Sports

Jets Honor Mangold Win 2nd Straight

Nick Mangold Always A Jet

Photo: Michael Henriquez – NY Beacon 

MetLife Stadium

By Andrew Rosario

When the New Jets hosted the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium Sunday afternoon, the players took the field with a heavy heart. The team honored ex-center and All-Star Nick Mangold who died October 27th from complications of kidney disease. Mangold’s wife and 4 children were in attendance wearing his #74 jersey and were named honorary captains before the game. Said Jets quarterback Justin Fields after, “l didn’t too much Jets when l was younger but for everything l hear, he was loved in the building.” First year head coach Aaron Glenn said, “it was very emotional. Lot of credit to his wife Jennifer. It was impressive to see how she handled it.”

As far as the game went, the Jets special teams came up big as Fields had a pedestrian day. He only completed 6 of 11 passes for 54 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. For the first time team history, the Jets scored a touchdown on a kick-off (Kene Nwangwu 99 yards) and punt return (Isaiah Williams 74 yards) in the same game. The teams were tied at 17 at halftime with neither team scoring in the third quarter. 

Fields threw a screen pass to running back Breece Hall who ran it in the end zone 42 yards later to ice the win. The Jets rushed for 127 yards, with Hall gaining 83. Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 167, completing 17 of 32 passes and 2 touchdowns. Cleveland rushed for a total of 158 yards with Quinshon Judkins leading the team with 75 yards.

Glenn praised the play of his special team. “Listen, we know we got a long way to go and we have a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball. But I’ll tell you what, our special teams really gave us a spark today.”

The New York Jets only won back to back games 1 time last year. The victory was bitter sweet as they said goodbye to a fan favorite who was only 41 upon his death. Next year, Nick Mangold will be eligible to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He most certainly will be inducted.

It will be a short week for Gang Green as they travel to a New England to face the Patriots who took out Tampa Bay on the road 28-23. It is the first time they will face each other this year.