Jets 17, Browns 12: Allen From 22 After a Snap in the Rain

October 11, 2026 - East Rutherford - The snap went through Corey Bojorquez's hands and bounced into the rain. Trevin Wallace fell on it. Three plays later Braelon Allen bounced left from 22 yards, and the ponchos at MetLife Stadium finally had a lead that would hold.

The New York Jets beat the Cleveland Browns 17-12. New York is 2-3. Cleveland is 3-2 after a three-game winning streak died on a special-teams mistake. Breece Hall was inactive with a quad for a second straight week, the Jets said. Allen ran 24 times for 116 and the score. It was his first 100-yard rushing game.

Geno Smith was 17 of 30 for 182 yards and a 32-yard touchdown to Garrett Wilson on the opening drive. No picks. He was sacked four times. Deshaun Watson was 15 of 33 for 155, one score, and no interceptions. The Jets sacked him eight times. Rookie David Bailey had three of them.

7-0 in the dry part of the afternoon

Wilson scored from 32 at 9:17 of the first. Allen moved the chains twice on that eight-play drive, the club said. Andre Szmyt answered from 25, then from 41. 7-6 at the half. New York had the only touchdown and almost none of the rest.

Allen ripped 17 down the sideline at the end of the first and 18 in the third, the Jets wrote. He was patient, then gone. On third-and-9 from the Cleveland 11, Kenyon Sadiq caught a short ball and lost it. Quincy Williams, back in the building he used to play in, hit him. Cleveland recovered. Sadiq left with a concussion and did not return.

Jason Sanders made 54 at 14:37 of the fourth. 10-6. That was New York's first points since the opening drive.

12-10, then a snap nobody caught

Watson found Denzel Boston from 29 with 6:15 left. Szmyt missed the extra point. 12-10 Browns. Cleveland had its first lead and the formula it had used for three weeks: hang around, then steal the fourth.

Carson Schwesinger strip-sacked Smith. Adin Huntington recovered at the Jets 43. The Jets defense forced a three-and-out anyway. Then Rex Sunahara's snap sailed. The AP said the rain may have helped it through Bojorquez's hands. Wallace recovered. Allen was not expecting a run on third-and-9, he told the club. He bounced left anyway. Stats Perform, via the Jets, called it the longest rushing touchdown on third down by a Jets running back since 2017. 17-12, 3:01 left.

Cleveland did not score again. New York finished with 276 yards and 14 first downs. Cleveland had 198 and 13. The Jets were flagged 10 times for 102 yards and still won a one-score game for the first time this season.

Eight sacks, 116 on the ground, a 54-yarder

Wilson caught seven for 104. Quinshon Judkins ran 14 times for 44 and caught three for 6. Isaiah Bond had three for 74. Boston caught three for 46 and the late score. Watson added 40 rushing yards on six carries. It was not enough against a front that kept getting home.

Will McDonald IV had a sack, a forced fumble, and a recovery. Jowon Briggs added a sack. Jarvis Brownlee Jr. and Dane Belton each had one. Maliek Collins had 1.5 sacks in a loss. Williams forced three fumbles, per nflverse. The tackle sheet on a wet Sunday belonged to the defense on both sidelines. The scoreboard belonged to the team that fell on the loose snap.

New York was 8 of 17 on third down. Cleveland was 4 of 16. The Browns ran 65 plays for 198 yards. Watson's 155 passing yards came with eight sacks in his face. Szmyt's missed extra point after Boston's catch kept the lead at two instead of three. That point never came back either.

Allen's 22-yarder was the longest rushing touchdown of his career, and it came because a punter never got a hand on a wet snap. The Jets' first one-possession win of the season did not look pretty. It looked like 116 yards on the ground and a defense that kept getting home until Cleveland donated the field.

Smith said the line controlled the line of scrimmage. Hall's absence made Allen the lead back for a second week. Isaiah Davis rotated in for a few snaps. Allen still took 25 touches. The Jets visit New England next. Baltimore visits Cleveland.

AthX Engine on eight sacks in the rain

AthX Engine NFL scoring already has the Week 5 Sunday line in. Collins's 1.5 sacks land at 55.50, the top total in this game. Bailey is 52.50. Williams is 52.00. McDonald is 44.00. Schwesinger is 41.50. Allen and Wilson are 35.50. New York's team line is 55.50. Cleveland is -0.25.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is what traders will pay for a Jets front that just sacked Watson eight times, and for Allen after his first 100-yard day with Hall out. They move together. They are not the same number.

Track Wilson, Hall, McDonald, Judkins, and both clubs on the marketplace. The Jets visit New England on Oct. 18. Baltimore visits Cleveland that afternoon.

*Sources: ESPN recap, Jets.com, Jets on Allen, AP. Club wraps, AP, ESPN, and nflverse agree on 17-12, Allen 24-116-1, Smith 17-of-30 for 182, Wilson 7-104-1, Watson 15-of-33 for 155. Jets listed Allen's score at 3:07; ESPN and the scoring summary have 3:01. AthX Engine Week 5 lines scored from nflverse weekly stats (CC-BY 4.0). Information only; not financial advice.*