Jets owner Woody Johnson gave coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas a vote of confidence before Sunday’s game against the Commanders, telling The Post both will be back in 2024.
Johnson may have been regretting his words late in the fourth quarter as the Jets looked like they were going to suffer a monumental collapse, but then kicker Greg Zuerlein made a 54-yard field goal with five seconds remaining to give the Jets a 30-28 victory.
The Commanders took a 28-27 lead with 4:52 left in the game, erasing a 27-7 halftime Jets lead. But Trevor Siemian was able to put together an eight-play, 31-yard drive in the final two minutes that ended with Zuerlein’s field goal and gave the Jets their sixth victory of the season.
The Commanders looked like they did not belong on the field with the Jets in the first half, falling behind 20-0 in the second quarter and then 27-7 before halftime.
But the Jets offense, led by Siemian, completely stalled in the second half and backup Commanders quarterback Jacoby Brissett replaced Sam Howell in the middle of the third quarter and led them to three touchdown drives to stun the Jets and the small Christmas Eve crowd at MetLife Stadium.
The go-ahead drive for the Commanders was assisted by two critical penalties on the Jets defense. Cornerback Sauce Gardner was called for pass interference to give the Commanders a first down and then linebacker C.J. Mosley was called for a personal foul after hitting Brissett in the head right before he completed a 21-yard pass to Jahan Dotson.
The six-play, 83-yard drive ended with Antonio Gibson scoring a 2-yard touchdown with 4:52 left to completely erase the Jets’ lead and take a 28-27 lead.
The Jets’ second-half possessions consisted of five punts and an interception before the game-winning field goal.
The Jets are now 6-9. The Commanders fell to 4-11.
The Jets defense got started quickly, with safety Tony Adams intercepting Howell on the second play from scrimmage. It was Howell’s league-leading 16th interception, but this one was not on him. Tight end Logan Thomas let Howell’s pass bounce off his hands and Adams picked it off and brought it back to the Commanders’ 24.
The Jets offense was not able to put the ball in the end zone, even with great field position. They moved the ball to the 7-yard line and then Zuerlein kicked a field goal to give the Jets a 3-0 lead early in the game.
The next Commanders possession ended with a blocked punt. Defensive end Jermaine Johnson blocked the Tress Way punt and handed the Jets the ball at the Washington 9. This time, the Jets were able to cash in when Siemian hit Jason Brownlee with an 8-yard touchdown and a 10-0 lead with 11:26 left in the first quarter.
The Jets, who had one first-quarter touchdown entering this game, scored their second of the day a few minutes later when Breece Hall broke a 36-yard TD run, giving the Jets an improbable 17-0 lead.
Former Jet Jamison Crowder committed another Washington turnover in the second quarter when he fumbled a punt return. Crowder was trying to squeeze out a few more yards when the ball popped out of his hands at midfield and Jets safety Ashtyn Davis recovered it. That led to another Zuerlein field goal to push the Jets lead to 20-0.
The Jets gave the Commanders some life in the middle of the second quarter when Siemian could not reel in a high snap from center Joe Tippmann and Commanders defensive end Casey Toohill recovered at the Jets’ 12-yard line. One play later, Commanders running back Chris Rodriguez ran over the Jets defense for a touchdown to cut the lead to 20-7 with 6:38 left in the first half.
Hall added his second touchdown of the day just before halftime when he stuck the ball into the end zone over the pylon as he was twisting out of bounds from the 2-yard line. That score gave the Jets a 27-7 lead heading into halftime.
Things got a little interesting in the middle of the third quarter. Jets linebacker Quincy Williams intercepted Howell and that ended the quarterback’s day. Siemian then handed the ball back to the Commanders with his only interception of the game. With 6:43 left in the third quarter, Washington linebacker Cody Barton picked Siemian off at the Commanders’ 4-yard line and returned it to the Jets 44. A penalty on the Jets put the ball at the 29.
Brissett entered the game in relief of the ineffective Howell for the second straight week. Brissett made it a two score game, 27-14, with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Thomas with 3:26 left in the third quarter.
The Commanders cut the Jets lead to 27-21 with 9:33 left in the game when Rodriguez scored from the 1-yard line. The big play on the nine-play scoring drive was a pass interference penalty on Jets cornerback D.J. Reed in the end zone that put the ball at the 1 for the Commanders, setting up Rodriguez’s short score.
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