JETS TAKE OFF FOR SECOND-STRAIHT WIN, GIANTS STILL IN THE HUNT

The rejuvenated New York Jets have once again brought good news to the back pages of the New York Post. And it was a luck of the draw for the other Garden State tenant New York Giants when after falling out of first place in the National Football League NFC East with three-straight defeats, they lost this time at the Baltimore Ravens, then learned that in Washington, its football team was upset by the Carolina Panthers, and in Dallas, the Philadelphia Eagles were eliminated by the Cowboys.

First the Jets. First they lost their first 13 starts, and now they have won their last two by following up the stunning 23-20 win at the contending Los Angeles Rams with Sunday’s 23-16 triumph over the visiting, contending Cleveland Browns, who are trying to make the post-season for the first time in 15 years. The Jets no longer have the top pick in the college draft, for at 2-13 they trail the 1-14 Jacksonville Jaguars, who lost 40-27 to the visiting Chicago Bears.

But it now appears that the Green will take Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence off their list and resign current quarterback Sam Darnold, who passed for 175 yards on 16 for 32 attempts that included a pair of touchdowns, and on the ground he carried seven times for 20 yards. It was a costly setback for Cleveland and starting quarter Baker Mayfield, but it remains as the last AFC wild card at 9-6 after the Indianapolis Colts blew a three touchdown lead and lost 28-24 at the Pittsburgh Steelers, who advanced to 12-3, snapped a 3-game losing streak, and clinched the top spot in the AFC North and denying the Browns a chance to overtake them.

Mayfield was missing his four leading receivers via the coronavirus pandemic, and down 23-16 and at the Jets’ 11 as the final minutes ticked away, he fumbled on a fourth and one, the Jets’ rookie Cameron Clark recovered it, and New York just ran down the clock and took three knees after the visitors used their final time out. No tanking here, just another impressive go, and a chance to celebrate again. Before these, it had come close to turning back the visiting Las Vegas Raiders before losing 31-28 in the final minutes.

The Jets, who revealed that they would fire second-year head coach Adam Gase if they lost this game, will probably let him coach the finale next Sunday at the New England Patriots, which will miss the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, and then go searching for his replacement. Gase came over from the same role with the Miami Dolphins and is now  9-22 in two seasons. This season his team battled AFC winning Buffalo Bills before losing 27-17 and 18-10, and also came close to surprising the Pats before falling 30-27 at home.

New York surrendered a 44-yard field goal early in the tilt, but responded with the lead for good after Jamison Crowder took a hand off from Darnold and threw it to Braxton Berrios, who sped 43 yards untouched down the sidelines and into the end zone. Sam Ficken then kicked the PAT, and it became 13-3 at halftime when Darnold operated out of the shot gun in the second quarter and found Chris Hendon with an 11-yard touchdown toss, but Ficken failed this time on the point-after.

The Jets then increased the lead to 20-3 on a Darnold to Crowder 30-yard touchdown pass, and Ficken was good for a 20-3 advantage. Cleveland responded when its leading rusher, Charles Chubb, ran the ball in from the 1, and the PAT, it was 20-13. Next the Jets added a 34-yard field goal from Ficken to up the margin to 23-16, but after the Browns moved the ball for 3:23 in the final quarter and scored, their, too, failed on the point-after and that left them six points behind.

But then came the big fourth down play in the red zone. Mayfield carried the ball behind his line, but lost the ball just short of the first down. The play was reviewed, the call stood, and it was another stellar effort by the Jets as time flew by. They had possession time of 30:19 to Cleveland’s 29:41, but the Browns had more total yards, 375-262, more first downs, 16-13, but were outrushed, 93-70, with 37-year-old running back Frank Gore picking up 40 of them for New York.

Mayfield, one of three former Oklahoma quarterbacks starting in the NFL, and was back-to-back Heisman Trophy winner with Kyrie Murray of the Arizona Cardinals, and Heisman runner-up Jaylen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles, passed for 325 yards on 19 for 35, and had one touchdown pass and one interception, but the fumble hurt the most.

In the NFC East, it’s been a topsy-turvy campaign, with all of the four teams all sharing the top spot. First it was Dallas, followed by Philadelphia, New York, and then Washington. As it stands now, with the Eagles ousted at 4-10-1, Washington is on top of the heap at 6-9, same as Dallas, and with the Giants at 5-10. But New York sweep Washington and holds the tiebreaker there, and lost the previous test at the Cowboys, but to avenge that Sunday and count on a Washington loss, could bring the playoff spot to the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford via the tiebreaker edge.