Image courtesy of Associated Press Photos
The last time the Jets beat the Patriots in regulation in New Jersey, Rex Ryan was the head coach.
Until Thursday night.
An ugly performance across the board led to a dominant 24-3 win for the Jets, their first regulation win in the Meadowlands over New England since 2010. The Jets did also beat the Pats in OT in 2013, but New England had won the last 10 meetings in front of Fireman Ed and the rest of Gang Green.
The Patriots mustered just 139 yards of total offense, had 11 first downs and had less than 20 minutes of possession time (19:56). The Jets ran 70 plays to the Pats’ 48 and held New England to 61 yards passing – 22 of those coming from Drake Maye during a surprise appearance in the final 4:24.
Ugly is an understatement. The Patriots dropped to 1-2 and 0-1 in the division with 10 days off until the next game in San Francisco.
“They just beat our ass to be honest with you,” Jacoby Brissett said succinctly.
To say the first half couldn’t have gone much worse would be an understatement, but the Jets’ embarrassing mismanagement of the final minute or so kept the deficit at just 14-3 heading into the break.
In the first quarter, the Jets ran 17 plays for 106 yards while the Patriots ran nine for just 12 yards. New York had eight first downs, New England had one, and the Pats ran for just four yards to the Jets’ 49. The lone score of the first 15 minutes came in the form of a 10 yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to Allen Lazard with 4:21 left, capping an eight-play, 73 yard drive.
Rodgers looked like the Rodgers of old early and often and really, throughout the night, slinging the ball around while cerebrally finding mismatches. He was also more mobile than we’ve seen in a while, regularly extending plays with his legs and throwing guys open on the run.
The middle of the field was exposed quite a bit throughout the game. That, coupled with New England’s inability to wrap up – even when reading plays and ending up in the backfield – was alarming as guys continuously went high instead of low and took incredibly poor angles, over pursuing routinely.
With 8:33 left in the second, Breece Hall scored from a yard out to make it 14-0, capping a methodical 13-play, 91 yard drive that took 7:47 off the clock. Two different pass interference calls on the ensuing Patriots drives bailed out bad pass protection and execution long enough for the Pats to get on the board with a 44 yard Joey Slye field goal.
The Jets had 3:49 and all three timeouts left to close out the half, but Robert Saleh put on a mismanagement clinic and Greg Zeurlein eventually shanked a 45 yard field goal. Brissett actually fired a pass to Pop for a chunk gain to give New England a shot at a Hail Mary from their own 47 in the final seconds, but nothing came of it.
The Jets out-gained the Patriots 252-40 in the first half and ran 39 plays to their 18. Brissett had just 11 yards passing while Rodgers had 164 and the Jets had 17 first downs while the Pats had only four.
“Came out and got our ass kicked. Plain and simple,” added Jabrill Peppers. “Be honest with yourself. Watch the tape. Correct it. Put it behind you… We know we gotta be better, we will be better.”
“There’s no excuse. This is a performance based game. We’re professionals and we have to show up and perform regardless,” said Jahlani Tavai.
It was more of the same to start the third quarter as New England quickly went three-and-out, gaining six yards in 1:32. Rodgers and the Jets responded with another clock-crushing seven-minute drive that spanned 66 yards and 11 plays. Garrett Wilson made a great catch with Christian Gonzalez on him at the front right pylon from two yards out to make it 21-3.
Perhaps nothing summed up the night better than the ensuing drive for the Patriots. A nice play action pass to Douglas and a well-executed screen to Austin Hooper moved them down to the Jets 23. But, three straight holding calls – the last one negated only by a sack – soon forced an embarrassing 4th-&-26 predicament and a punt. The Jets crushed the remainder of the quarter, but had to punt early in the fourth.
A Rhamondre Stevenson fumble in the first minute of the final frame at the Pats’ 37 eventually led to a chip shot field goal with just over 10 minutes remaining. Adding insult to injury, Keion White went down during the drive.
Somewhat stunningly, Maye entered the game with 4:24 remaining after Brissett had been hit 10 times and sacked five. His first pass was nearly picked off, his second snap was a handoff to Antonio Gibson, his third was a scramble where he got smoked and his fourth was another handoff to Gibson for a first down on 4th-&-2. Maye’s first career completion came on the fifth snap in the form of a screen to Gibson for no gain.
Maye had two others to Polk and Douglas on the drive, but mostly handed off to Gibson and Hasty and showed good athleticism on a 4th-&-8 scramble for a first down in the final minute. Maye also had a dart to Pop on a 4th-&-10 to set up a 1st-&-goal before the night fittingly ended with him taking a sack.
“I thought it was a good opportunity for him to go out there with the ones and put a few drives together, move the ball. We’ll watch the film and evaluate,” Jerod Mayo said of the decision.
“Just get ready to go out there,” Maye said of his thoughts heading out for his first NFL snaps in a tough situation. “No regrets, go out there and have some fun. First ball I get to throw gets thrown in the air, I’m glad it hits the ground so just go out there, make some plays and just let loose. … I know (Brissett’s) pulling from me. He’s a great teammate.”
Now, New England has 10 days to look in the mirror and figure things out. Meanwhile, Mayo will undoubtedly hear the noise regarding the quarterback position. Whether you believe Brissett is the problem or not (he isn’t, it’s the line), the door is now open for the controversy to start brewing again.
“I don’t know,” Mayo said postgame when asked if Maye will be the starter moving forward. “We talk about it every single week, you’re competing for a job. We’ll get together as a coaching staff and see where it goes.”