EAST RUTHERFORD -- After trailing late, Tyrod Taylor led the Jets to a stunning, 27-24, comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons at a frigid, rain-soaked MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Following his game-tying touchdown run just after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter, the veteran signal caller's 14-yard scramble and two completions to Adonai "AD" Mitchell on the team's final drive set up Nick Folk's game-winning 56-yard field goal to send a mostly-empty stadium home happy.
"Any time Nick kicks the ball, I feel like it's going to be good," said Jets head coach Aaron Glenn of his former teammate's line drive kick in cold conditions.
"I have so much trust in him, but it was good to see it go in. For those guys to gut this win out and get this win, it's more to me than just the win I'm looking at, I'm looking at how these guys never quit. They get bashed, everybody on this team gets bashed for everything, and it's OK. We know exactly what we're trying to do, and we're trying to block out all the noise and keep our vision straight ahead on what we're trying to do as a team."
The win improves the Jets' record to 3-9 on the season, but also now hampers their ability to land the first overall pick in the draft, as they're now two games behind the woeful Tennessee Titans to once again attempt to select a franchise quarterback.
After a first quarter in which neither team could put points on the board, the Jets finally broke through thanks to some good fortune on special teams. Jamal Agnew's muffed punt return for the Falcons gave Gang Green the ball at the two-yard line, and Breece Hall ran into the end zone untouched one play later to give them a 7-0 lead with 13:58 to play in the second quarter.
Tyler Allgeier knotted things up with nine seconds left in the first half, however, scoring on a one-yard touchdown run and sending the teams to halftime tied at 7-7.
Following a mostly dreadful opening 30 minutes -- two struggling offenses playing in miserable conditions did not seem to be a recipe for an entertaining contest -- the game seemed to open up for both sides in the second half.
Electric Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson capped off an eight-play, 95-yard drive on the Falcons' first possession of the third quarter with an eight-yard touchdown run for a 14-7 lead, but that was erased less than a minute later when Taylor and Mitchell connected on a 52-yard touchdown pass to once again tie the game.
Zane Gonzalez and Folk exchanged field goals for the Falcons and Jets, respectively, to make it a 17-17 game late.
With the game still tied with 8:46 left in regulation, Cousins connected with David Sills V outside of the yard-markers on the right side of the field on a seemingly innocent third-down pass completion, but Sills eluded several Jets tacklers in their beleaguered secondary to find pay dirt and give Atlanta a late lead, but one it ultimately could not hold on to.
After Sills' go-ahead score, the Jets mounted a surprising late challenge on a 15-play drive that saw them in the red zone as the two-minute warning stopped play, giving Taylor and Glenn a chance to draw up a play that might get them into the end zone and tie the game.
Sure enough, Taylor ran it in from ten yards out on the ensuing sequence to make it a 24-24 game with 1:53 remaining in the fourth quarter; a poorly executed subsequent drive by the Falcons gave the Jets an opportunity to pull off the comeback win, but the ball ended up changing hands three times in just over a minute after Gang Green's possession quickly fizzled out, followed by Atlanta's doing the same.
"He's been doing it his whole career," Glenn said of Taylor's running ability at 36 years old. "He still can go."