Jets Step Up While Belichick Bears Gifts

Going into overtime Sunday at Met Life Stadium, the Jets had 10 offensive drives and scored TDs on two of them.

So I’m not buying the conventional wisdom that Bill Belichick suffered brain freeze with his decision to give Gang Green the ball to open the extra session. Not when your opponent has shown that they have a 20 percent chance of reaching the end zone against you.

Actually, I thought Belichick made a worse decision late in the first half, when he put the breaks on Tom Brady and the Pats offense right after a 13-yard run by Brandon Bolden put them around their own 30 with around 90 seconds until halftime. That’s an eternity for Brady, especially with timeouts left on the board. Yet the great hoodied one played kill-the-clock, willing to go into the locker room down 10-3. It ended up being several gifts the ex-Jets coach (for about an hour) gave his former team.

Yes, the Jets needed all the help they could get in turning back the Pats on Sunday, especially after blowing a two-touchdown lead in the third quarter. But, led by QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, the home team was good enough when they had to be, just as they’ve been over the course of their five-game winning streak that followed a midseason rough patch that made them look like the same ol’ Jets.

Fitzpatrick has been on fire during that streak, and receivers Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker have been as effective as any combo in the league. The defense has been particularly stout -- as Brady would surely tell you if injected with truth serum (you could also take the opportunity to find out what really happened with deflategate) and the offensive line has essentially been a wall (albeit an especially impressive one, like something Donald Trump would build), despite several key injuries.

Chris Ivory, the best RB in the NFL through the first few weeks of the 2015 season, has been up and down over the past five games, with his contact-seeking style possibly wearing him down for the stretch run.

But the forgotten guy has come forward. Bilal Powell, one of the team’s longest tenured members -- he was drafted by ex-GM Mike Tannenbaum in 2011 -- looked to be the odd man out with the offseason addition of Zac Stacy.

But Stacy is on injured reserve and Powell has come alive during the hot streak, as a potent running and receiving dual threat. On Sunday, the fifth-year running back racked up 90 total yards, which has basically been par for the course over the past few weeks.

Like Powell, the Jets were left for dead when after losing four of five to fall to .500. But both have stepped up to put Gang Green in the driver’s seat for a Wild Card spot. And that, more than anything the old head coach of the NYJ did, is why the Jets won and control their own destiny.

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