Against the Browns, Hall was responsible for 74% of the Jets’ total yards (125 of 169). And with big gainers of 22 and 30 yards, for the third time in his pro career he had 3 scrimmage plays of 20-plus yards. Not to be overlooked were a couple of heady plays late in the game when he broke into the open, but instead of going out of bounds and stopping the clock, he slid to the MetLife Stadium turf to either keep the clock running or force the Browns to burn a timeout.
Teammate RB/KR Kene Nwangwu, who was at Iowa State when Hall arrived, said he’s marveled at how Hall has matured over the years.
“Just a lot of maturity,” Nwangwu said. “You know, he’ll probably even say that, too. But I remember when he came in [at Ames], he graduated high school early, still trying to figure it out. There was a spring game, and like everyone knew [about] Breece. But just to see where he is today, a whole lot of maturity, very humble. He’s a very special person, and it’s just really cool to see where he is today.
“He’s been himself, you know, just making plays, being electric, finding ways to be an asset for his team. And he thrives on that, just being depended upon like, that’s what you saw yesterday [Sunday].
As much as Hall’s late play against Cleveland was special, his fourth-quarter outburst at Cincinnati in Week 8 “was Breece being Superman,” in the words of Glenn, as words sum up the RB’s play over the past two games. Against the Bengals, he ran for a pair of Q4 TDs, and then lofted a TD pass to rookie TE Mason Taylor that momentarily tied the game, 38-38, before Nick Folk added the game-winning PAT.
Asked if he sees himself as a late-game destroyer of the opposition, Hall said: “I wouldn’t even say that, it was just every game I feel like you come out with intentions of what you want to do and you’ve got to adjust to what’s needed to win the game, so today [Sunday] we needed a lot of the run game and a lot of it just happened to be on me, so it was just falling into what the team needed for us to win.”