Gang Green Nation
Will McDonald’s blocked field goal, return, and score gave the Jets the leave with under 2:00 left in the fourth quarter of the team’s Week 3 game against the Buccaneers.
The lead was short lived. The Buccaneers promptly got the ball back and drove down the field for the winning score. Shortly after McDonald blocked a field goal attempt, Chase McLaughlin kicked another attempt through the uprights as time expired.
I’m not saying McDonald would have done it again. I’m certainly not saying this cost the Jets the game. But it is odd to me that the Jets didn’t put McDonald in the same alignment on the second kick as the first.
When he blocked McLaughlin’s try you can see he lines up as close to the long snapper as possible. It gives him a chance to leap over the line. Once he does so, he’s flying up the middle right into the kick.
But just a few minutes later as McLaughlin lines up for the game-winning attempt, McDonald aligns in a different spot. He is all the way on the outside. There is no chance to leap over the line again and shoot up the middle.
I admit it would have been a lot to ask for Will to do that a second time, but I don’t see why you would go away from something after it just worked. If Tampa Bay handles it better, so be it. Force them to handle it better, though. At the very least, the sight of McDonald trying to leap again might have gotten into McLaughlin’s head.
It’s a long shot, but everything about winning the game at that point was a long shot for the Jets.
