Jets pull off stunning comeback despite Browns having 99.9% win probability with under 2 minutes left
New NFL season, same ole Cleveland Browns. The Browns collapsed in the most Brownsian fashion Sunday, blowing a 13-point lead against the New York Jets in the final two minutes to lose 31-30.
The fun started with 1:55 left to play. With the Browns already leading by a touchdown, Nick Chubb stiff-armed one defender and juked another to score his third touchdown of the game.
The game appeared over at that point, but no one told the Jets. Two plays later, Corey Davis got behind the Browns' defense and hauled in a 66-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco. That cut the lead to just six points with 1:22 to play.
Problem was, the Jets were out of timeouts. If the team wanted to win the game, it would have to recover an onside kick. The Jets went for it and recovered the ball after Amari Cooper couldn't bring it in for the Browns.
With the ball back, the Jets still needed a touchdown to stay alive. With 1:18 left, Flacco led a nine-play drive, and on the final play he found rookie Garrett Wilson in the middle of the field for a 15-yard score to tie the game. Greg Zuerlein hit the extra point a few moments later and, suddenly, the Jets had the lead.
THE JETS TAKE THE LEAD WITH 22 SECONDS LEFT!
📺: #NYJvsCLE on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/bDdH0uvRfp pic.twitter.com/ozByqxk5Ga— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2022
The Browns threatened a last-minute comeback. Jacoby Brissett scrambled for 22 yards on the first play of the drive, putting the team in good position. On the next play, however, Brissett threw an interception to Ashtyn Davis, who ran with the ball briefly before sliding to end the game.
It was a monumental meltdown for the Browns, who, at one point, had a win probability of 99.9 percent.
These are from the same game. #NYJvsCLE pic.twitter.com/rw6gn6TPib
— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2022
Not only that, but it was among the most improbable last-minute NFL comebacks in recent memory.
Trailing 30-17 with less 1:55 on the clock, the Jets had a 0.3% chance of winning after Nick Chubb's 12-yd TD run.
The Jets late-game comeback goes down as the most improbable of the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016) based on the NGS win probability model.#NYJvsCLE | #TakeFlight pic.twitter.com/WkTiEAXrt8— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 18, 2022
Browns were second-most picked Week 2 team in Yahoo Survival Football
Cleveland's loss also cost 18.56 percent of Yahoo Survival Football participants, who picked the Browns to beat the Jets and were right ... for almost 60 minutes.
The most-bet team in Week 2? The Los Angeles Rams, at 29.16 percent.
This comes a week after nearly 18 percent of Yahoo users picked the Tennessee Titans, who lost to the New York Giants in Week 1, or the Indianapolis Colts, who tied the Houston Texans.