The Jets appeared to be closing in on a feel-good come-from-behind victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon to keep their season alive, but a late-game decision ultimately proved costly.
After ending a rather ugly first two quarters on a high note thanks to Star Running Back’s playmaking skills Breece HallGang Green’s offense finally started to click in the third quarter, and they had a one-point lead entering the fourth.
They were then able to increase that Aaron Rodgers connected to rookie tight end Kenny Yeboah who was wide open in the flat and ran in for his first career touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Rodgers immediately signaled to the sideline and wanted to go for the two-point conversion to potentially make it a nine-point lead and a two-score game. However, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich chose to settle for the extra point.
“In that situation, I like to go for two,” Rodgers said. “The reason I thought about it was because we had the conversation about it on the sidelines, and I had the impression that the decision before the stage was that we are going to go for two, but something changed.”
The veteran quarterback was again looking to take an aggressive approach later in the quarter as Gang Green held just a two-point lead with just over two minutes remaining.
After quarterback Anthony Richardson led the Colts on a touchdown scoring drive, Rodgers tried to respond right back to put the game away for good, and they moved the ball well, but found themselves in a fourth-and-2 situation at the 17-yard line.
Ulbrich initially left the offense and tried to jump Indianapolis offsides, giving them a free first down and the win, but after calling their final timeout, he decided to settle for the Anders Carlson field goal to extend the lead to five.
“Brich felt good about Anders kicking it and the defense stopping him,” the veteran quarterback said. “But yes, of course I wanted to go for it, I had the feeling that we had to reach thirty to win. If we were a great team we could have scored seven.”
And in the end, that decision proved extremely costly, as just six plays later, Richardson marched the Colts right back down the field through the struggling Jets defense to put the lead on the board with his second touchdown run of the day.
“I will always point the finger at myself first,” Ulbrich said. “I was confident that the defense would get the stop, so I chose to kick the field goal there and not go for it. But in retrospect I probably should have gone for it, because we couldn’t make the stop.”
So instead of riding high into the bye week, the Jets are now disappointed again after blowing yet another late-game lead and falling to 3-8 on the season.
“We’re angry, we’re frustrated,” Ulbrich said. “It’s clear that guys are working really hard and there’s just an element where something is missing. So I think it’s a good time before parting to really reassess where we are and take a good look at ourselves.”