It would have been a bad look had Adam Gase and the Jets been swept by the coach’s former team this season.

That almost happened Sunday, but a Sam — not the one you’re thinking of — came up clutch to deliver Gang Green’s fifth win. The Jets, after an embarrassing loss to the Dolphins earlier in the year, emerged victorious at home, winning 22-21 in a game that scored like a nailbiter but lacked all the excitement.

With the win, the Jets are now 5-8, while Miami fell to 3-10.

Game Balls:

• WR Robby Anderson: Anderson scored his fourth touchdown of the season and finished the game with 116 yards. After a quiet start to 2019, Anderson’s production has picked up of late. He’s had either a touchdown or at least 86 yards in his last four games. That’s good timing for the speedster with free agency looming.

Quick Thoughts:

• The Dolphins may have swept the Jets this season if not for the referees calling defensive pass interference following a review on the final drive of the game. The call had Dolphins head coach Brian Flores fuming and set Sam Ficken up to win it from 44 yards out. Ficken, who has struggled all year, hit the field and was carried off the field, the unlikely hero of New York’s fifth win of the season.
• No Le’Veon Bell? No problem. Bell was out sick, but the Jets ran well against a Dolphins defense that struggles with such things. Bilal Powell ran for 74 yards on 19 carries — he made Jets history, too — and the team ran for a total of 112 yards on 32 attempts.
• One reason the Jets were able to run well was because of the offensive line, which also did a solid job of protecting Sam Darnold. The Dolphins only sacked the quarterback once — the first time that’s happened for Darnold all year.
• Despite the strong protection, Darnold didn’t have a great day throwing the football. He did have two touchdowns in the game, but he tossed an ugly interception — his first since Week 11 — while going 20-36for 270 yards. He especially struggled in the second half, missing a few wide-open receivers, nearly throwing a second pick and taking a costly sack on the final drive. The Jets are lucky their quarterback didn’t cost them a win in this one.
• Anderson is not the only Jet making his free agent case. There’s also Jordan Jenkins, who picked up his sixth and seventh sacks of the season. He tied his career-high, set a season ago. Jenkins is by no means a dominant pass rusher, but he is a talented one who should have no shortage of suitors this offseason. The Jets would be wise to keep him around and pair him with an elite rusher.
• James Burgess would have had a pick-six in Sunday’s game if not for… James Burgess. He took a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass to the house, but the play didn’t stand thanks to a questionable holding call on the linebacker. Tough way to lose the first score of your career, and one the Jets could have certainly used.
• Fitzpatrick is still a ton of fun to watch. The ex-Jet has never been a particularly good quarterback, but he knows how to entertain. Both of those things remained true Sunday, as the wily veteran was running wild and shoveling passes the way a teenager might on a patchy field of grass outside their high school. Long live Fitzmagic and its pulsating mediocrity.