Tom Brady Sticks It to the Jets, Again
BUCCANEERS 28 – JETS 24
He might be wearing a different uniform, but Tom Brady still owns the Jets in crunch time. The Jets lead throughout their match-up with the Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, until an infamous coaching decision allowed Brady to flex his GOAT muscle in the Bucs stunning, last second, 28-24 win at MetLife Stadium.
For 58 minutes the Jets had a great opportunity to pull out the greatest upset of the season.
The Jets instead bobbled that opportunity.
It was a major lesson for Head Coach Robert Saleh and Offensive Coordinator Mike LeFluer, as the Jets — facing a fourth and two-plus inside the Buccaneers five yard line — decided to go for it, up 24-20, rather than kick a field to extend their lead to a full touchdown.
Not only did they decide to go for it, they decided to have Zach Wilson keep it on a quarterback sneak. The result: Wilson was stopped at the line of scrimmage.
Turnover on downs.
Here's the insane 4th and 2 sneak by Zach Wilson that led to Brady's game-winning drive. WTF were they thinking? pic.twitter.com/ObVBqGbQjE
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) January 2, 2022
The Jets didn’t score any points on a drive where the Bucs used all of their timeouts, and the Jets were poised to end the game out right.
Instead, Tom Brady got the football back, and he did exactly what the GOAT always does. He drove Tampa Bay the length of the field the final two minutes, and stabbed the Jets in the heart once again with a 33-yard strike to Cyrill Grayson in the end zone to win it walk-off style with :15 to play.
What should have been a Jets win, turned into an excruciating 28-24 loss.
Saleh said afterwards that there was a miscommunication. However, it doesn’t explain why the Jets stayed with the call to go for a quarterback sneak after they called a timeout.
Instead, Saleh is left with the worst loss in his young head coaching career, after he was just a play away possibly from the best win of his career.
The loss mars what was a solid effort by quarterback Zach Wilson, who was pinpoint accurate with his throws, especially in the first half, and had the Jets clicking most of the day offensively. He also didn’t turn it over, a huge plus. He finished 19-of-33 for 245 yards and a touchdown.
Braxton Berrios was dynamic again for the Jets, hauling in eight passes for 65 yards and a touchdown that gave the Jets a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter. Berrios also scored the Jets opening touchdown of the game on an end around.
In short the Jets had the Bucs right where they wanted them. When Brady couldn’t complete a pass to Tyler Johnson at the goalline, forcing Tampa to kick a field goal, cutting the Jets lead to 24-20, New York had its shot.
Wilson had the Jets moving the ball with alacrity. He completed a big pass to Keenan Cole for a first down, and the combo running of Austin Walter and Ty Johnson were eating up chunks of yards and clock. Then came the infamous red zone opportunity that went by the wayside.
If there ever was a game this season that Jets fans will look back on and kick themselves, this was it.