This was not quite the Miracle at the Meadowlands.
For 59 minutes for the Jets, it was more like the Mess at the Meadowlands.
But then the Jets pulled out an improbable 13-10 overtime victory over the crosstown rival Giants and they are now 4-3 and very much in the playoff hunt.
“I’m still trying to figure out how we won,” wide receiver Allen Lazard said.
He is not alone.
Next Gen Stats had the Giants with a 98.9 percent chance to win the game with 28 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and kicker Graham Gano setting up for a 35-yard field goal.
Gano missed the field goal and gave the Jets a chance.
Zach Wilson and the offense, which had struggled all day, got the ball back with 24 seconds remaining at their own 25.
Wilson hit Garrett Wilson for a 29-yard gain on first down after Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux jumped offsides, creating a free play.
Then, with 17 seconds left, Zach Wilson found Lazard for a 29-yard gain to put the ball on the Giants’ 17.
Wilson was able to spike the ball with one second remaining to stop the clock.
Greg Zuerlein came in to kick a 35-yard field goal to tie the game 10-10 as time expired.
In overtime, the Giants got the ball first but went three and out with third-string quarterback Tommy DeVito running the offense.
The Jets got the ball back and moved into field-goal range after a pass interference penalty on Giants cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, who ran into receiver Malik Taylor.
The penalty gave the Jets the ball at the 15-yard line and Zuerlein made a 33-yard field goal to seal a sloppy victory for the Jets.
“It was just sloppy ball all the way around,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “But they never ask how, they ask how many.”
It was the third victory in a row for a Jets team that many thought was dead when starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles in Week 1.
At 4-3, the Jets now face the Chargers and Raiders in the next two weeks with both games looking winnable.
For a while, it appeared the Jets would suffer a humiliating defeat.
The Giants took a 10-7 lead in the third quarter after DeVito ran for a 6-yard score.
DeVito entered the game in the second quarter when Tyrod Taylor, who started in place of an injured Daniel Jones, suffered a ribs injury.
The Giants tried to play around DeVito, an undrafted rookie, relying on running back Saquon Barkley (36 carries, 128 yards).
The Jets’ defense kept the team in the game, forcing 13 punts and holding the Giants to minus-9 yards net passing, a franchise record for futility.
“How many passing yards did they have again? That’s calm right there. We did our job,” cornerback Sauce Gardner said.
While the defense thrived, the Jets offense was anemic.
The Jets went 2-for-15 on third down, failing to convert one until there were just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Thomas Morstead punted 11 times.
Wilson was sacked four times and fumbled twice.
One was a botched snap after third-string center Xavier Newman entered the game because of injuries to their first two centers.
Wilson did not play well overall.
He completed 17 of 36 passes for 240 yards and one touchdown, but he made some big throws at the end of regulation to set up the game-tying field goal.
When Wilson took a sack on fourth down with 1:26 to play, it appeared the game was over.
But the Giants only gained 9 yards and the Jets used two timeouts, setting up Gano’s 35-yard field-goal attempt.
Jets rookie Will McDonald seemed to affect Gano’s kick and he missed wide left.
“The mindset was, ‘We lost the game’ to ‘Oh wow, they messed up.’ That’s the reality of it,” Garrett Wilson said.
Several Jets admitted they thought the game was over after Wilson was sacked on fourth down.
Gardner said he had injured his hand during the game and had it taped.
When the Jets had the ball with 24 seconds left, he began taking the tape off, thinking the game was over.
“That’s on me for not having all the faith at the end,” Gardner said. “I thought it was over with.”
The win gives the Jets bragging rights in New York, even if the win was not pretty.
“We run New York,” Jets safety Jordan Whitehead said.
The game was sloppy on both sides, but the Jets found a way.
“If we would have lost this, I don’t know how I would have been able to sleep at night,” Gardner said. “I thought that was a team that the score should have been way crazier than that.”
The game was chippy and featured a few post-play confrontations.
Guard Laken Tomlinson said there was a lot of trash talk.
“A lot of chatter going on about whatever, whatever,” Tomlinson said. “At the end of the day, we won. Anybody can say what they want to say but just check the scoreboard at the end of the day.”
Saleh admitted the Battle of New York had special meaning for Jets owners Woody and Christopher Johnson.
“It always does for the owner, to have bragging rights, to be the king of New York, for sure,” Saleh said. “You always want to win for everybody. For Woody, with all the stuff he’s gone through with this organization and Christopher, don’t forget him, those two over the last 10 years or so it hasn’t been all peaches and cream around here. To say you’re king of New York for at least one more year is pretty cool.”
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