Sunday’s game pitted the Jets‘ No. 32 ranked offense versus the Commanders, who owned the worst defense in the NFL.
In a battle between the resistible force versus the movable object, the Jets (6-9) got the win, 30-28, over the Commanders (4-11) after Greg Zuerlein’s 54-yard field goal with five seconds left.
“Offense did a great job getting as many yards as possible,” Zuerlein said. “And I made it happen.
“It’s a good feeling, better than the alternative.”
The Jets nearly collapsed after leading 20-0 in the second quarter. Then the Commanders scored 28 of 35 points to take the lead after Antonio Gibson’s two-yard touchdown, which gave them a one-point lead with 4:55 left. But Jets quarterback Trevor Siemian marched the team down the field with 1:41 remaining and got Zuerlein in field goal range for the game-winning kick.
The win was just the second in eight games for the Jets.
“It’s never easy to win a football game,” Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “Usually, games that start out the way they start don’t end with the same score.
“Credit them for not quitting and credit their coaches and players for putting in the film work and doing the things to get back in position. Shoutout to Greg the leg [Zuerlein] for the big kick at the end. We just have to make the plays that we needed to.”
Siemian got his first start of the season after Zach Wilson was ruled out because he suffered a concussion during the second quarter in last weekend’s loss to the Dolphins. He completed 27-of-49 passes for 217 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
“It was freaking fun, man,” Siemian said about the win. “It was fun, then it wasn’t fun and then it was fun again. It is a blast competing, I wish we would have played better, I wish I had played better in the third and fourth quarter.
“But there’s nothing like it, competing and playing and finding a way. It isn’t always pretty but finding a way to win is special in this league.”
Breece Hall had his finest performance in over two months. He rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. He also finished with 12 catches for 96 yards.
Sunday was the first time Hall finished with over 100 all-purpose yards since the Jets’ victory against the Broncos on Oct. 8, in which he finished with 177 yards and one touchdown.
Garrett Wilson also had a standout day after finishing with nine receptions for 76 yards.
“Breece was awesome today from the run game and the pass game,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “Had a chance to blow it up even more. We just let some things get away from us in the second half that kept us from getting into a good four-minute offense where we could run the ball.”
Commanders quarterback Sam Howell struggled against a Jets defense ranked seventh in the league in yards and 11th in points allowed. He finished 6-of-22 for 56 yards and two interceptions. That resulted in a passer rating of 1.7. He was benched with 6:43 left in the third quarter, down 27-7, in favor of Jacoby Brissett, who instantly led the Commanders to a touchdown on a pass to tight end Logan Thomas.
Howell was also pulled in last Sunday’s 28-20 loss to the Rams after finishing 11-of-26 for 102 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He is 4-11 as the Commanders’ starter this season after entering Week 16 throwing for 3,568 yards, 19 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
Brissett completed 10-of-13 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown in relief of Howell. Running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. was significant for the Commanders in place of the injured Brian Robinson Jr. (hamstring). He rushed for only 58 yards but registered two touchdowns. The second score put Washington down six with 9:33 left in the fourth quarter.
“A little more about veteran experience,” Commanders coach Ron Rivera said about Brissett. “A little more of the fact that he’s been through these types of things and Sam is still learning and growing.
“It was my decision and I let EB [Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy] know and he was fine and went ahead and did it.”
The Jets entered Sunday’s game with just one first-quarter touchdown in 14 games. They also scored 13 offensive touchdowns through 14 games. On Sunday, Gang Green managed to score two touchdowns in the first quarter.
Following a Jermaine Johnson punt block, which was downed on the Commanders’ nine, Siemian found Jason Brownlee for a nine-yard touchdown, which was the first of his career. Then with 9:44 in the first quarter, Hall scored on a 36-yard touchdown run that increased the Jets’ lead to 17-0.
“I knew it was going to be a good play, but I didn’t know it would be a touchdown,” Hall said about the play. “It was cool to see how they drew up the perfect play and we were able to execute it.”
Gang Green answered Rodriguez’s 12-yard touchdown with Hall’s second touchdown in the first half, which came with 1:42 left in the second quarter.
The Jets only registered 103 yards in the 30-0 loss to the Dolphins in Week 15. However, they finished with 381 yards and 4.5 yards per play against a Commanders’ defense that gave up an average of 384.5 yards per game through 14 games.
After being eliminated from postseason contention last weekend, Saleh recently came under fire because of the team’s performance. The team lost six of their last seven games coming into Sunday’s matchup. Losing Aaron Rodgers for the year due to a torn Achilles certainly didn’t help matters.
The 27 points in the first half was the most the Jets accumulated this season. The Jets entered the game last in yards (255.1) and 30th in points per game (14.4).
They also were 32nd in the league in NFL red zone efficiency (34.48%) and third down conversion rate (25.5%). The Jets were 4-for-16 (26%) on third downs and 2-for-5 (40%) on their red zone attempts on Sunday.
But on Sunday, Jets owner Woody Johnson told the New York Post that not only would Saleh would return for the 2024 season, but so would general manager Joe Douglas. Saleh has a 17-32 record in his three seasons as Jets coach.
“I can sit here and give you reasons on why I think I’m the right coach, but at the same time, there’s a lot of things I need to reflect on and acknowledge and get better at,” Saleh said. “And not just with myself, but globally and use this offseason to make sure we are attacking it in a way to get us to the goal that we all believe we can get to, which is a championship.”
Gang Green’s defense held Washington to 245 total yards, which was an improvement from last week when it allowed 290 yards and three touchdowns.
The Jets extended their streak of not allowing a 300-yard passer to 33 games.
The Jets will travel to Cleveland on a short week to play the Browns on Thursday Night Football. The Commanders will return home to play the 49ers.
