Brandon Marshall’s bad lateral another blemish in Jets’ loss

It may not stand up against the ‘Buttfumble’ but Brandon Marshall’s gaffe in the second quarter of his New York Jets 24-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles is likely something he won’t want to see on ‘Inside the NFL’ anytime soon. Cue some wacky NFL bloopers music.

Already down 17-0, the Jets were looking for a spark in a first half where they were being dominated by the visiting Eagles. With 4:57 left in the second quarter, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had a rare piece of good news for the offense when he found Marshall over the middle for 15 yards. Then somehow, inexplicably, Marshall attempted to flip the ball to a teammate.

Hit ‘Freeze’ on the play. There was plenty of time left in the game and the Jets had just gotten a rare first down with that pass and catch. Marshall was going to be tackled right now midfield, a bit of momentum for the team. There was absolutely no reason to flip the ball, do something ridiculous. But that’s what he did.

The teammate he was trying to get the ball to ended up being linebacker Jordan Hicks, who is the teammate of the visiting Eagles. Seven plays later, Darren Sproles went one-yard into the endzone for a 24-0 Eagles lead.

“Wrong time to gamble. I was pressing, trying to make a play but you can’t do that. That was probably the worst play in NFL history. You can’t do that,” Marshall said.

“The damage outweighs the reward so much. I think we were down 17-0 at that point and that might have been the first, real catch. I saw [Jeff] Cumberland sitting there, it was too late to do it. If I was going to do it, I should have done it a little earlier. But you can’t do that, that’s backyard football.

“It was a bonehead play.”

To be fair to Marshall, it wasn’t the worst play in NFL history or even franchise history. It may not have been the worst Jets play of this decade. But it was a bad play and in a game where the Jets struggled to find something positive in the first half, it may have been crucial.

To be even more fair, Marshall has been the Jets best player on offense through the season’s first three games. Even with this play and an interception in the fourth quarter that he got his hands on, he still had a great game.

He finished with 10 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown right before halftime.

Coming into the game, the Jets led the league in 10 turnovers created but had only two of their own. On Sunday, Marshall’s fumble/lateral/failed flip was one of four Jets turnovers in a loss that felt much, much worse.

“He knows he can’t make that play. We both know he can’t make that play. He can’t pitch the ball,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “He understands that. He knows that. We can’t have those type of plays during the game. Can’t do it.”