Jets score TDs on kickoff and punt returns in the same game for the 1st time in franchise history

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets wasted no time having a special performance Sunday on special teams.

Kene Nwangwu returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter and 36 seconds later, Isaiah Williams brought back a punt 74 yards for a score in New York's 27-20 win over Cleveland.

It marked the first time in franchise history that the Jets had a kickoff return and a punt return for TDs in the same game.

“I feel like that just really changed the game, the momentum,” Williams said. "Like, after he scored, everybody on the sideline was just pumped, and I was, too."

The Jets had one previous game with two kickoffs returned for scores and another with two punts returned for TDs. But never one of each in the same game.

And they both came in the opening quarter Sunday, giving the Jets an early 14-7 lead.

“I’m on the sideline like, ‘Yo, we don’t need to do no work!’” quarterback Justin Fields said with a big smile. “Nah, special teams definitely did their thing today. Proud of those guys, and we finally had some hit.”

After the Browns took a 7-0 lead, Nwangwu took the ensuing kickoff up the middle and evaded would-be tacklers — including kicker Andre Szmyt's diving attempt — and returned it up the right sideline 99 yards.

“I mean, honestly, I didn't get touched, so it's a credit to the guys,” Nwangwu told SNY after the game. “It just opened up on the back side and I just trusted my speed, trusted the blocks and it's just great to celebrate with our team and, like, give us that energy on special teams.”

New York then forced Cleveland into a three-and-out and Jets special teams coordinator Chris Banjo took Williams aside.

“Coach Banjo came up to me like, ‘Now, it’s your turn,’” Williams recalled. “So, I feel like it just gave us even more confidence, like, all right, we can go do this. Let’s go be special.”

Williams, the AFC special teams player of the week two weeks ago, fielded Corey Bojorquez’s punt and returned it 74 yards, also going up the right sideline untouched for another touchdown to make it 14-7 with 5:45 left in the opening quarter.

“Man, it was a lot of emotions with that being my first return touchdown in my life,” said Williams, who was cut by the Jets earlier this season after a couple of mistakes before he was recently re-signed.

“With that, just how things have turned around these last few weeks, like it was a lot of emotions going into that,” he added. “Most of all, just being able to help the team win, being able to make plays, because going into this week we knew this was going to be a good defense.”

It has also been an up-and-down season for Nwangwu, who missed the Jets' previous game with a concussion after sitting out four games with a hamstring injury suffered in Week 1.

Nwangwu tied his career best for longest touchdown return after also having a 99-yarder for the Jets last December against Seattle. He has returned five kickoffs for TDs since entering the league as a fourth-round pick of Minnesota in 2021, the most in the NFL in that span.

“Man, it was special to see both of those guys because both of those guys have had some issues up to a certain point, with Kene with some of his injuries and Isaiah what had happened early in the season and he’s just turned himself around," coach Aaron Glenn said. “And that’s the power of believing in your players and don’t let the noise that everybody wants to talk about these guys let that bother you, and just trust those guys and build those guys up and keep developing those guys. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The previous time an NFL team had kickoff and punt returns for scores in the same game was Baltimore against Chicago on Oct. 15, 2017. The Chargers were the most recent team to accomplish the feat in the first quarter in 2007.

“The biggest thing on special teams, it was the challenge, like, we’ve got to be explosive in the return game,” Williams said. “And me and Kene, we took that personally.”

AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed.

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New York Jets running back Kene Nwangwu (34) returns a kickoff for a touchdown in the first of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Jets running back Kene Nwangwu (34) takes a kickoff return into the end zone for a touchdown in front of Cleveland Browns cornerback Tre Avery (28) in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn, center, celebrates with running back Kene Nwangwu (34) after Nwangwu's touchdown in the first of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Jets running back Kene Nwangwu, left, takes a kickoff return into the end zone for a touchdown in front of Cleveland Browns cornerback Tre Avery, bottom right, in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW DELHI (AP) — India has begun the world’s largest national population count, which could reshape welfare programs and political representation across the country.

The previous census in 2011 recorded a population of 1.21 billion. It's now estimated to be more than 1.4 billion, making India the most populous nation.

The new census had been planned for 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and logistical challenges.

Here’s how India’s census works and why it is significant:

The first phase of the count started Wednesday and will roll out around the country through September. The workers will spend about a month in each area collecting information on homes and available facilities and will document housing stock and living conditions.

The exercise will blend in-person surveys with a digital option where residents can submit information through a multilingual smartphone application that integrates satellite-based mapping.

The second phase to be conducted from September to next April 1 will record more detailed information, like people's social and economic characteristics, including religion and caste.

More than 3 million government workers are expected to be deployed over the course of the year. In 2011, nearly 2.7 million enumerators surveyed more than 240 million households nationwide.

The second phase of the census will attempt a broader accounting of caste beyond historically marginalized groups.

Caste is an ancient system of social hierarchy in India and is influential in defining social standing and deciding who gets access to resources, education and economic opportunity. There are hundreds of caste groups based on occupation and economic status across India, particularly among Hindus, but the country has limited or outdated data on how many people belong to them.

The last attempt to gather detailed caste information through a census dates to 1931, during British colonial rule. Since independent India’s first census in 1951, it counted only Dalits and Adivasis, members of marginalized groups known as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who qualify for certain government benefits.

Successive governments have resisted conducting a full caste count, arguing it could heighten social tensions and trigger unrest.

Population data collected through the census underpins the distribution of government welfare programs and a wide range of public policies.

It could also prompt a redrawing of India’s political map, as seats in the lower house of Parliament and state legislatures may be increased to reflect population growth. A 2023 law reserves one-third of legislative seats for women, so any expansion would raise the number of seats set aside for female representatives.

Irfan Ahmad checks census registration online at a registration center as the street is reflected on the glass in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Muslim woman checks her census registration online at a registration center in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

FILE -Mahesh Shah, left, stands as his family members look while census worker Rumima Das, writes the information on a paper on the first day of the national census at Ramsingh Chapori village, east of Gauhati, India, April 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)

FILE - Indians crowd ticket counters at a railway station in Ahmadabad, India, Oct. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)