The Jets went from 28 straight minutes without gaining a first down to scoring a season-high 27 points.
What changed?
Breece Hall got going.
After the Jets somehow went five straight possessions without moving the sticks to start Sunday’s game, Hall ended the first-down drought with a 6-yard run after the two-minute warning, then quickly followed up with a 29-yard catch-and-run touchdown to breathe life into a dead offense.
Hall added a second touchdown in the third quarter to give the Jets a lead, but it still wasn’t enough in a 28-27 loss to the Colts.
“It’s fun to watch him because you have a feeling that if you make your block, it’s going to be the one that sends him into the end zone,” receiver Garrett Wilson said. “It’s really that simple with him. It was cool to see him give us that spark we needed.”
The Jets trailed 13-7 at the half but led 14-13 after Javon Kinlaw’s fumble recovery fed into Hall’s 18-yard touchdown run. His two scores came just 2:12 apart in game time.
“[The Colts] got out to a decent lead, and we tried to help recover,” Hall said. “The offense has to do our part in the first half so we don’t even give them a chance to come back in the second half.”
Hall took the blame for the first of five straight three-and-outs, when he failed to convert a third-and-3.
The Jets were booed by the home crowd before each of their three first-quarter punts.
“I mixed the play up and kind of ran into the right guard,” Hall said. “That was kind of a drive-killer right there.”
Hall more than made up for his early miscue with a team-high 121 yards from scrimmage on 23 touches, including seven receptions.
He palmed the ball as he dove for the front pylon and stayed in bounds on a crazy-athletic play at the end of his touchdown scamper.
“He’s one of one,” Wilson said. “It’s just whether it comes together on Sunday. It always does for him, it seems like. He does his part to make it come together.”
But the Jets curiously did not give Hall a touch on a fourth-and-1 at their own 39-yard line, choosing instead to get tricky with an under-center snap to tight end Tyler Conklin, who was stuffed short on his run.
That turnover on downs gifted the Colts a field goal as they jumped out to a 13-0 lead.
“We knew we were shooting ourselves in the foot,” Hall said. “We just kind of said, ‘Alright, let’s go. We already dug ourselves a hole. Let’s dig out of it.’ ”
All of it went for naught, however, when the Jets had to settle for a late field goal at the end of a 13-play drive to go up 27-22 instead of scoring a victory-sealing touchdown.
On the final set of downs, Hall was stopped for no gain on first down and came up 2 yards short on a third-and-10 reception.
“It’s just frustrating because you make big plays but you don’t win,” Hall said, “so it doesn’t matter.”
