For the second straight game, Jets edge Will McDonald IV did his job at a pivotal time, which led to the Green & White's second straight win.
The word that echoed from two weeks ago at Cincinnati to the meeting rooms at 1 Jets Drive and to the locker room after Sunday's 27-20 victory over Cleveland at MetLife Stadium -- from HC Aaron Glenn and from McDonald -- was "relentless." The Jets' record may be 2-7 ahead of Thursday night's visit to New England, but it's also 2-0 against the NFL teams from the state of Ohio.
To secure the first win of the season on Oct. 26, clinging to a 6-point lead and the Jets' defense desperately needing a stop when it counted, McDonald notched his third sack of that game when he took down QB Joe Flacco on a third-and-10 play at the Bengals' 28. The stop forced a punt and set the stage for the Jets' eventual game-winning drive.
On Sunday, McDonald tied a franchise record with 4 sacks in a game, taking down Browns QB Dillion Gabriel while upping his team-leading sack number to 7, which leaves him 3.5 short of his career high of 10.5 set last season. Entering the game against Cleveland, the Jets had 11 sacks, a number that now is 17 after gashing the Browns for 6 (Quincy Williams and Jermaine Johnson each had a sack).
In his postgame comments, Glenn said that McDonald sought him out after the players returned after the Jets' bye week.
"I just told him I was going to keep being relentless, so we'll just move forward with that," McDonald said after the game. "Know it from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. Simple."
Now in his third season in the NFL, McDonald's elite athletic ability is no secret. In Week 3 at Tampa Bay, he leaped over the offensive line, blocked a field-goal attempt, scooped it up and returned it for a TD. On Sunday, he notched 3 sacks in the first half, which ended deadlocked at 17-17. With 17 seconds left in the half and Cleveland facing a third-and-10 play at the Jets' 22-yard line, McDonald sacked Gabriel for 5 yards, forcing a field-goal attempt by Andre Szmyt that tied the score.
"I mean, he's very relentless, and he just actually said that to the players in there [the locker room], because he had said something to me during the week asking; where is he at?" Glenn said. "You know, and I have a lot of belief in that player, and for him to come out and do exactly what he said he's going to do during the week is be relentless and go make plays. He went out there and he did that, and to get four sacks in the game, that's a huge deal actually."
McDonald showed exactly "where he is at" with 10:21 left in the fourth quarter. Cleveland set up for a fourth-and-1 play at the Jets' 33. McDonald bulled his back into the backfield, eluded a block, backtracked and took down Gabriel for a 7-yard loss.
The stop led to Nick Folk's 37-yard field goal on the subsequent drive, and a 10-point lead, 27-17, with 6:17 to play.
"We believe in our team," McDonald said. He added: "We trust in each other, we're doing our thing. Obviously, we just got to keep making it come together. But it's still a lot to work on."
In addition to his 4 sacks, McDonald added 5 tackles, 4 TFL and 5 QB hits to his ledger.
"I was just taking advantage of those opportunities that I had, and the special defenses that we called to make him [Gabriel] hold the ball. You got to take advantage of that one rep, because maybe that one rep is going to change the game. So for me, like I said, just keep being relentless. And everything is going to come together as a defense and we're going to keep winning games."
