Sunday's NFL slate had three incredible comebacks. The Dolphins became the first team since 2006 to win a game where they trailed by 21 points in the 4th quarter. Arizona erased a 20-point deficit to defeat the Raiders in overtime, highlighted by a straight-up video game two-point conversion by Kyler of Duty.
Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season is the first in NFL history to feature multiple comebacks by teams trailing by at least 20 points, but ya boi is here to talk about the J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!
Everybody and their mother knows I don't fuck with the Jets. They're one of the most sorry organizations in NFL history. Did you know the Jets (established in 1960 as the Titans of New York) have only won four division titles, and two are from the AFL? Since 1970, the Jacksonville Jaguars have won more division titles (3) than the New York Jets (2), and they played their first season in 1995. It's only fitting that arguably the sorriest organization since their revival in 1999, the Cleveland Browns choked away a seemingly insurmountable lead to Gang Green. There's no sense in me wasting my time recapping what happened when I can credit Mike Florio. Here's what went down in the 4th quarter of Jets @ Browns.
Here’s the situation. The Browns led, 24-17. The Jets took their final timeout with 2:09 to play.
The problems actually began when running back Kareem Hunt took a second-and-six carry from the New York 24 down to the 12. Hunt failed to stay in bounds, stopping the clock at 2:02. If Hunt had stayed in bounds, the clock would have run down to two minutes, the clock would have stopped for the two-minute warning, and (as anyone who plays Madden knows) three victory-formation kneel-downs would have chewed up the final 120 seconds. Instead, the Browns had to run a play. First and 10 on the 12. Chubb got the ball on a handoff. He made a cut to the outside and got to the corner. Inside the five, he cut back inside. Instead of just laying down at the two, he walked into the end zone. He didn’t need to go down. With the clock stopping for the two-minute warning, Chubb could have (should have) ducked out of bounds inside the two. If Chubb had done it, the game would have been over — after three successful kneel-downs. Instead, Chubb scored. Then rookie kicker Cade York missed the extra point. Then no one bothered to cover Corey Davis on a 64-yard catch and run from Joe Flacco. Then the Jets recovered an onside kick. And then the Jets drove down the field and scored, winning the game.
Now there's no denying that if Nick Chubb fell short of the goal line, the Browns could've knelt on the ball and run the clock out. Of course, that's true. The Jets can't win if they don't get the ball back.
We've even seen Nick Chubb avoid scoring in a similar situation. Against the Texans in 2020, up 10-7 in the final minute of the 4th quarter, Chubb went out of bounds on a would-be 60-yard touchdown run, so the Browns could kneel the ball out. Even up 17/16 (depending on the PAT) to 7 late, with possession, the Texans would've technically still had a pulse. This play effectively ended the game since Houston was out of timeouts.
I just have a really hard time blaming a running back who scored three touchdowns and rushed for 87 yards for the Browns becoming the first team in 21 years to surrender a 13+ point lead in the final 2:00 of a game.
Did Nick Chubb miss the ensuing extra point? 
Did Nick Chubb call this idiotic defense that allowed Joe Flacco to do the one thing Joe Flacco is good for (throw Hail Marys/PI prayers)?
P.S.
sick effort, Browns DBs.
Did Nick Chubb fail to recover the onside kick?
Did Nick Chubb let the lowly Jets travel 53 yards in under a minute with zero timeouts to take the lead?
Football is a team game where an entire roster and coaching staff are responsible for what happens on the field. Sure, you can try to be a football hipster hardo and look quasi-intelligent by saying, "actually, Chubb shouldn't have scored there," as if that situation hasn't been talked about ad nauseam the last 5ish years. Whether it be Todd Gurley (remember him?) intentionally not scoring against the Packers in 2018---
---or Todd Gurley accidentally scoring against the Lions in 2020, which ended up costing the Falcons the game.
There's no available footage on the internet, but this situation even occurred way back in 2012 during the final minutes of Super Bowl XLVI when a Giants running back tried to stop himself from scoring. NYG was down 17-15 at the time and could've milked the clock to kick a last-second chip shot field goal. Instead, Bradshaw scored, which gave the Patriots the ball back with under a minute and a chance to win. They didn't, but that situation and the Falcons-Lions one from 2020 are a little different because it was trailing teams trying to milk the clock and kick a last-second field goal.
In Cleveland, Nick Chubb scored a touchdown against the timeout-less Jets to extend the Browns lead to 13. You can blame Chubb for scoring or Stefanski for not having him prepared, but at the end of the day, the Browns could've stopped Flacco, recovered the onside kick, or stopped Flacco again. They did none of those things. But the L is on Nick Chubb, got it! Situational football is paramount for success. Bill Belichick's been preaching that since the days he was making 25 bucks a week with the Baltimore Colts. I'll even concede that the savvy play would've been for Nick Chubb to fall down inside the five-yard line, but if you really are blaming that choke job on him when he wasn't on the field for any of the Browns last-minute meltdowns, you are a simpleton. It didn't cost them the game, everything that happened after the touchdown did. P.S. In most situations, it's unfair to paint an entire group of people with a broad brush because of the actions of a few assholes. I'm not saying all Browns fans deserved to have their hearts ripped out by the ghost of Joe Flacco (again), but these ones definitely did.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
October 2024
|
RSS Feed