It was raucous at the start of the night and raucous again at the end of the night at MetLife Stadium on Monday.
Xavier Gipson returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown after the Jets forced the Bills to go three-and-out to open the overtime period and the Jets walked off with an improbable 22-16 win over the reigning AFC East champs. Gipson, an undrafted rookie out of Stephen F. Austin, was playing his first NFL game.
The raucous start was due to Aaron Rodgers’ debut as the Jets’ starting quarterback, but things got gloomy in a hurry. Rodgers left with an injury four plays into his debut as their starting quarterback. He was ruled out with an ankle injury and was wearing a walking boot on his left foot, but there’s been no word on his long-term outlook.
The offense struggled with Zach Wilson back at the reins, but a remarkable touchdown catch by Garrett Wilson tied the game in the fourth quarter and Josh Allen’s fourth turnover of the night gave them a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter.
The Bills quarterback’s fourth giveaway came one play after Wilson’s touchdown tied the game at 13 with just under five minutes left to play. Allen couldn’t handle a snap and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams recovered the ball on the Buffalo 27-yard-line. A quarterback sneak by Zach Wilson enabled the Jets to take the clock under two minutes and Greg Zuerlein hit a 30-yard field goal to give the Jets their first lead of the night.
Zuerlein’s kick came with 1:48 left on the clock, so Allen had the ball and one timeout to use in an attempt to tie or win the game. An Allen run and throws to Gabe Davis and Stefon Diggs moved them past midfield. Diggs got flagged for offensive pass interference one play later, but got the yards back and more on back-to-back catches that moved the ball to the 32-yard line. It would stay there for Tyler Bass to try a 50-yard field goal and he banked it in off the left upright to send the game to overtime.
The Jets struggled to move the ball for much of the night, but one positive development was the play of running back Breece Hall. Hall showed he has recovered his playmaking ability after last season’s torn ACL by running 10 times for 127 yards and taking a screen for 20 yards.
The defense also retained its knack for big plays. Safety Jordan Whitehead intercepted Allen three times — No. 3 set up Wilson’s touchdown catch — and the unit sacked him five times over the course of the evening. That helped the Jets weather Wilson’s struggles long enough to create fireworks at the end of the night.
On the Bills’ side, Allen’s sloppy play will be a major talking point. Turnovers have been an issue throughout his career and Monday’s quartet helped hand a game to a reeling divisional rival. They’ll host the Raiders next weekend in a bid for their first win of the season.
The Jets will now wait for word on the severity of Rodgers’ injury and turn their attention toward a trip to Dallas to face the Cowboys. Neither of those things will allow for much time to celebrate Monday’s win, but it will go down as one of the most unexpected ones in franchise history.