Down four points with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Jets needed to make something happen on defense.
New York and the visiting Bengals had gone back and forth throughout the second half. Getting the ball back, Cincinnati was poised to march down the field and conduct their third straight touchdown-scoring drive, slamming the door shut on a possible Jets comeback.
That's when defensive lineman Shaq Lawson picked off a pass from Joe Burrow, hauling in the first interception of his football career.
"I knew it was a screen," Lawson told reporters after the Jets' 34-31 win over Cincinnati. "I was like, ‘If I don’t tip this ball, it’s going to be out the gate.’ So, I just had to make a little decision and it worked out in my favor. I was at the right place, at the right time."
Lawson's pick came at the perfect time. Right after a touchdown from Ty Johnson, New York got the ball back, with tremendous field position, on the very first play of Cincinnati's subsequent drive.
Trying to find Ja'Marr Chase on a wide receiver screen, Burrow turned and fired a low line drive to the near sideline. With the left guard and left tackle pushing forward to get ready to block down the field, Lawson was a free rusher, sprinting toward Burrow and tipping the pass straight up into the air.
The only way Lawson wasn't going to catch the interception was if he dropped it or if Burrow lurched forward to deflect it again. He wasn't going to let either of those outcomes come to fruition.
"The play happened so slow, I’m not going to lie to y’all," Lawson said. "I know I tipped it, but it just looked like I blacked out. I don’t think I was thinking. Like, I got to catch this. I can’t let Joe Burrow interfere with me on that."
Lawson's interception brought the crowd right back into it at MetLife Stadium, setting up what proved to be the game-winning touchdown. Two plays later, quarterback Mike White found Tyler Kroft for a 13-yard touchdown pass.
Converting the two-point conversion on a trick play, New York took a 34-31 lead. Securing one more stop on defense, White and the offense held on to the football until the final whistle.
White gets a lot of the credit for New York's stunning victory, but head coach Robert Saleh called Lawson's pick the game's "deciding factor."
"To give our offense a chance on a short field, give them the ball inside the 20, let’s see them go score. He made a huge play," Saleh said. "Then, for the offense to go finish it and go score, it was huge."
To go a step further, linebacker C.J. Mosley referred to the interception as a "Hall of Fame defensive end type of play."
"I think about Terrell Suggs doing that all the time, tipping the ball and getting it to himself. What a great time to have that happen," Mosley said.
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