The New York Giants have been in existence since 1925. The New York Jets have been in existence since 1960 (as the New York Titans in their first three seasons) as one of the American Football League’s charter organizations. That’s a lot of seasons, a lot of game, and a lot of wins — though wins have been hard to come by for either franchise of late. The Giants haven’t had a winning season since 2016, and that’s the last time the Jets put more wins than losses in a season.
But on Sunday, these two franchises won in overtime on the same day for the first time in NFL history.
Wow. First time in NFL history the Jets and Giants won OT games on the same day. #SignsOfTheApocalypse
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) October 3, 2021
A sign of the apocalypse? Well, we’ve had enough of those lately, so let’s stick with the games. The 0-3 Giants faced the 2-1 Saints in New Orleans, and were down 17-14 in the third quarter. But Saquon Barkley scored a 54-yard receiving touchdown and Graham Gano kicked a 48-yard field goal to tie things up at 21 with less than a minute left.
Then, Barkley socked it away with this six-yard touchdown run with 4:54 left in overtime.
SAQUON FOR THE WIN! #TogetherBlue pic.twitter.com/8yLyoD6tcR
— NFL (@NFL) October 3, 2021
You could say he wanted that one.
As for the Jets, they were facing a Titans team rolling without Julio Jones and A.J. Brown… and still, the Titans had a 17-10 lead in the fourth quarter when Derrick Henry scored on a one-yard run with 13:14 left in regulation. But rookie quarterback Zach Wilson threw touchdown passes to Jamison Crowder and Corey Davis, and when the Titans tied it up at 24 with 16 seconds left on this Ryan Tannehill pass to receiver Cameron Batson…
Tannehill hits Cameron Batson and the Titans tie it up 👀
(via @NFL)
pic.twitter.com/imnPMC7pAk— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 3, 2021
…it was up to rookie kicker Matt Ammendola to boot a 22-yard field goal with 4:31 left in overtime.
Matt Ammendola makes the chipshot 22-yard FG to give the Jets a 27-24 lead in OT. pic.twitter.com/uacw1aasne
— Main Team (@MainTeamSports) October 3, 2021
It was the first win of the season for both teams (the first at all for Jets; first-year head coach Robert Saleh), and historic wins at that.
