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 at MetLife Stadium.
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, avoiding what would have been an embarrassing loss.
“It was a fight,” Saleh said. “Obviously, in the second half we made it more interesting than it needed to be.”
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.
Jacoby Brissett replaced Sam Howell for the Commanders in the middle of the third quarter and led them to three touchdown drives to stun the Jets and the small Christmas Eve crowd.
“That was on us,” defensive end Jermaine Johnson said. “That’s not our standard.”
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.
It looked like the Jets may have relaxed with their big lead, but Saleh said that was not the case.
“It wasn’t necessarily complacency or anything,” Saleh said. “It was just the momentum shifted and we couldn’t grab it.”
The Jets are now 6-9. The Commanders fell to 4-11.
The Jets offense had 381 total yards, their second-highest total of the season.
Running back Breece Hall had 191 yards from scrimmage (95 rushing, 96 receiving) and scored two touchdowns.
Garrett Wilson had nine catches for 76 yards.
It is hard to know what to make of this one.
The Jets dominated early, with their defense and special teams making big plays and the offense cashing in on the chances they were given.
The Jets forced three turnovers, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
Johnson also blocked a punt.
Everything flipped in the third quarter when Brissett came in and led the Commanders on three straight touchdown drives to make it 28-27.
The Jets defense stiffened with two minutes left in the game and forced a three-and-out from the Commanders.
The Jets got the ball back with 1:41 left at their own 33.
Siemian and the Jets went 31 yards on eight plays through short passes to Tyler Conklin and Hall and a Siemian scramble to get the ball to the Washington 36.
Zuerlein came in and booted his third field goal of the day to give the Jets the unlikely win with five seconds remaining in the game.
“This game I feel like shouldn’t have been close at all,” Hall said. “We left probably 28 points out there and had a couple crazy turnovers. It was just good to get a win today, but you can’t be content about beating a team you feel you should have been beating already. We’ll enjoy it.”
The Jets jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter.
Safety Tony Adams intercepted Howell on the second play from scrimmage after tight end Logan Thomas let the ball bounce off his hands.
That set up Zuerlein’s first field goal.
The next Commanders possession ended with a blocked punt.
Johnson, the Jets defensive end, 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 Hall broke a 36-yard TD run, giving the Jets an improbable 17-0 lead.
The Commanders scored a touchdown after a Jets fumble in the second quarter to cut the lead to 20-7.
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.
It felt like the Jets would cruise from there but Brissett piloted three scoring drives, one a 15-yard pass to Thomas and then two rushing touchdowns that made it 27-21.
The Jets usually start slow but Sunday was the opposite.
“I feel like when we get to these interviews, it’s [usually] like we finished strong, started slow, so we have to figure out how to pull it all together and take it into next season,” Wilson said. “We have to find a way to get better in these next two games all around, and then bottle it up and next season come out firing.”
