Take flight with the Jets

Text with Brian Costello all season as he brings Sports+ subscribers the latest Jets intel from on the field and off.

TAMPA, Fla. — The Jets rose from the dead Sunday, but still essentially saw their season killed off in a vengeful final-page plot twist.

After trudging through an uninspired 50 minutes, the Jets scored three touchdowns in a wild nine-minute span of the fourth quarter to take a one-point lead over the Buccaneers on a blocked field goal return for a touchdown just after the two-minute warning.

In search of his first win, head coach Aaron Glenn was dancing on the sideline as Will McDonald IV crossed the goal line, but the music in his mind cut when Chase McLaughlin drilled a walk-off 36-yard field goal to send the Jets to a 29-27 defeat at Raymond James Stadium.

“This one is tough because we had all the momentum,” linebacker Jamien Sherwood told The Post. “Will made a hell of a play. That’s something you see in a dream or a video game. It was kind of unreal for it to end like that.”

The Jets are 0-3 for the first time since 2021. Only two percent of 0-3 teams since 1990 have rebounded to make the playoffs — none since the playoffs expanded to seven teams per conference in 2021.

“We have to delete the negative things in our game, the small things that are helping us lose games,” Quinnen Williams said after the defense allowed the winning 48-yard drive. “We have to get it out fast because … you don’t want to look up and be 0-10.”

The Jets trailed 23-6 at the start of the fourth quarter and looked out of ways to find a spark after a turnover on downs in each half.

The salt in the wound on the first stop was that it was made by 2024 Jets no-show Haason Reddick. Glenn’s desperation was clear on the second when he left the offense on the field to throw a fourth-and-12 completion well short of the sticks

“We didn’t play worth a damn in that first half,” Garrett Wilson said. “So, what are you going to do about it? You can’t go out and put an hour worth of bad film out. There was really no excuse not to look better in that second half once we got that deficit that we shouldn’t have been in in the first place.”

Filling in for Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor (26-of-36 for 197 yards) threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes sandwiched around a Buccaneers field goal to bring the Jets back to life, down 26-20.

It didn’t seem meaningful when Wilson (10 catches for 84 yards) walked in an 11-yard touchdown with 10:12 to go — ending a streak of seven straight scoreless possessions, including the end-of-half surrender kneel-down.

But then Allen Lazard hauled in a 4-yard touchdown pass — or did he? — on fourth down with 3:40 remaining to close the deficit to 26-20. Replays seemed to show that the ball slipped through Lazard’s hands and hit the ground as he tried to snuggle it, but officials upheld the touchdown and ruled that Lazard’s elbow was down with possession upon further review.

The Jets had all three of their timeouts remaining, but Baker Mayfield’s 33-yard run pushed the ball into field goal range.

Game over, right?

McDonald blocked McLaughlin’s kick — ending the ex-Jet’s perfect 4-for-4 start to the game — scooped up the ball and set off a frenzy.

“I feel like it was kind of a legendary play for me,” said McDonald, who has 15.5 sacks in 35 career games. “Probably the best play I’ve ever made in my NFL career.”

But Mayfield got the last laugh by driving the Buccaneers for the winning score, needing only seven plays (despite a bad overthrow and a controversial incompletion) to beat coordinator Steve Wilks’ defense. He got the win for former Jets head coach Todd Bowles.

“Their D-coordinator was the one who cut me in Carolina,” Mayfield said, reflecting on being released by the Panthers at the low point of his career in 2022, during Wilks’ stint as interim head coach. “A lot of stuff was personal today. Haason Reddick. Former Jet. A lot of people.”

The Jets were left to rue Taylor’s lost fumble and a pick-six just before the half that put the defense in a bigger hole (20-6) than it deserved after a couple short-field stands.

Wilson blamed himself for allowing Jamel Dean to jump the route for the 55-yard interception return.

“I can’t give the DB a right to the ball,” Wilson said. “That was inexcusable. I have to help my quarterback out there.”

There also was a costly drop by Tyler Johnson, penalties by Micheal Clemons and Sauce Gardner that led to field goals, missed blitz pickups (left guard John Simpson took the blame for both of Taylor’s turnovers), and a defensive front that had only one sack and two quarterback hits against an offensive line missing three starters.

So, there is a great comeback to be soon forgotten. And there is another loss.

“There is no balance,” Wilson said. “You are 0-3 and it’s an uphill battle as far as where we are at.”