The Jets made their return from their bye week to play the Browns at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. And "return" is the operative word.
On a day when the Green & White offense opened with a very inconsistent first half, their special teams provided 173 kick return yards and two return touchdowns 36 seconds apart in the game's first 10 minutes. And those returns — Kene Nwangwu's 99-yard kickoff return score, followed after a Cleveland 3-and-out series by Isaiah Williams' 74-yard punt-return TD — held up over the final 50 minutes,
With the two long-distance jaunts in the books, that gave the Jets a sturdy foundation that enabled them to survive their struggling offense until Breece Hall turned on the second-half afterburners as the Jets pulled ahead of the Browns in the rainy Meadowlands for a 27-20 victory and their first two-game winning streak under first-year head coach Aaron Glenn,
First came Nwagwu's return to action and return to KOR prominence. The man who came into this game with four kickoff-return TDs in his short career added No. 5 with his first touch after missing five of the previous seven games due to injury. He shot up the middle, burst out of the pack and sped down the right sideline for his second 99-yard return in less than a year, or since he went to the house against Seattle at MetLife last December.
"I just saw a lane open up backside and I took it," Nwangwu told nyjets.com's Caroline Hendershot. "I trusted my guys. I don't even think I was touched, so it's a credit to all of them.
Just a Jets kickoff, three plays and a Browns punt later, Williams was off to the races with what he termed "the first return touchdown of my life."
"It was a low line-driver," Williams said of Browns punter Cory Bojorquez's kick. "I just had to make the first guy miss and then the blockers took care of everything else. I really didn't have to do much. After making that first guy miss, it was green grass and I just had to hit it and run as fast as I can."
Head coach Aaron Glenn was thrilled but not surprised by the success of his return teams, who in a way set a foundation in this game that AG is trying to establish for the Jets for many games and seasons to come.
"Our special teams really gave us a spark today," Glenn said. "And that's what I've talked about, playing complementary football, where all three phases can go out there and do the job. Our special teams did a hell of a job and I give a lot of credit to them and to [ST coordinator Chris] Banjo and [assistant ST coach Kevin] O'Dea. With Kene having some injuries, and what happened to Isaiah early in the season, that's the power of believing in your players."
What Nwangwu, Williams and their forward wall did was more than just help stabilize the early foundation of a Jets victory — they executed some historical returns in the process.
It was only the third time in franchise history that the Jets returned two kicks for scores in the same game. The first time, Dick Christy took two punts the distance against Denver in 1961, back when the team was known as the New York Titans and played at the Polo Grounds.
The second time, Chad Morton entered the NFL record book by taking two kickoff returns to the house in the 2002 opener at Buffalo, marking the first time a player had two KO-return TDs in a game with one of them coming in overtime.
As for current events, Sunday's two early runbacks will only improve the Jets' NFL return rankings. They came into the 10th week of the season with the No. 4 kickoff return average at 27.7 yards/return and the No. 16 punt return average at 10.2.
Additionally, the two returns gave the Jets their first first-quarter touchdowns of any kind since the season opener against Pittsburgh and the largest first-quarter lead in their last 13 games against Cleveland, or since they opened an 11-point lead in the opening frame in a 2002 home loss to to the Browns.
The hosts still needed more offense than they got in the first half when they could manage only 62 yards, four first downs and three points on their own against one of the NFL's top defensive units.
But the Jets loosened the Browns up just enough to allow some lanes for Hall to break free. He took a short backfield pass from Justin Fields and dashed 42 yards for his fourth fourth-quarter touchdown in the past two games, opening the Jets' lead to 24-17. And Hall's 30-yard scamper off his left side helped position the offense for Nick Folk's second field goal and a two-score advantage at 27-17, which never got closer than 27-20 as the offense burned the game's final 2:57 without allowing the visitors one last chance to make the game any closer.
"Breece is special," Williams said. "We see it every day, the way he practices, the way he keeps going. I'm motivated by him. That's what he does, what he brings to the game. He just makes plays."
And speaking of special, the Jets' two returners and their mates are special when it came to reading the green crystal ball about what lay ahead for them against the Browns.
"At the beginning of this week, the goal was to have multiple explosive returns," Nwangwu said. "That's just what was on our mind, and we accomplished that."
