The New York Jets made a pretty silly mistake during Sunday’s win over the New England Patriots as they tried to get running back Breece Hall a notable statistical milestone.
Hall entered Sunday’s season finale with 872 rushing yards on the season, but a monster game left him with a real chance of making it to the 1,000-yard mark in his second NFL season. The chase really picked up with under two minutes left in the fourth quarter, when Hall broke a 50-yard touchdown run to bring him to within ten yards of the mark.
The Jets made a conscious effort to get Hall the yardage he needed — sort of. Even though the game was decided, the Jets gave Hall one more carry with 18 seconds left, which allowed him to pick up four yards. However, they did not run another play, leaving the running back with 994 rushing yards on the season.
No, that was not intentional. After the game, Jets coach Robert Saleh admitted that one of the team’s mathematicians had miscalculated, and that they thought Hall had crossed the 1,000-yard mark. Had they known he was at 994, Saleh said, they would have run another play for him to try to get him there.
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“We were aware. One of our mathematicians was wrong,” Saleh admitted. “We thought he got it, but we were ten yards off. We were trying to get it for him on that last run, otherwise we would have taken a knee.”
One has to wonder how secure that mathematician’s job is, seeing as how they made a rather significant error in what is essentially their one and only job. Hall did still surpass 1,500 yards from scrimmage during the game, which might be a more impressive mark, all things considered.
The good news is that unlike some other players, there was no contractual bonus riding on Hall’s achievement or lack thereof. Things would have been a lot more awkward otherwise.
