With eight minutes and fifty seconds left on the clock in the 4th quarter the New York Giants held a 20-10 lead. The Jets defense was able to make a stop on 3rd and 18 holding Randle to 16 yards. Coach Tom Coughlin decided to go for it on 4th and two instead of kick the field goal. Manning lined up in the shot gun, looked right in the endzone and forced a ball to Reuben Randle… and then that’s when the game changed. A crucial interception by Rontez Miles ended up being the spark this team needed. The ensuing drive ended in a 24 yard field goal. Then after forcing the Giants to punt, the Jets had two minutes and forty seconds on the clock to score 7 being down 13-20. They then marched down the field and with a beautiful fade pas from the gun with 32 seconds on the clock there was some “Fitzmagic” as Brandon Marshall caught the game-tying touchdown. When overtime came? The Jets once again had a drive to get down the field and were able to score a field goal. That was the last points of the game as Giants kicker Josh Brown missed a 50+ yard field goal to seal the Giants win.
It wasn’t pretty the whole way through for the Jets, but they were able to click late in the game and get to a record of 7-5. The ending stats also don’t paint the whole picture. Fitzpatrick 36-50 with 390 yards and 2 touchdowns. Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker both over 100 yards receiving, Marshall with a touchdown and Running back Bilal Powell had 91 yards and 1 touchdown through the air as well. On defense, they had 3 sacks and an interception. But really, the game came down to that 4th down in the 4th quarter. If the Giants elected to kick a sure fire field goal… who knows if the Jets would be “going home” winners today.
Today’s win is a little bit deceptive; this team still has a lot to work on if they want to make the playoffs, or even shorter sited beat the Titans next week. This offensive line allowed 3 sacks, 6 tackles for loss and minus one amazing run last week, Chris Ivory has been invisible as of late. Defensively minus a few big plays, this team is doing well and will improve with the return of Revis and Marcus Williams next week. The biggest weakness of this team is the Special Teams. Whether it’s a matter of coaching, personnel, or some other mystical reason, this team needs to learn how to perform in that aspect of the game.
The Jets will face a titans team that was able to put up 42 points this week, it won’t be as easy as a matchup as many think, in fact it somewhat smells of a trap game. Lets see if the New York Jets have the composure to put together a string of wins in December.