As 17-point underdogs, the New York Jets shockingly beat the Los Angeles Rams 23-20 on Sunday at SoFi Stadium to get their first win of the season. The Jets even led the game 20-3, and held off a late comeback effort by a Rams team that entered the game playing great football, with wins in four of their previous five games.
Jets get the stop on 4th-and-4! 👀 pic.twitter.com/VFQLKC0gny
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) December 20, 2020
Jets with a first down at the 2-minute warning!! 👀👀👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/vOJMncvTHk
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) December 20, 2020
🚨 JETS BEAT THE RAMS 🚨
(And Jaguars fans celebrate) pic.twitter.com/SRNzJkbDqZ
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) December 21, 2020
While Jets players and coaches are thrilled to get to 1-13 (and with the win coming against a really good team on the road), their fans are not.
With the win, the Jets no longer are in position to have the No. 1 pick. The Jacksonville Jaguars are also 1-13 (after a 40-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens), and now have the top slot due to strength of schedule. It’s quite likely that the Jaguars would win that tiebreaker at the end of the season. And that would mean that the Jaguars, not the Jets, would be in position to select Trevor Lawrence with the first pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.
FWIW, if the Jets were to hold on to beat the Rams today, the tiebreaker for the No. 1 overall pick would be strength of schedule. And the Jaguars almost certainly would win that tie, and the No. 1 overall pick. https://t.co/GdKyf7lSWR
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 20, 2020
With the 23-20 win, the Jets:
Snap a 13-game losing streak.
Win for the first time in 358 days.
Won't become the third 0-16 team in history.
Relinquish the No. 1 position in the draft.
So many emotions. #Jets
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) December 21, 2020
The #Jets might lose out on the No. 1 pick because, in part, their punter made a tackle. That right there is poetry.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) December 21, 2020
The Jets’ punter may have changed the course of NFL history with a game-saving tackle that could send Lawrence to Jags instead of Jets
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) December 21, 2020
Sure, the Jets will likely lose their remaining two games, vs the Cleveland Browns and at the New England Patriots. But it’s unlikely that the Jaguars beat a Chicago Bears team that is all of a sudden winning games again and in the thick of the NFC playoff race, and it’s especially unlikely that the Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts on the road in Week 17 (unless the Colts are happy with playoff positioning and don’t care much about that game).
The Jets WON
The Jaguars are now at #1 for Trevor Lawrence.
Jags have the Bears and Colts left.https://t.co/lnbhA07mro pic.twitter.com/ga9Vg19iIp
— Tankathon.com (@tankathon) December 21, 2020
So, it’s a stunning upset victory, but a huge tank fail. And while the former is fun in the moment and prevents an embarrassing winless record, the latter could end up being the far bigger deal in the big picture. With a generational prospect like Lawrence in a quarterback’s league, it’s a lot easier to rebuild and enter a contention window.
