Jets' Breece Hall totals 197 yards of offense in win over Miami 

It was billed as a coming-out party for one of the Jets’ rookies.

And it was.

But maybe not the one everyone expected.

One of the primary reasons the Jets left MetLife Stadium on Sunday as 40-17 winners over the Dolphins was the performance of rookie running back Breece Hall. The Iowa State product ran for 97 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries and caught two passes for 100 yards.

“It was just cool to be out there, making plays for the team,” Hall said.

Hall averaged 5.4 yards per carry as part of a Jets rushing attack that totaled 135 yards and five touchdowns on 33 carries.

Fellow running back Michael Carter had two 1-yard touchdown runs, quarterback Zach Wilson added a 5-yard scramble for a score and wide receiver Braxton Berrios had a 15-yard TD on a jet sweep.

“That just tells you what we can do in this offense,” lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker said.

Hall’s afternoon began relatively early as he recorded a 79-yard catch-and-run on the last play of the first quarter. On first-and-10 from the Jets’ 20-yard line, Hall caught a dart from Wilson at the 40 and sprinted toward the goal line before being dragged down by two defenders at the 1.

On the next play, Carter plunged into the end zone for his first touchdown to extend the Jets’ lead to 12-0.

“He’s an explosive player,” coach Robert Saleh said of Hall. “We drafted him because we needed a home run hitter on this team. And he did that. He had a couple of home runs.”

To continue the baseball metaphor, Hall also had a fairly significant RBI single in the fourth. His 5-yard touchdown run with 9:08 left in the fourth quarter gave the Jets a 33-17 lead.

The score came one play after Carl Lawson’s strip sack of Dolphins rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson, which was recovered by Quinnen Williams and returned to the Miami 5-yard line. Hall ran off tackle near the goal line and, as he fell to the ground, stretched his arm in order for the ball to break the plane of the end zone.

It wasn’t an especially aesthetically pleasing effort. What it was, though, was the kind of late-game carry that salts away victories.

“I was like, finally,” Hall said about his touchdown after a laugh. “I [had been] stopped at the 1 two times. I was just like, oh, my God. But the coaches, they said if we get the ball back, we’re going to get you a touchdown. And I already had it in my mind I’m not getting stopped [at] the 1 again. It was a good feeling, for sure.”

So, too, is the Jets’ first two-game winning streak of any kind since Dec. 20-27, 2020, and the first win over an AFC East rival since beating the Bills, 13-6, on Dec. 29, 2019.

“We’re not the old Jets,” Hall said. “We’re the Jets now. And we’re definitely trending towards becoming a winning team. ”