We’ve had plenty of late touchdown drama in the NFL – but rarely do you see an example of a team being better off by intentionally failing to score.
But lost in the crazy comeback, led by veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, was the consequences of running back Nick Chubb’s late touchdown for the Browns.
You can’t blame Chubb, who was Cleveland’s best player on the day – but it was still a bizarre situation where the team would have been better off had he not scored at all.
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The Jets had already used all of their time outs for the second half, and there was less than two minutes remaining.
Had Chubb elected to give himself up at the one yard line rather than score, Cleveland could have burned the remaining time on the clock and walked away with a victory.
Instead, the Jets needed just two plays to score from the ensuing kick-off, Flacco unleashing a deep pass to wide receiver Corey Davis for a 66-yard touchdown.
The underdogs were able to recover the ball from the onside kick, and took just a minute to drive down and score another touchdown, Flacco finding Garrett Wilson with 20 seconds left in the contest.
The shellshocked Browns were unable to use the remaining time to get in to position for a potential game-winning field goal, and walked off the field with a loss in a game where, at one point, their win probability was 99.9 per cent.
It wouldn’t have been the first time a player had intentionally not scored a touchdown – in 2018, Todd Gurley infuriated sports gamblers and fantasy players by going down short of the goal line with his Rams team leading 29-27, and a minute to go, rather than risk exactly what happened to Cleveland today.
And in 2009, Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew fell down at the one-yard line with his team trailing by a point and less than two minutes to go.
This enabled the Jaguars to milk all of the remaining time off the clock and have kicker Josh Scobee slot a gift field goal as time expired.
“I apologise to all my fantasy owners,” said Jones-Drew at the time.
“I had myself (Sunday), too. It was a tough call, but whatever it takes to get the win.”
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