As the Jets prepare for an AFC East showdown with the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, we need to talk about the success of their two-minute offense. This metric includes the two minutes before halftime and the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. However, it’s what they’ve done at the end of games that has saved their season thus far.
New York’s offense has struggled mightily at home in Weeks 1 and 3. They’ve played much differently on the road in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, though. Once the two-minute warning hit in both of those road matchups, the likelihood of a Jets victory looked incredibly slim.
But they somehow snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Let’s revisit these wonderful comebacks before putting their production during this time of the game into proper perspective.
Jets’ unreal comeback in Cleveland
This is still just an insane sequence of events to watch. Before New York started mounting its comeback, the Browns’ win probability peaked at 99.84%.
The Jets scored a total of 17 points in the fourth quarter, with 14 of them coming within the last two minutes.
New York’s game-winning drive in Pittsburgh
This was obviously another impressive victory — especially since they basically never win in Pittsburgh. Following a Corey Davis touchdown catch to get the Jets within three, it was this drive that put them over the top, after the two-minute warning hit.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Steelers’ win probability peaked at 90.08% and was still greater than 85% in the latter half of the period. But that’s when Zach Wilson and Co. went to work to snatch another win.
Putting this production in perspective
Entering Week 5, the Jets have already scored 24 points in their two-minute offense, according to SportRadar. That’s easily the best in football. There are only four other NFL teams who reached double digits within the four weeks of the season. The two closest to New York are the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles. They’ve each scored 13 points in their respective two-minute offenses.
The Jets have been so good at this time in the game that their 24 points match 18 different NFL teams…combined.
How did this leaderboard look last year, though? The Baltimore Ravens (41), Detroit Lions (41), and Cincinnati Bengals (40) were the only teams to break the 40-point plateau with their two-minute offenses. As for the Jets, they only scored 13 points within the final two minutes throughout the entirety of 2021.
The Jets have not only outscored their two-minute offense from last year in just four weeks — they’ve flown right past it. Obviously, it’d be nice to not need a last-minute drive to walk away with a victory all the time. But it’s nice to see that New York has the type of offensive weapons to go and make something like this happen.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
