EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Anthony Richardson ran for a 4-yard touchdown, his second of the game, with 46 seconds left in his return to the starting role to lift the Indianapolis Colts to a 28-27 victory over Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets on Sunday.
With the Jets leading 27-22 after Anders Carlson’s 35-yard field goal with 2:41 remaining, Richardson — benched for two games in favor of Joe Flacco — marched the Colts down the field.
He connected with Alec Pierce for 39 yards and then Josh Downs for 17 yards to put the ball at the 10. Three plays later, Richardson took off to the right and ran into the end zone for the go-ahead score. Jonathan Taylor was stuffed on the 2-point try — giving Rodgers and the Jets one last chance, but with no timeouts left.
Rodgers was sacked by Kwity Paye and fumbled on the first play, but the Jets recovered. After Hall had an 11-yard catch and a delay-of-game penalty was called on the Colts’ E.J. Speed, Rodgers was sacked again by Paye — sealing the win for the Colts (5-6), who snapped a three-game skid.
Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick last year and the league’s second-youngest starting QB, had perhaps his best game in the NFL — and it came against the league’s oldest quarterback in the 40-year-old Rodgers. Richardson finished 20 of 30 for 272 yards and a touchdown to Downs and ran for 32 yards and the two scores on 10 carries.
Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and Breece Hall had a TD catch and ran for a score, but the Jets (3-8) dropped their seventh in eight games and fell to 1-5 under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich.
Rodgers finished 22 of 29 for 184 yards after a brutally slow start during which he went 9 of 13 for just 76 yards. New York failed to get a first down until its sixth offensive possession.
The Jets took their first lead at 14-13 early in the third quarter on an 18-yard touchdown run by Hall — set up by Jamien Sherwood’s strip-sack of Richardson and Javon Kinlaw’s recovery at the Colts 25 on Indianapolis’ second offensive snap of the second half.
Matt Gay’s 56-yard field goal midway through the third gave the Colts the lead again at 16-14.
Carlson, the Jets’ fourth kicker in as many games, made a career-best 58-yard field goal to put New York back on top with 2:54 left in the third. Carlson was elevated from the practice squad after Spencer Shrader was signed earlier in the week by Kansas City off the Jets’ practice squad.
Kenny Yeboah’s 11-yard reception — his first career TD catch — made it 24-16 early in the fourth quarter.
Richardson, whose accuracy has been shaky early in his career, was 5 for 5 for 69 yards, including a 10-yard TD toss to Downs. But his potential tying 2-point pass to Mo Alie-Cox fell incomplete and the Colts trailed by two with 10:11 left.
Carlson’s 35-yarder with 2:41 remaining increased the Jets’ lead to 27-22.
Sluggish start
After opening the game without a first down on their first five possessions — and hearing boos throughout from fans at MetLife Stadium — the Jets got two and a touchdown.
On third-and-6 from the Colts 29, Rodgers threw a short pass to Hall, who found a lane upfield and took it into the end zone to make it 13-7 with 40 seconds left before halftime.
Injuries
Jets: Edge rusher Haason Reddick left in the second quarter with an ankle injury.
Up next
Colts: Host Detroit next Sunday.
Jets: Have a bye before hosting the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 1.
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