Jets vs. Cowboys: Score and Twitter Reaction for Saturday Night Football

In an ugly, turnover-filled affair, the New York Jets defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 19-16, on a field goal by Randy Bullock with 36 seconds left to win their fourth straight game and keep their playoff hopes alive. The loss also officially eliminated the Cowboys from playoff contention.

Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick came alive in the fourth quarter on a nine-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. He had a crucial 24-yard completion to Quincy Enunwa on 3rd-and-13 to keep the drive going, then connected with Eric Decker for a three-yard score to help the Jets take a 16-13 lead with nine minutes left. 

Fitzpatrick continued his tremendous late-game play after Dallas tied the game at 16-16 with less than two minutes to play. He had a huge 43-yard completion to Kenbrell Thompkins that got the Jets down to the Cowboys' 26-yard line to set up Bullock's game-winning field goal. 

New York's bearded signal-caller finished 26-of-39 for 299 yards with one touchdown and one interception. According to ESPN Stats & Info, this marks Fitzpatrick's first career winning season after 11 years in the NFL. 

Per NFL on ESPN, Decker's touchdown catch was historic for the Jets:

The Cowboys, who scored a combined 40 points in their previous three games, replaced quarterback Matt Cassel with Kellen Moore in the second quarter after Cassel went 3-of-8 for 37 yards with an interception. 

Moore's college program, the Boise State Broncos, was quick to jump on the bandwagon:

Moore, who has been in the NFL since 2012, had never thrown a pass in a regular-season game. The former Boise State star struggled in his first appearance, going 15-of-25 with three interceptions, but he did have one highlight with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant that enabled Dallas to take a 10-9 lead before halftime.

As the NFL tweeted out after the touchdown pass to Bryant, a lot of time had gone by before Moore had a chance to remember what that felt like:

Former college teammate and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin congratulated Moore on Twitter:

Unfortunately for Moore, that would be his high point of the game. He threw a bad interception in the end zone with the Cowboys trying to take a 20-9 lead after a strong six-play 76-yard drive. Moore stared down Bryant on the play, and Jets safety Calvin Pryor read it the entire way. 

Fortunately for Dallas, Fitzpatrick was briefly in the holiday spirit, giving the ball right back at New York's 21-yard line two plays later on an interception thrown right into the hands of Terrance Mitchell.

The Cowboys settled for a field goal to take a 13-9 lead into the fourth quarter. One of the few offensive bright spots on either side was Darren McFadden, who posted his second consecutive 100-yard rushing game for Dallas against a Jets defense that came into Week 15 allowing an NFL-best 78.9 yards per game on the ground.

McFadden needed just 16 carries to reach the century mark. Per Chris Wesseling of NFL.com, McFadden is second in the NFL in 100-yard performances on the ground this year:

For all of the problems the Dallas offense has faced without Tony Romo this season, McFadden has been a huge asset and is now 102 yards away from reaching 1,000 in 2015. The key for him has always been staying healthy, and the Cowboys have done a terrific job of keeping him intact all year.

Yet the Cowboys' drive, or lack thereof, after Fitzpatrick's interception summed up the entire game. They had opportunities to put more points on the board but could never take advantage of them. The Jets created their chances in the fourth quarter and capitalized on Dallas' many mistakes down the stretch to come away with a win on a short week.

The Cowboys, who came into the game at 4-9, needed a win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

The Jets, who are now 9-5, have postseason aspirations but still face an uphill climb. The Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers enter Week 15 with 8-5 records in a tight wild-card race, so New York still has its work cut out with the New England Patriots visiting MetLife Stadium next week.

Postgame Reaction

Fitzpatrick was the story of the game because of his late heroics, so it's fitting that Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall would talk about his quarterback after the win. 

Speaking on the NFL Network set in AT&T Stadium, Marshall sounded confident in playing with an offense led by Fitzpatrick. 

"It’s all Fitz," Marshall said. "I don’t understand why he’s not up here with us...We couldn’t ask for a better QB."

Jets head coach Todd Bowles was focused more on the entire group after the win, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News:

Bowles did bring the discussion back to what he saw from Fitzpatrick down the stretch when the Jets needed plays to be made, per ESPN.com. 

"He made some timely throws," Bowles said. "He took a bunch of hits during the game. They weren't clicking like they have been the last couple of weeks, but he was calm and he was good and the guys believed in him."

While getting praise from all corners of the locker room, Fitzpatrick deflected the focus off him and onto the team in the same ESPN report. 

"Kind of had tough sledding for a while," Fitzpatrick said. "There's going to be adversity throughout the game and I thought that was a great sign for us to show that the belief is always there. This is a winning football team."

The Jets are going to be a winning football team this year with nine wins. They just have to take care of business in the next two weeks, while receiving a little help from outside sources, to ensure a playoff appearance awaits. 

For the Cowboys, per ESPN's Todd Archer, head coach Jason Garrett said after the loss he was not yet prepared to name a starting quarterback for the team's next game against the Buffalo Bills: 

"

We'll go back, and we'll evaluate the tape, and we'll make the determinations and really throw out a roster as to who we want to play and how we want to play it. Our focus is to win a ballgame, and the byproduct when you get to this time of the season with where we are, there's an opportunity to evaluate every player.

"

Included in the Archer piece, Moore talked about what it was like to get in a regular season game for the first time. 

"If you're called upon, you have to be ready," Moore said. "I felt good. I felt like the communication was pretty good."

The Cowboys haven't had a lot to be excited about this season, but Moore did flash enough potential to at least be considered as the starting quarterback for the final two games over Cassel.