Will McDonald IV (9) celebrates with his Jets teammates during Sunday's game in Cincinnatti. (AP photo)

CINCINNATI (AP) — The winless start for the New York Jets took a toll on Justin Fields. At one point in the runup to Sunday’s game in Cincinnati, he found himself laying down in his closet and crying.

Helped by the support of family and friends, Fields got up. Then he rallied his team.

Breece Hall rushed for two second-half touchdowns and threw a 4-yard TD pass to Mason Taylor with 1:54 left, helping Fields and the Jets edge the Cincinnati Bengals 39-38 on Sunday for their first win under coach Aaron Glenn.

“When I was on the field, I was damn near crying,” Fields said. “Not because we won. But just how everything I’ve been through the past week, everything we’ve been through as a team these past seven weeks. Lots of ups and downs.”

Fields was 21 for 32 for 244 yards and a touchdown in his first game since Jets owner Woody Johnson sharply criticized his team’s quarterback play during its winless start. Hall finished with 18 carries for 133 yards.

Fields, who got the start after Tyrod Taylor was ruled out on Saturday with a knee injury, brushed off Johnson’s comments.

“I get that he’s the owner of the team, but that’s outside noise,” he said. “The biggest thing was my teammates believing in me and my coaches believing in me.”

The Jets (1-7), who trailed 31-16 after three quarters, rolled to 502 yards of offense in their highest scoring game of the season, including a season-high 254 on the ground.

“It was amazing to get 0-7 off our back,” defensive end Jermaine Johnson said. “Everybody was ecstatic. Everybody was emotional. The first one is the hardest one. We’re excited to move on from here.”

Joe Flacco passed for two touchdowns and rushed for a 1-yard score, but the Bengals (3-5) lost for the fifth time in six games. Ja’Marr Chase had 12 catches for 91 yards in his third consecutive game with double-digit receptions.

Flacco was 21 for 34 for 223 yards in his third consecutive start since he was acquired in a trade with Cleveland. The 40-year-old quarterback also used his legs to set up Samaje Perine’s 32-yard TD run in the third quarter, scrambling for 13 yards on a third-and-12 play.

“Not acceptable,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said of the performance. “Humbling for us, certainly.”

Flacco landed on his right shoulder when he was sacked by Will McDonald IV on a third down midway through the fourth. He was checked out before taking the field for the team’s final drive.

“Yeah, landed a little awkward. I feel good right now,” Flacco said after the loss.

Chase Brown’s 1-yard touchdown run gave Cincinnati a 38-24 lead with 10:21 left. He also had a 19-yard score on a catch-and-run play late in the first half.

New York’s winning rally began with Hall’s 27-yard TD run with 7:52 left. Fields passed to Isaiah Davis for the 2-point conversion.

After Cincinnati went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, New York marched right down the field again. Hall’s throw to Taylor in the back of the end zone was his first career passing attempt.

“I didn’t know if he scored, but I turned and looked at all the Bengals fans — they were just silent staring at me,” Hall said. “I thought, ‘All right, we’re in it now.'”

Hall is the fourth non-quarterback since 1950 to throw a winning touchdown pass in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime, joining Washington’s Rod Gardner (2003), New York’s Curtis Martin (2000) and Minnesota’s Paul Krause (1977). Hall’s also the first non-quarterback with multiple rushing touchdowns and a TD pass in the fourth quarter of a game.

The Bengals drove to their own 45 on their final possession, but Flacco threw two straight incompletions to turn the ball over on downs. The crowd of 65,526 booed lustily as the final seconds ticked off and the Jets began to celebrate.

Playing without receiver Garrett Wilson and top cornerback Sauce Gardner because of injuries, the Jets handed Glenn his first win since the coach was hired in January. He was the first Jets coach to begin his tenure with seven losses. The 53-year-old Glenn was a star cornerback for the team for the first eight seasons of his 15-year NFL playing career.

“These guys, this staff, this team gets criticized so much,” Glenn said. “I understand why. We’re 0-7. We brought a lot of it on ourselves. I know we still have a long way to go. I’m going to enjoy this win.”

The Jets also got their first victory of the season on the same weekend that former center Nick Mangold died at age 41 from complications of kidney disease. In a team statement, Johnson called Mangold “a cherished member of our extended Jets family.”

COOK LEADS BILLS ROUT OF PANTHERS

James Cook walked into his postgame news conference on Sunday looking like a guy who’d barely worked up a sweat, let alone run for a career-best 216 yards and two touchdowns.

“I feel like I could go again,” Cook said.

Why not?

After all, of Cook’s 216 yards, 168 came before contact, according to ESPN Research.

That’s a sign of just how well the Bills blocked up front against a Carolina Panthers defense that came into the game ranked eighth in the league against the run and had allowed only 131 yards on the ground over the last three games.

Cook scored on runs of 64 and 21 yards as Buffalo romped to a 40-9 win.

Offensive coordinator Joe Brady seemed to make a concerted effort to get Cook on the edges and used counter plays to allow the fourth-year running back to use his ability to cut back and make plays.

“We harped on all week starting fast and setting our identity as a football team and I felt like we did that early on,” Cook said.

Yes, about that Bills identity.

The Bills offense has long been centered around 2024 NFL MVP Josh Allen, and to suggest that will change is foolish. But it appears the Bills are finding the most success when Cook is the focal point of the offense.

Buffalo is 4-0 when Cook runs for at least 100 yards and 5-0 when he scores a touchdown.

He is in the midst a wildly successful season, having run for 853 yards in seven games with seven touchdowns on the ground while averaging 6.7 yards per carry for Buffalo (5-2).

So perhaps the Bills’ identity is shifting a little more toward Cook, particularly with the Bills lacking a dominant big play wide receiver.

The Bills passing game looked out of sync at times on Sunday, particularly in the first half and Allen finished with just 163 yards through the air. Aside from Khalil Shakir’s 54-yard catch-and-run touchdown, there simply wasn’t much there.

Allen still accounted for three touchdowns, with two short QB sneaks, but on this day it was clear the Bills planned to lean heavily on Cook’s legs.

And Allen seemed fine with that.

“When you have James Cook, you let him cook,” Allen said.