Leonard Williams had played 68 games at MetLife Stadium entering Sunday. He saved his best for last. The 10th-year veteran had two critical sacks, blocked a kick and returned an interception 92 yards for a touchdown to lead the Seahawks to a 26-21 win over the Jets.
“Honestly, I still had a bit of a chip on my shoulder after not getting Defensive Player of the Week last week,” Williams told Kristina Pink after the game. “A lot of coaches, family members, friends were telling me, ‘If they didn’t give it to you to go out there and make sure they give it to you this week.’”
Nicknamed Big Cat, his cat’s meow on Sunday was his first NFL touchdown and first interception since Dec. 17, 2017, as a member of the Jets when he intercepted Drew Brees in New Orleans. On Sunday, with the Jets threatening to extend a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter, the 6-5, 300-pound Williams dropped back into coverage, batted an Aaron Rodgers pass to himself at the 8-yard line and raced down the sideline with a convoy of blockers. Afterward, Williams credited his head coach, Mike Macdonald, and his teammates.
“My legs are still feeling that, to be honest,” said Williams, who has two straight games with at least two sacks for the first time in his 10-year NFL career, which began with the Jets (2015-19) and Giants (2020-23). “It was a good call by Mike. We have a play where I’m supposed to rush the touch, buy the guard’s eye for a little bit and I just popped back for that short slant, seen the ball coming. And I have long-enough arms that I just reached out and poked the ball and luckily the ball bounced right up in the air and gave me time to catch it. Honestly, I didn’t expect to make it that far down the field. When I got to the 50, I seen all my guys, all my defensive guys running down the field. They wanted me to score more than I did. I give them all the credit for that touchdown.”
Since 1982, when the individual sack became an official NFL statistic, Williams became the first player with multiple sacks, an interception-return touchdown and a blocked kick in the same game.
New York (3-9) never recovered from his touchdown. The Jets didn’t score another point over the game’s final 37-plus minutes, outscored 19-0 by the Seahawks (7-5). And after Geno Smith led Seattle on a nine-play, 71-yard touchdown drive to take a 26-21 lead on Zach Charbonnet’s 8-yard run with 5½ minutes left in regulation, Williams took over again.
On the Jets’ final drive, Williams sacked Rodgers for an 11-yard loss on second-and-15. Later in the series, he dropped Rodgers again, this time on third-and-10 from the Seahawks’ 29-yard line. He would’ve had a third sack earlier in the game but grabbed the quarterback’s facemask to nullify the play. He also blocked Anders Carlson’s extra-point attempt following the Jets’ first touchdown.
Smith guided Seattle back from a 14-point deficit, finishing 20 of 31 for 206 yards with no interceptions and a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end A.J. Barner. The Seahawks, who’ve won three straight, finished 4-1 against the AFC, their best record in interconference games since finishing 4-0 in 2016. They’re in Arizona (6-6) for another first-place battle in the NFC West next week.
The Jets, meanwhile, have dropped eight of their last nine. They’re at Miami in Week 14.
For more information on the Seahawks and Jets, visit the Seattle and N.Y. Jets team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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