The New York Jets did exactly what they needed to do on the road against the Cleveland Browns: win the game no matter the circumstances.
- New York Jets 17 (3-2)
- Cleveland Browns 14 (0-5)
- NFL, Final, Box Score
- FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio
That’s right. Tank Town USA, the worst roster in a decade on paper is now 3-2 after going on the road and knocking off the Cleveland Browns by the final of 17-7.
It was an ugly game from start to finish. In fact, an impartial observer would argue the Jets took a major step back in the victory. The first half was dominated by the home team, even with DeShone Kizer struggling mightily.
Twice Kizer marched his team into the red zone to only turn the ball over. Once came via a poor pitch on the option and the other via a Marcus Maye interception.
The only score of the first half was a late Chandler Catanzaro 50-plus yard field goal as time expired.
Coming out of the tunnel for the second half, Hugh Jackson decided enough was enough and turned to backup quarterback Kevin Hogan. The second-year pro rewarded his head coach with an excellent second half.
He put his team on top with a touchdown pass to rookie tight end David Njoku on the first drive of the second half:
After mustering nothing in the first half, Josh McCown and the Jets offense finally put a few drives together after Cleveland took its first lead of the entire season.
After Morris Claiborne, who was fantastic, picked off a Hogan pass, McCown found Austin Seferian-Jenkins on the easy fade:
The play of the game came early in the fourth quarter when the Browns were facing a 4th-and-2 from the Jets 3-yard line. Jackson elected to go for it, ran a quick blast to the right and was completely shut down.
From there, the Jets added the final nail in the coffin when McCown found Jermaine Kearse on the wheel route (fake wide receiver screen):
Cleveland’s defense was so aggressive all day long it was surprising the Jets didn’t attack downfield more. Other than that play and an Eric Tomlinson leak out that went for big yards, they didn’t look to stretch the field against a loaded box all game.
Duke Johnson added a touchdown late in the game on a screen that served only as window dressing:
Numer one overall pick Myles Garrett played his first game as a pro and finished with two sacks in limited duty. Kizer finished with 87 yards and an interception on 8-of-17 passing. Hogan was much better, finishing with 194 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
On the Jets side of things, McCown went for 194, two touchdowns and one interception on a very efficient 23-of-30. John Morton‘s offense was extremely careful and didn’t press the issue even with the Browns daring them to go over-the-top.
After rushing for 254 yards last week, the Jets O-line took a step back this week. They could only muster 34 yards as a unit on 18 tries. Elijah McGuire led the way with 20 yards while Bilal Powell left the game in the second quarter via injury.
The winning football squad known as the New York Jets will now take their 3-2 record back to MetLife Stadium where they’ll host the New England Patriots in Week 6.