CLEVELAND _ The Jets staved off embarrassment with a 17-14 victory over the winless Browns on Sunday afternoon.
The Jets (3-2) moved to above .500 for the first time since 2015, Todd Bowles' first year, when his group started the season 2-0. The win was the Jets' third in a row, their longest streak since they won five in a row in 2015.
All this does is set up a showdown with the Patriots next Sunday at MetLife Stadium. The Jets, Patriots and Bills are in a three-way tie for first in the AFC East with 3-2 records.
With how the Jets played against the Browns, the odds of defeating the Patriots remain very small.
Yet these Jets survived the Browns (0-5), stopping them in the red zone three times, and after not converting any third-down plays in the first half, the Jets were 4-for-8 in the second half.
The biggest third-down completion was Josh McCown's 34-yard connection to tight end Eric Tomlinson on a third-and-2 play from the Jets' 11. That big play was followed by another third-down completion, McCown to Jeremy Kerley for 18 yards.
McCown finished the 97-yard scoring drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Kearse with 8:30 to play, pushing the Jets to a 17-7 lead.
All that was left was to hold off the Browns, who got a late touchdown when Duke Johnson scored on a 41-yard screen pass with 1:49 left that cut the Jets' lead to 17-14.
Julian Stanford recovered the onside kick and the Jets went into the victory formation.
In an ugly first half, the Jets led 3-0 when Chandler Catanzaro nailed a 57-yard field goal as time expired. The play was set up when Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez missed his second kick of the game. Gonzalez was wide left on a 39-yarder with 31 seconds left.
Instead of taking a knee, the Jets, with the ball at their own 29, got just enough yards to set up the long field goal by Catanzaro. McCown scrambled away from pressure and found Robby Anderson for a 10-yard reception with 17 seconds left. McCown then hit Kerley for an 8-yard reception. Kerley scooted out of bounds at the Browns' 39 with one second left. It led to Catanzaro's field goal, which gave the Jets a 3-0 lead.
After the kick, the Jets sprinted off the field elated to have the lead in a game in which they did not have a third-down conversion.
Cleveland rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer had two opportunities to make plays in the first half, but he turned the ball over twice inside the Jets' 5. Kizer was credited with a fumble when he threw a backward pass that was recovered by Freddie Bishop with 1:16 left in the opening quarter.
The Browns had another chance to score when they reached the Jets' 4. On third-and-3, Kizer's pass was picked off by free safety Marcus Maye.
Browns coach Hue Jackson saw enough and benched Kizer at the start of the second half for Kevin Hogan. Kizer completed 8 of 17 passes for 87 yards with one interception. He had a quarterback rating of 38.1.
