Jets-Patriots: What Was the Most Important Play of the Game?

What was the most important play of yesterday’s loss to the New England Patriots?

What does Pro Football Reference think?

Pro Football Reference has a formula to determine a team’s chance of winning at any point in a game. What play increased New England’s odds by the most?

They say it was Tom Brady’s 42 yard pass to Brandin Cooks with under 30 seconds left in the first half. The pass got the Patriots to the Jets 2 yard line and set up a touchdown right before the half to tie the game at 14.

The play took New England’s chances of winning from 50.9% to 67.3%, an increase of 16.4%. That play essentially took the game from a coin flip to giving the Pats a two in three chance according to the formula.

What do I think?

I am sure a lot of people will go with the blown call on Austin Seferian-Jenkins, but I’m going a little earlier than the Cooks catch. Josh McCown’s first interception set up the catch and the touchdown.

You would expect a 38 year old quarterback to understand the game situation. The Jets were in control of the game. This was no time to do anything crazy. It would be nice for the Jets to score points, but the most important thing in that situation was to not give the Patriots any chance to score before halftime. McCown instead threw a terrible interception to give New England new life. It was certainly deflating to have a halftime tie, and McCown was the biggest culprit.

What do you think?