Welcome to the Jets’ version of Flag Day.
Somehow, some way, Gang Green beat the Bills 27-20 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday despite a franchise-record 20 penalties, two turnovers and a momentum shift that went Buffalo’s way at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
The Jets became the first team to win a game with that many penalties since 1951 — when the Browns had 22 penalties and beat the Bears — according to the Elias Sports Bureau. All the penalties took the luster off a hard-fought win that featured some outstanding moments from both the Jets’ offense and defense.
It all left Jets coach Rex Ryan looking forward to when his team improves.
“I know this team’s going to get better,” Ryan said. “There’s no way we can’t. Twenty penalties? That’s on my shoulders, no question about it, but I know we can get better. Just think about how good we can be if we can eliminate the penalties and the turnovers. We overcame 20 penalties and overcame two turnovers to win a game. I’m excited because I know we can get better.”
The Jets improved to 2-1 and got their first division win of the season.
The Jets pulled the game out when rookie quarterback Geno Smith made a huge 69-yard touchdown throw to Santonio Holmes with 9:23 left to play, moments after the Bills had tied the game. Holmes caught the ball against Bills backup cornerback Justin Rogers and raced to the end zone.
“Geno gave me an opportunity to make a play,” said Holmes, who had a career-high 154 yards receiving, almost a year after suffering a major foot injury. “I don’t think the DB was even aware that he was throwing me the ball at that time and the ball landed in the perfect place for me to catch it, and the rest is in the history books.”
Smith’s throw capped off a mixed bag of a day for him. He finished 16-of-29 for 331 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He got the best of fellow rookie EJ Manuel, who looked rattled against a Jets defense that sacked him eight times. Manuel went 19-for-42 for 243 yards with one touchdown.
The Jets offense finished with 513 yards, the most they’ve had in a game since Ryan became head coach in 2009. They had huge performances from Holmes, Stephen Hill (career-high 108 yards) and running back Bilal Powell (27 rushes for a career-high 149 yards).
The offensive line opened up holes in the running game and kept Smith off his back.
“We left a lot of football out there today, but we’re getting better,” tight end Kellen Winslow said. “We’re getting there.’’
The defense was nearly flawless for three quarters. Outside of a fluky 59-yard run from Fred Jackson, the Jets shut the Bills down. Through three games, the Jets defense looks as if it could be one of the NFL’s best.
“You guys have seen just the tip of the iceberg,” outside linebacker Calvin Pace said.
The Jets controlled the game for three quarters but never opened up a huge lead. Their defense dominated and the offense scored on several big pass plays to make it look like as if they would win in a laugher. They led 20-6 early in the third quarter and appeared to be on their way.
Then that laugher nearly turned to tears.
At the end of the third quarter, Ryan called for two ill-advised challenges he lost, costing him two timeouts and leaving him with no challenges. The Jets could have used one a few moments later when it appeared Manuel fumbled the ball, but the refs ruled him down.
That Bills’ drive also featured five Jets penalties — four on consecutive plays to cornerback Kyle Wilson, who single-handedly kept the Buffalo offense moving. Buffalo tied the game 20-20 with 10:39 remaining, and it looked as if the Jets were heading to a devastating defeat. Manuel hit tight end Scott Chandler for a 33-yard touchdown, then hit Stevie Johnson for the game-tying two-point conversion.
But Smith found Holmes on the next series and gave the Jets the improbable win. Holmes’ catch was the Jets’ fourth passing play of 40 yards or more on Sunday. They had five all of last season.
For all the good takeaways on both sides of the ball, though, the penalties left a blemish.
“How many games are you going to win when you turn it over twice and you have 20 penalties? Very few,” Ryan said. “We have to get rid of the self-inflicted things. Yeah, I’m upset because of the 20 penalties, but I know we’ve been one of the least penalized teams in the league, so I know we can get this fixed.”
The Jets players were less than thrilled with the officiating, though. They were careful not to say anything that will get them fined, but it was clear they felt the officials threw some of those flags unnecessarily.
“What can I say about that?” Winslow said. “That one drive, man, come on. It was beyond ridiculous, and the league needs to take a look at that because that just cannot happen. Let us play. … Let us play and man, every play was like a call. Come on. Let us play a little bit. A couple of those were no-calls. My kid can see that. I’ll leave it at that.’’