A miracle has happened. Sam Darnold made his triumphant return as the starting quarterback of the New York Jets, and Gang Green somehow found a way to hold off a late Dallas Cowboys rally to earn its first win of the season, 24-22.While the final two minutes of the game was enough to make Jets fans sweat, the story of the night was all about Darnold, who in his first game back since Week 1, completed 23-of-32 for 338 yards and two touchdowns. He looked sharp and elevated the performance of his teammates.
The Jets looked like a totally new football team on Sunday.
That was apparent from the onset, when Darnold led New York on a 14-play 83-yard scoring drive, as he picked apart the Dallas secondary with precisely timed reads to five different receivers. Darnold's 24-yard completion to Jamison Crowder moved the Jets deep into Dallas territory at the 31, before the quarterback hit Le'Veon Bell, Ty Montgomery and Robby Anderson on short passes to move the Jets closer to the red zone.
Those worried about Darnold's spleen didn't have to worry. Not only was he hit hard on a sack at the start of the game, but on a third down scramble at the Dallas seven, he was dragged down from behind and got up smiling. The Cowboys were flagged for a horse-collar. A few plays later Bell found his way into the end zone for the score to give the Jets a 7-0 lead.
Perhaps the biggest sequence of events came midway through the second quarter when the Cowboys decided on a fourth and two at the Jets seven to go for it, only to have quarterback Dak Prescott stopped at the line of scrimmage on a quarterback sneak by Jamal Adams to turn the ball back to the Jets.
On the next play, Danrold found an open Robby Anderson in stride at mid-field, connecting with him on an electric 92-yard touchdown to put the Jets up 14-3.
After a Dallas three-and-out, Darnold was at it again. He hit Demaryius Thomas for 33-yards to the Cowboys 18, before connecting on back-to-back passes with tight end Ryan Griffin, including a 5-yard touchdown that made it 21-3.
But as much fun as Jets fans were having in the first half, the second half was a different story. The cowboys stormed back to cut the Jets lead to 24-16. The Jets had a number of chances to put the game away but failed to. At one point Darnold was picked off by Jourdan Lewis at the goal-line when it appeared the Jets were going in for a score. Later the Jets failed to move the football when Adam Gase refused to call any running plays to keep the clock moving.
This kept Dallas in the game. And with less than two minutes to go the Cowboys got a huge assist by the refs in their last gasp to tie the game. The Jets were flagged four conservative times for either pass interference or holding as Dallas moved all the way to the Jets' 16-yard line.
Prescott scrambled around and eventually found pay dirt with a touchdown run of his own to cut the Jets lead down to two, 24-22. Needing a two-point conversion to tie, Jets safety Jamal Adams came in fast on the safety blitz and forced an errant throw by Prescott, ending the game and sending New York to its first win of the year.
Rejoice Jets fans, you finally got a win!
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