerback D.J. Reed stated the harm rattled the protection and that it was robust to focus instantly afterward. “You’ll be able to’t dwell on it as a result of you realize we’ve a sport to play, however on the identical time you don’t need your quarterback to be down,” Reed stated.
The singer Justin Timberlake and the rapper Sexyy Purple have been among the many celebrities who studded the sideline, drawn by the prospect of Rodgers’s Jets period. The fanfare inside MetLife Stadium shortly dulled as Zach Wilson got here on in reduction and the Jets reverted to final season’s philosophy — working the ball and taking part in stout protection.
The protection held the Payments to a subject purpose on the drive that adopted Rodgers’s harm, and security Jordan Whitehead intercepted an Allen move on the Payments’ subsequent sequence for the primary of his three picks on the evening.
The second-year working again Breece Corridor instantly responded, jolting for an 83-yard run to arrange a brief Greg Zuerlein subject purpose to tie the sport at 3-3 with 10 minutes 35 seconds remaining within the second quarter. Corridor, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament seven video games right into a promising 2022 season, had 127 yards on 10 carries in his return to play.
The Payments retaliated with a 75-yard landing drive, accomplished by a 5-yard toss from Allen to Stefon Diggs.
After Wilson pitched an interception of his personal on a brief move up the center supposed for Randall Cobb, Buffalo kicked a subject purpose to deliver the rating to 13-3 at halftime.
Wilson stated he briefly talked to Rodgers at halftime and instructed him that he cherished him. After two seasons because the Jets starter, Wilson embraced his function as Rodgers’s understudy throughout coaching camp and bonding with the four-time league M.V.P.
Abruptly thrust again into the quarterback job, Wilson was hounded all night by a Payments move rush that dominated the Jets’ offensive line, a weak spot of final season that carried into the Rodgers period. He was sacked twice and managed 140 yards on 14 of 21 passing, however he was in a position to start the second half with a 12-play, 50-yard subject purpose drive to slim the rating to 13-6.
“I simply obtained to maintain getting higher,” Wilson stated in a postgame information convention. He added: “I simply should aggressively depend on every part I’ve executed within the preseason and simply do my greatest to maintain enhancing as a participant.”
On the Payments’ subsequent possession, Allen tried to search out Diggs in the long run zone once more, throwing a deep move on second-and-13 from the Jets’ 41-yard line into double protection. With defensive sort out Quinnen Williams bearing down on Allen as he threw, Whitehead caught his second interception, this time for a touchback. The Jets have been unable to attain off the turnover, going three-and-out.
The truth of a Rodgers-less offense all however silenced the gang because the clocked ticked towards what appeared to be a depressing ending. The unit sputtered because it had final season, choked by safety for Wilson that couldn’t maintain up as he looked for high-percentage, risk-averse passing choices.
With 9:43 remaining within the sport, Whitehead snatched one other move from Allen — a toss aimed toward Gabe Davis — gifting the Jets the ball at their very own 43-yard line. On the following drive, the Jets’ middling offense got here up with the essential performs it had appeared incapable of manufacturing within the three earlier quarters.
Wilson discovered receiver Allen Lazard with a brief toss on a third-and-5 play that Lazard legged out for a 24-yard acquire. The Jets pounded the ball ahead on working performs, together with a Wilson scamper within the purple zone, as Buffalo’s protection tightened. On second-and-goal, he focused receiver Garrett Wilson, who was matched up with Payments cornerback Tre’Davious White one on one. White prevented Garrett Wilson from attending to the again nook of the tip zone, the place the move was headed, however Wilson reached throughout White, batted the ball again to himself together with his proper hand, and picked up it after a brief juggle to tie the rating at 13.
Wilson stated coaches referred to as for a run play with a passing possibility and that he determined to throw when he noticed Wilson in single protection.
“I simply regarded on the market and noticed G and was like, ‘I’m throwing this one up,’” Zach Wilson stated.
Going through Williams’s move rush once more, Allen fumbled on the Payments’ first play from scrimmage on the following sequence, and the Jets recovered the ball at Buffalo’s 27-yard line with slightly below 5 minutes left in regulation, sending the gang right into a frenzy.
It was the final turnover of a deplorable evening from Allen, who was sacked 5 occasions and hurried on a number of passes. He completed with 236 yards passing on a 29-of-41 efficiency.
“It’s not like I’m, going on the market and making an attempt to throw interceptions,” Allen stated in a postgame information convention. He completed tied for second within the league in interceptions final season (14). “We’ll discover out on tape and attempt to appropriate and obtained to appropriate it quick.”
The Jets managed a clock-eating subject purpose drive punctuated with Zuerlein’s 30-yard conversion to take a 16-13 lead with 1:48 left.
Allen responded with a drive during which he linked with Diggs 3 times for 40 yards on a 43-yard march to get into subject purpose vary. With two seconds remaining, the Payments’ Tyler Bass linked on a 50-yard kick that crashed into the left upright however bounced by means of to power time beyond regulation.
The Payments gained possession within the coin toss, leaving the Jets’ protection, the energy of the workforce within the 2022 season and on Monday evening, to give you yet one more essential stand. A false begin penalty on Payments offensive sort out Spencer Brown backed Buffalo as much as its personal 20-yard line and a move rush led by Williams held the Payments to only 3 yards from there.
Allen needed to take his ultimate snap from the shotgun earlier than the Payments have been compelled to punt to Gipson, an undrafted rookie out of Stephen F. Austin. He obtained stellar blocking from teammates as he strode 65 yards to the tip zone, the place he was surrounded by Jets coaches and gamers who rushed in from the sidelines as time expired.
Rodgers was nowhere in sight.
