![Xavier Gipson pulled off some pure magic Monday night with a walk-off touchdown from a punt return, giving the New York Jets the dub in an outright wacky night. [Twitter/Screenshot/Public — @NFL]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Collage-Maker-12-Sep-2023-09-53-AM-9274-fotor-2023091295848-scaled-e1694527304563.jpg "Xavier Gipson pulled off some pure magic Monday night with a walk-off touchdown from a punt return, giving the New York Jets the dub in an outright wacky night. [Twitter/Screenshot/Public — @NFL]")
Such a fluke victory, but the Jets got it.
And despite my hatred for New York (and the Buffalo Bills at that), I can admit the season-opening edition of Monday Night Football was a bit of a banger.
Things started off, of course, with the Aaron Rodgers hype due to it being his debut for the Jets. However, we were all thrown one hell of a twist when QB8 suffered a potential season-ending Achilles injury on the very first possession of the game. And though it was deflating at first, things only got more wacky from there.
The other superstar quarterback in Week 1’s MNF game was Buffalo’s Josh Allen, who had an absolutely dismal performance, one of the worst of his career. For the night, Allen had three interceptions with all three being to Jordan Whitehead, and then on top of that, he lost a fumble that ended up giving the Jets the late lead.
The Bills later stormed back to force overtime after Tyler Bass barely (and I mean, barely) hit a game-tying field goal after the ball bounced off the upright in a fashion both loud and hard.
Overtime was the same story: crazy shenanigans to give us a dub in terms of entertainment value, with New York’s Xavier Gipson winning the game for the Jets, 22-16, after returning a punt return for a walk-off touchdown.
WATCH:
THE ROOKIE XAVIER GIPSON WINS IT! #BUFvsNYJ pic.twitter.com/lC26hn74bm
— NFL (@NFL) September 12, 2023
It was only the third overtime punt return touchdown in NFL history.
Xavier Gipson (@Gipson22X) had the third overtime punt return TD in NFL history.
All three were by rookies.
• Patrick Peterson – 99 yards in Week 9, 2011 (@P2)
• Tamarick Vanover – 86 yards in Week 6, 1995
(@VictorNewman87)#TakeFlight @nyjets @nfl @NFLResearch— Tony Holzman-Escareno (@FrontOfficeNFL) September 12, 2023
And it came after such a cool moment for Gipson too:
Undrafted rookie Xavier Gipson found out he made the Jets roster just a week ago…
Tonight he scored the game-winning punt return TD in OT 🤯
(via @NFL, @StreamOnMax)
pic.twitter.com/bX0IDOMclE— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 12, 2023
Such a massive fluke victory for the Jets though, but you know what they say … a win is a win.
Despite this piece of controversy…
oh so the refs blew another game this week?? pic.twitter.com/POwa8TS6Ff
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 12, 2023
See, the Jets can’t even get fluke wins right. What have I been telling you? (RELATED: Aaron Rodgers Leaves ‘Monday Night Football’ With Injury In Jets’ First Possession, Could Be Out For Rest Of Season)
DYSFUNCTION!