Packers Edge Jets in Overtime

By Daniel Feuerstein | East Rutherford, NJ | September 20th 2026

After a dominating performance against the Tennessee Titans to start the season, the New York Jets opened their home schedule at MetLife Stadium with the first of three NFC North Division opponents as they took on Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers. The Jets were swarming the Packers all game long, dominating the statistics, and their defense made plays. Everything was going their way until the fourth quarter and overtime, when the Packers found ways to dominate the line of scrimmage and, on the final possession of the game, got their game-winning field goal to take their first win of the season, as the final score was 20-17 in overtime.

The defense was relentless.

The Jets won the coin toss and allowed the Packers to open the game with the ball. From the first play, it was a monster of defensive rushes that put Jordan Love on his heels and made him uncomfortable all game long. David Bailey opened it up with his first sack of the day on the first snap of the game. The entire first quarter was all defense as both teams were pitching shutouts on the scoreboard as they stopped runs and knocked down balls. Whoever blinked first would take the lead and put their team ahead. Green Bay had three players injured on their first three snaps; two left the game, while the third was able to return.

Packers take the early lead

After getting frustrated in the first quarter, the Packers finally got on the board as they drove up the field to get into the end zone. Several strong throws from Love got his players into position to take the first down, and when they got inside the red zone to get that opportunity to score the first points of the game, it was Marshawn Lloyd who made the short-distance grab and ran it into the end zone for a 6yd catch & run touchdown. It was his first NFL career touchdown on 9 plays, for 64 yards, with a time of possession of 5:33.

The Jets with a quick answer

After the Packers took the lead, the Jets got the ball back and went down the field themselves. Geno Smith had two consecutive first-down throws on third-down plays, throwing to Garrett Wilson for 16 yards, then on third-and-nine in Packers territory, throwing the ball to Adonai Mitchell for 14 yards, setting up a first-and-goal on the Packers’ six-yard line. Right away, Smith made a sneaky handoff to Braelon Allen and started to fake a throwing motion, allowing Allen to fool the Packers’ defense, and ran toward the near side and over the goal line for the touchdown to tie the game on seven plays for 70 yards, with a time of possession of 3:31.

Jets take the lead

With both sides looking to either retake the lead or get a lead, it was the Jets who found a way to make it happen. Smith scrambled out of the pocket and took it himself, running for an eight-yard first down. Then Breece Hall made a big 14-yard run for the first down and was forced out of bounds. Then some trickery was dialed up when Frank Reich called for an end-around that gave Isaiah Williams a chance to get a big run and earned 16 yards toward the near side. The next play went back to Williams on a 10-yard pass for the first down, after a Braelon Allen nine-yard grab to get closer into the red zone; on first and goal, a hard throw to Garrett Wilson for a six-yard catch, and he fell backwards into the end zone to take the lead on 10 Plays for 55 yards with a time of possession of 5:05.

Big rip to end the third

There were some strong plays for the Jets, but none were any bigger than the huge run by Breece Hall as he made the short-distance catch and burst through everyone. It was the final play of the third quarter, and Hall made it very memorable as he turned and put on the afterburners. With four seconds remaining and on a third-and-12, Hall ripped a run after the catch and looked like he was going to hit paydirt, but was caught on the Packers’ 41-yard line and dragged down by Keisean Nixon to end the quarter.

One more score, then starting to lose the game

The Jets continued to play well defensively and had a great chance to create a turnover when Kingsley Enagbare punched the ball out of the hands of a Packers running back, and Harrison Phillips recovered the forced fumble to set up a 32-yard field goal by Jason Sanders to make it a two-score game. Then the Packers took the game over and won it in the trenches at the line of scrimmage. Several strong throws and a Pass Interference call on AZ Thomas, but the Packers were back in the end zone with a three-yard touchdown pass to Christian Watson on seven plays for 73 yards, with a time of possession of 3:06.

The Jets had multiple chances to get another score to extend their lead, but poor execution and the offensive line getting run over were not good for the Jets. Then, with just under three minutes in the fourth quarter left to play, the Packers tied the game with a 34-yard field goal by Trey Smack at 17 all. The Jets moved the ball up to midfield, and when they got to the 50-yard line, they tried to get one yard to continue the possession. Failed at it on 3rd down and one, then tried on fourth and one, and were stopped when Braelon Allen was handed the ball off. Instead of a quarterback sneak, it was a handoff.

Field Goal ends it for the Packers

The Jets won the coin toss in overtime and tried to get something going. They couldn’t, as the Packers dominated on defense and stopped the Jets from advancing to make it a three-and-out. When the Packers got the ball back, they moved down the field, got help from careless Jets penalties, and got into a favorable field goal position. Trey Smack came on and kicked a game-winning 26-yard field goal, giving the Jets their first loss of the season. Three and a half quarters of solid football, and then falling apart within the final 9 minutes of regulation and the overtime period, was a tough pill to swallow.

The Stats were all in favor of the Jets

This loss is very confusing. If you read the end-of-game statistics, this should’ve been a win. In total yards, the Jets led 314 to 208; they led in time of possession, 37:40 to 26:57; and they led in third-down conversions, 8 of 19 to 1 of 9. Outside of the turnover on downs, the Jets never fumbled, and Smith never threw an interception. Only the one forced fumble they delivered on the Packers, and that’s it, yet they lost this game in the trenches. Play calling towards the end of the game was too conservative, and they have to be better than that when they face more good teams, including playing the Bills and the Patriots in their own Division. They lost this game on their own when they had the lead and couldn’t get it back.

“When it comes to this game, I’ll be honest, I’m highly upset. Tough way to lose a game. There’s a number of things that go through my head that, man, we have to fix. It’s always tough, you know, when you feel like you were right there in the thick of it and then you didn’t overcome, and you let the other team overcome and win. And that’s tough. It’s tough. But I will say this: this loss is not going to define who we are and what we’re about.

I will say that. And it’s not okay. And our guys are going to take it like that. It is not okay. But we have to get ready to move on to next week against another good opponent, an opponent I know very well. That’s going to be another challenge for us, and we have to go into their house and try to steal a win. And that’s what we’re going to actually have to do. Let’s go do that. Man, there are so many things. The penalties, and listen, they were on both sides. I think they had 13, they had 14, so obviously they were calling it like that. It was not good on special teams. We didn’t get a chance to establish the run.

Defense, we allow the team to come down the field and score, and know it’s on our penalty or whatnot. But, man, we had a ton of balls that we punched out and had on the ground. I think we only came over one of them. So those are things that really just go through my mind right now. I just know this: next week we have a number of things that we have to fix. And those things I just talked about are some things that we have to fix,” said Aaron Glenn

The New York Jets lose in overtime to the Green Bay Packers and are getting ready for their road trip to Detroit.

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