Breece Hall knew it was his moment.
He knew the Browns were lining up for a blitz, and he knew he was getting the ball.
On the second play of the fourth quarter in a tie game, Justin Fields was instantly swarmed as he threw a short pass to Hall, who received a pivotal block from Joe Tippmann before weaving 42 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
The fourth-year running back sparked an anemic Jets offense in what was at times a wet and wild game that ended in a 27-20 win at MetLife Stadium — their second straight after starting the season with seven straight losses — to cap a week in which they traded away defensive stars Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, and refused to publicly name a starting quarterback until shortly before kickoff.
“Coaches called the play and I knew I was getting the ball,” Hall said. “Once I ran out there, I was like ‘OK, if the, I think, right guard, if he gets the blitzer, this is gonna be a big one.’ We ended up executing it really well and scored. So, it was a perfect execution off of something we have practiced.”
“It was the perfect play call in that situation,” Fields added. “It’s really just about getting the ball out and of course getting the O-lineman down field, but I mean everyone else is one-on-one so a perfect play call. Good run off the catch by Breece.”
The fourth-quarter touchdown by Hall, who ran for 83 yards on 21 carries, gave the Jets a 24-17 lead after it had been tied at 17 at halftime — with both first-half touchdowns by the Jets coming on returns, the first time in team history the Jets had a kickoff and a punt return for a touchdown in the same game.
With the Browns (2-7) trying to answer Hall’s score, Will McDonald IV’s fourth sack of the game — a career high for him and only the fourth four-sack game in franchise history — stopped the Browns.
Nick Folk followed with a 37-yard field goal to give the Jets a 10-point lead.
The Browns closed to within a touchdown on Andre Szmyt’s 29-yard field foal with 2:47 left, but the Jets were able to run out the clock — thanks to two brutal Cleveland penalties, first for defensive holding on a third-and-16, and then on a neutral zone infraction on a fourth-and-5 when the Jets seemed to have no intention of actually snapping the ball.
“One thing that we’ve been working on in training camp is being mentally tough and being able to block out all the negativity that these guys hear,” coach Aaron Glenn said. “All of the division from within is created by a number of people. And man, we’re going to stick with us and we know this thing’s going to turn to where it needs to turn. The guys are locked in on what we’re doing. We might do things a different way and that’s OK. Some people don’t agree with that, and that’s OK. We are going to do things that we feel are going to give us a chance to win.”
Fields went 6-of-11 passing for just 54 yards — with 42 coming on the touchdown to Hall.
He was without Garrett Wilson for most of the second half after the star wideout limped off the field with a knee injury during the third quarter.
It was Wilson’s first game back after missing two games with an injury to the same knee.
Wilson didn’t have a single catch on Sunday — a first for his career.
Cornerback Azareye’h Thomas, replacing Gardner on Sunday, was also ruled out with a head injury after colliding with Jamien Sherwood while trying to tackle Cedric Tillman.
The late-game heroics made up for an ugly, punt-happy first half just after honoring Nick Mangold prior to kickoff following his sudden passing on Oct. 26.
The Browns took a 7-0 lead just over eight minutes into the game on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Dillon Gabriel to tight end David Njoku.
However, the Jets had two surprisingly quick answers.
Kene Nwangwu returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to tie up the game.
And after the Jets defense forced a three-and-out, Isaiah Williams stormed down the field for a 74-yard punt return touchdown for the 14-7 lead.
It threw MetLife Stadium into a complete frenzy.
Who needs to figure out offense?
“That really changed the game — the momentum,” Williams said. “After Kene scored, everyone on the sideline was just pumped and I was too. Right after that, [special teams coordinator Chris] Banjo came up to me [and said], ‘Now it’s your turn.’ So, I feel like it just gave us even more confidence, like I would go do this. Let’s go be special.”
