Zach Wilson leads Jets to first win in overtime thriller over Titans

Zach Wilson wasn’t boring, and the Jets are no longer winless.

The rookie quarterback turned some early boos inside MetLife Stadium into cheers on Sunday afternoon. Wilson had his best NFL game and made some eyebrow-raising throws in leading the Jets to a 27-24 overtime win over the Titans.

The game ended with Randy Bullock missing a 49-yard field goal wide left with 19 seconds left, giving Robert Saleh his first victory as an NFL head coach. The Jets’ first victory last season came in their 14th game.

"I was so, so excited," Wilson said. "That rush you feel when you see that kick miss there at the end when you know that you won it. A win is a win, no matter how you look at it. We won that game, and it was awesome."

Wilson completed 21 of 34 passes for 297 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He led the Jets to the 1-yard line in overtime, but they had to settle for Matt Ammendola’s 22-yard field goal with 4:31 left.

Wilson had some throws and decisions he would like to have back, such as when he took a 3-yard loss just before Ammendola’s go-ahead kick instead of throwing the ball away. But Wilson showed the stuff that made him the No. 2 pick in the draft.

Much was made about Saleh wanting Wilson to play "boring" after a four-interception game in the Jets’ home opener two weeks ago. For much of Sunday afternoon, Wilson was anything but that.

He did some of his best work on the move. In the fourth quarter, he rolled right and pointed for Corey Davis to go deep. Wilson hit Davis in stride for a 53-yard touchdown on a scoring drive that took 10 seconds.

"He said go deep, so I listened," Davis said. "He threw it up. It was a great ball."

Davis bounced back from a rough start to finish with four catches for 111 yards against his former team. He didn’t catch the first ball thrown to him, which was behind him but catchable. He also fell on a route, leading to an interception.

Slot receiver Jamison Crowder had seven catches for 61 yards and a touchdown in his season debut. Michael Carter scored a rushing touchdown, his first in the NFL and the Jets’ first of the season.

The Jets’ defense sacked Ryan Tannehill seven times. Quinnen Williams had two. C.J. Mosley had 13 tackles and a sack. Quincy Williams, Quinnen’s brother, had 12 tackles and a sack.

Derrick Henry rushed 33 times for 157 yards and a touchdown for the Titans, who were without their top two receivers, A.J. Brown and Julio Jones, because of hamstring injuries.

Coming into Sunday, the Jets hadn’t scored a first-half touchdown this season and hadn’t gotten into the end zone in the past two games. They also were the only team to not hold a lead. They’ve now done all of those things.

The Jets led 24-17 after Davis’ touchdown with 9:06 left. They had a chance to put the game away after getting the ball back on downs with 3:41 left, but Wilson overthrew a wide-open Davis on third down. With the Titans out of timeouts, that first down would have iced the game.

"Those are things he’s going to get better at," Saleh said. "Make the throw to put the dagger in the game and we’re taking three knees right there and it’s over."

The Titans got the ball at their own 26 with 2:09 left. Tannehill threw incomplete on fourth-and-10 to Chester Rogers, but safety Jarrad Wilson was flagged for pass interference. The drive ended with Cameron Batson’s 2-yard touchdown catch with 16 seconds left, and the extra point tied it.

The Jets won the coin toss in overtime and Wilson marched them down the field. He had a brilliantly thrown 29-yard pass to Keelan Cole (three catches, 92 yards) on third down to the Tennessee 27.

On first-and-goal from the 9, Wilson had tight end Ryan Griffin open for what might have been a touchdown but underthrew him. On second-and-goal, Tevin Coleman took a short pass and dived with his arm extended trying to get to the pylon before going out of bounds. Coleman was called out of bounds at the 1. On third down, Wilson rolled out and was tackled for a 3-yard loss, and the Jets settled for a field goal.

Wilson was still kicking himself over the throw to Griffin.

"It’s awesome that we came away with a win because I’m beating myself up on that one," he said.

The Jets needed a stop, and they almost got it right away.

They tackled Henry for a 4-yard loss and sacked Tannehill for a 7-yard loss but gave up a 20-yard pass play on third down. On fourth-and-1, Henry took a pitch and ran 13 yards for the first down. Henry also converted a fourth-and-2.

Later, Tennessee was inexplicably flagged for delay of game, making Bullock’s try 5 yards longer, and it sailed to the left.

"It felt like a relief," Mosley said. "A sigh of relief. The way we all celebrated after that miss, it felt great."