One hand and one shin added up to the end of a five-game losing streak.
In a catch that boasted of all-time greatness, Garrett Wilson hauled in a 26-yard touchdown from Aaron Rodgers, sensationally coming away with the ball while also bringing his left foot and left shin down inside the end zone.
It was a grab for the autumns, but the catch, originally ruled an incompletion before it was overturned, was just as crucial in propelling the Jets to a 21-13 victory over the Houston Texans, their first since Sept. 19.
“Honestly, you’re not thinking about much, how can I make a play?” Wilson told Prime Video’s Kaylee Hartung after the game. “Give myself a chance to make a play. Aaron believed in me. Once the ball was going up it’s like you’ve got no other choice but to go and try to do what you can do. I’m glad they switched the call, I wasn’t sure so they was. It was a cool play. We needed it. At the end of the day, I pride myself on coming through when we need it.”
The play was of the unbelievable variety and then some.
Trailing, 10-7, in the fourth quarter and facing third-and-19, Rodgers heaved a beautiful ball to Wilson, who cut inside Texans cornerback Kamari Lassiter. Wilson then reached back with his right arm outstretched, somehow coming down with the catch as he tapped his left foot inside the backline of the end zone with his left shin following. Despite the acrobatic amazement, it was originally ruled an incompletion. After a challenge by interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich, Wilson was back on the field celebrating when officials reversed the call to a touchdown.
“Well before the snap, I knew it was third and extra long,” Rodgers told reporters. “I was looking at the weak side safety and I was like, if he drops down at all I’m just gonna say screw it, I’m gonna throw it up to G. I felt like I put it in a decent spot, but yeah, I didn’t do a whole lot when it comes down to it. I just kind of lobbed it up there. He made an unbelievable catch.
“When I saw the replay it looked like he had his knee in. So, I thought, shoot, let’s throw the challenge. ‘Brich was already in front of me throwing it. But that was a huge play. First one was a huge play, as well.”
Wilson had two touchdowns on the night, part of a nine-catch, 90-yard evening, but it was his ridiculous reception in the fourth quarter that will stand as a highlight for the season and perhaps beyond. It immediately drew comparisons to Odell Beckham’s acrobatic one-hander for the New York Giants against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 23, 2014 -- also at MetLife Stadium.
“Man, Odell’s, it was different,” Wilson told reporters. “And he got two feet down, the ball was gonna land out of bounds, and it was Odell, man. Odell against the Cowboys, that was the one. So, for it to even come up in that convo, I’m blessed. I’m honored.”
While Wilson’s wizardry and Beckham’s brilliance can be debated until the sun grows cold, one massive difference is that the former’s led to a victory. Beckham’s Giants lost to the Cowboys, 31-28, and finished 6-10 that season.
“Oh my goodness,” Ulbrich said. “I mean I was talking to the ref when they were reviewing it, I was like just for the sake of posterity you have to say that’s in just so it goes down in history. I mean it would rival the Odell catch. It was amazing.”
Wilson’s scoring grab wasn’t the last of the game, as Rodgers found old pal Davante Adams for a 37-yard game-sealer, which was also the tandem's first as Jets teammates.
It was Wilson’s first TD -- a 21-yarder in the third quarter -- that rescued the offense from the stupor of a first half in which it was held to 69 yards and no points.
It was Wilson’s mesmerizing second TD that led to a long-awaited and much-needed triumph.
The odds are still hardly in the 3-6 Jets’ favor when it comes to the playoffs. But if New York is to pull off a stunning rally, it will be Wilson’s jaw-dropping grab that will likely be viewed as the season-turning spark. If the Jets fall short -- a 3-6 New York squad has never made the playoffs, per NFL Research -- it will still serve as a most memorable highlight amid a disappointing season, just as Beckham’s did.
“It feels good,” Wilson told reporters. “We definitely just wanted to get back in the win column. Losing five straight feels how you would expect. It doesn’t feel good. We’re better than that, most importantly, and it was time to go prove it.”