The Jets and Jaguars came close to playing the first tie since the move to a 10-minute overtime period, but one last blunder by the Jaguars was enough to put the Jets in position to kick a game-winning field goal.
Jaguars linebacker Paul Posluszny was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of a Jeremy Kerley punt return that had already taken the team inside Jacksonville territory with under two minutes to go in the extra period. The call appeared to come as a result of Posluszny saying something to Jets linebacker Dylan Donahue after Donahue hit him near the sideline at the end of the play, which made it a questionable and painful flag for the Jags.
The Jets ran a couple of plays and then Chandler Catanzaro came in for a 41-yard field goal that made the Jets 23-20 winners.
A Jets win seemed in the cards after three quarters as they led 20-10 and were beating the Jags on both sides of the ball. A Josh McCown screen to Bilal Powell turned into a loose ball that Myles Jack returned 82 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to three and McCown was intercepted by A.J. Bouye on the 35-yard-line later in the fourth to give the Jaguars a golden opportunity to take the lead.
It appeared they did when Leonard Fournette turned a short pass into a touchdown, but wide receiver Arrelious Benn was flagged for holding and the Jaguars had to settle for a field goal. That sent the game to overtime, where the teams traded five punts before the Jets put an end to the proceedings with 28 seconds left to play.
If five overtime punts don’t conjure images of scintillating football, then you’ve got a pretty accurate impression of how things played out at the Meadowlands. The Jets ran the ball well despite Matt Forte’s absence as Bilal Powell and Elijah McGuire each scored on long runs while combining for 256 yards, but the two turnovers and five sacks kept them from putting the game away. The defense fared better and has now turned in two strong performances in a row after getting blitzed by the Raiders in Week Two.
That leaves the Jets at 2-2 with a date in Cleveland against the winless Browns looming next week, making the possibility of a winning record very real in a season that started with talk of tanking.