The Jets and Lions didn’t do a lot of scoring for the first 55 minutes of Sunday’s game, but they made up for it in the final five minutes.
Jets quarterback Zach Wilson hit tight end C.J. Uzomah for a one-yard touchdown with 4:41 left to play to give the Jets their first lead of the afternoon, but a defense that had not allowed the Lions offense to score a touchdown all day finally broke. Lions quarterback Jared Goff hit tight end Brock Wright for a short pass on a fourth-and-one and Wright turned it into a 51-yard score to put the Lions back in front 20-17 with 1:49 left to play.
Wilson was able to move the Jets to midfield, but a sack by John Cominskey made life more difficult. Wilson avoided the pass rush on a fourth-and-18 play and hit Elijah Moore for a 20-yard gain to set up a 58-yard field goal with one second left. Zuerlein missed the kick badly, however, and the Lions held on for the win.
The victory moves the Lions to 7-7 and keeps them very much in the playoff hunt. They will be in Carolina next week to keep the push alive.
The chances of doing so will be improved by a crisper offensive performance. The Lions were gifted great field position by a Wilson interception early in the second half, but settled for a field goal after losing one yard on three plays and only had 118 second half yards before Wright broke free.
Wilson’s return to the starting lineup had some high points — two touchdown passes to tight end C.J. Uzomah and a 50-yarder to Jeff Smith to set up a field goal at the end of the first half — but the interception and three punts helped waste another strong outing for the Jets defense. He finished 18-of-35 for 317 yards and the running game never got going for the home team.
The Jets have a short week before facing the Jaguars on Thursday. At 7-7, they probably can’t lose that one and hold any realistic hope of advancing to the playoffs. That record might not have looked too bad at the start of the year, but going from 7-4 to here has been a painful slide for the AFC East club.
