Foxborough, MA – After an interesting week at 1 Patriot Place, head coach Jerod Mayo's team got a much-needed 25-22 win over the Jets on Sunday.

Before we get into the particulars, Coach Mayo acknowledged the elephant in the room earlier this week. Following his comments that his team was playing "soft" after a loss to the Jaguars, Mayo admitted on Wednesday that there was "a lot of noise" surrounding his team at 1-6.

Along with Mayo making headlines, the Patriots veterans called a Thursday meeting to address the need for players to do more on and off the field. Although nothing was confirmed, there were rumors about players straying from the program and more noise created by players speaking to the media. Again, this was all speculative, but a narrative was growing around the team that the train was coming off the tracks.

On Sunday, the Patriots hit even more adversity. Rookie QB Drake Maye (concussion) exited the game in the second quarter, forcing backup Jacoby Brissett into the game. Starting defenders Kyle Dugger (ankle) and Daniel Ekuale (abdomen) were also inactive. Given the state of the team, it wouldn't have been surprising if the Patriots laid an egg.

Instead, New England showed great resilience to snap a six-game losing streak as a home underdog against a divisional opponent. One win won't cure all that ails the Patriots, but it's a victory that shows this team is still fighting for its head coach. Frankly, it was a win that the whole program needed to quiet some of the outside noise poking holes in the foundation.

"The guys showed the resilience they've developed over the past few weeks. Really proud of the guys. There was a lot of noise and a lot of chatter. I'm very appreciative of just their attitude and professionalism on an everyday basis," head coach Jerod Mayo said.

Now, New England must build on the successes they had against the Jets on Sunday. That won't be easy if Maye's concussion causes him to miss games. However, as Sunday showed, the Patriots are capable of playing competitively when everyone is pulling in the same direction.

Here are eight takeaways as the Patriots improve to 2-6 with a win over the Jets on Sunday.

1. SERVPRO Spotlight: Marcus Jones Sparks Patriots with 62-Yard Punt Return in Third Quarter

In the post-game locker room, many Patriots credited Marcus Jones for sparking the sideline with his 62-yard return in the third quarter.

At that point, the Patriots offense had gone three straight possessions without scoring with only one first down during that stretch, while the Jets had taken a 13-7 lead. New England also lost their starting quarterback for the game, and Brissett had gone three-and-out twice in a row. In other words, the Patriots needed a spark to get them rolling again.

After fielding the punt at his own 12-yard line, Jones got key blocks from rookie Marcellas Dial, veteran RB JaMycal Hasty, and practice-squad elevation Ochaun Mathis to spring him down the sideline. The Pats elite return man tip-toed the sideline to get the edge and then made a terrific move to avoid a tackle at around the 45-yard line while cutting back into the middle of the field. Although he got caught from behind, the field-flipping return put the offense on a short field.

"Hasty had a great block first off. All my guys were working their tails off and everything like that all year. So that was pretty good. But I owe them one for sure because I definitely should've scored," Jones told reporters after the game.

With the Patriots explosive return man setting the offense up at the Jets 26-yard line, it took Brissett and company five plays to punch the ball into the end zone. At that point, the Pats retook the lead at 14-13, and it felt like they settled back down after losing Maye to an injury.

Although the game could've gone better for him defensively, Jones is one of the league's best punt returners with several momentum-flipping returns on his resume against the Jets, in particular. On Sunday, Jones provided a much-needed spark to get his team going.

2. SERVPRO Spotlight 2.0: QB Jacoby Brissett and WR Kayshon Boutte Set Up Game-Winning Touchdown

It's a double SERVO spotlight on a victory Sunday, with Brissett and Boutte earning an honorable mention for their late-game heroics.

With 1:29 left in the game, the Patriots faced a third-and-10 at the Jets 43-yard line down 22-17. As they did in an lopsided victory in Week 3, the Jets dialed up a blitz against Brissett. It appears that the Jets were in match quarters with the weakside safety blitzing, leaving the backside corner (Sauce) locked in like its man coverage. In this offense, the play call to the two-receiver side was in from the outside receiver, and a B-Line route from the inside receiver paired with the backside post. Here was Boutte's recollection of the play:

"It's kind of like man coverage. I got an option to run the post or a go. [Sauce Gardner] kind of bailed, so I stuck with the post and a great throw by Jacoby [Brissett] while getting hit," Boutte told Patriots.com. "Jacoby stepped up and won the game for us."

After the Brissett-Boutte connection got them into scoring range, the Patriots faced a do-or-die fourth down play on the goal line. According to one offensive lineman, line coach Scott Peters "[expletive] loves" the play call the Pats used to punch it in: blast. Blast is a power-lead play where the backside guard pulls and a fullback leads the way for the ball carrier. Although it was just by inches, lead-back Rhamondre Stevenson punched it in for six.

For everyone on the field, there was a bit of redemption on that game-winning drive. Brissett, who was benched for Maye, led the Patriots on his first game-winning drive since the 2022 season, while the gotta-have-it touchdown run on fourth down was a way for this group to answer the call from their head coach to be a tougher football team in the trenches.

New England got some monkeys off their back with their first fourth-quarter comeback and game-winning drive of the 2024 season.

3. QB Drake Maye Exits the Game in the Second Quarter With a Concussion

After playing 18 snaps in the first half, the Patriots worst fears were realized when third-overall pick Drake Maye exited the game in the second quarter due to a concussion.

Maye sustained the injury when he scrambled for an 18-yard gain and was contacted in the back of the head by Jets LB Jamien Sherwood. After running through three Jets tacklers, Maye slid too late to avoid the hit from Sherwood, who could've been flagged for helmet-to-helmet, but contacting Maye there was clean. Based on the TV copy, Maye's decision to scramble rather than stay in the pocket was fine. There wasn't anyone open. This was just an unfortunate result.

"I walked in at halftime and saw him. The competitor he is, obviously he wanted to go back out there and play. But there's a protocol that he has to go through. Again, can't wait to get him back," Coach Mayo said.

Maye's injury shows the pros and cons of being a mobile quarterback. On the one hand, the rookie had runs of 11, 18, and 17 yards (TD). His dynamic athleticism is how Maye can take a well-covered pass play and turn it into a 17-yard touchdown by avoiding the spy/low rat in the open field, giving the Patriots an early first-quarter lead. The other side, of course, is opening yourself up to more body blows that can result in an injury.

The bummer for the Patriots offense is that Maye was playing well again before the injury. The rookie was adding +0.17 expected points with 23 passing yards (3-of-6) and 46 rushing yards on three attempts plus a touchdown. Maye's passing numbers would've looked even better if he wasn't hurt by two drops, including a drop by WR Tyquan Thornton on an excellent off-script pass that might've been Maye's best throw to date.

Ultimately, Maye cannot change his playing style too much because his playmaking ability on the move is his secret sauce. The third-overall pick killed the Jets with his legs, forcing defenses to adjust their coverages. You can't play man-to-man without accounting for Maye as a runner, while it also can force defenses out of overloading one side of the line because that opens gaps for him to escape, as Maye did on his touchdown run.

Still, the Patriots must protect their most prized asset and Maye must protect himself. We'll see if he can clear concussion protocol in time to play next week vs. the Titans – it's not a given.

4. Patriots Defense Changes Approach in Second Matchup vs. Jets QB Aaron Rodgers

During their Week 3 loss to the Jets, Rodgers turned back the clock with the future Hall of Famer looking like his former MVP self in a 24-3 win.

In the first matchup in the Meadowlands, the Patriots played 40% of the passing downs in a split-safety coverage with seven drop-backs in cover two. Against those split-safety coverages, Rodgers lit up the Pats defense by going 11-for-13 or 115 yards (8.8 avg.). He also killed New England on extended drop-backs by going 4-for-5 for 71 yards with four-plus seconds to throw.

Overall, Rodgers has owned split-safety coverages all year. So the Pats played more single-high (12 drop-backs) and cover zero (six) structures this time around. They also did a much better job keeping Rodgers from beating them on extended plays, holding the Jets QB to 31 passing yards on six extended drop-backs (3-of-6) – a huge difference from Week 3.

The Patriots defense deserves credit for better rush containment and timely play calls. For example, the Pats called a cover-seven style scheme on a third down in the red zone – a four-point play. In the scheme, the Pats bracketed New York's top wideouts, Garrett Wilson (Joneses) and Davante Adams (M. Wilson+Hawkins), with top CB Christian Gonzalez on an island vs. Jets WR Mike Williams. The coverage forced Rodgers to hold the ball, and eventually, LB Christian Elliss closed for a big fourth-quarter sack.

Although there was some good defense, there were some interesting quotes coming out of the Patriots locker room about the 40-year-old quarterback. Rodgers came into this game banged up with a hamstring injury that landed him on the injury report, so his lack of mobility could've been because of that. Still, here is Davon Godchaux:

"He definitely doesn't look the same. He can't move back there. I could run him down and catch him. He doesn't look mobile at all. It was good for us," Godchaux said. "I think he's struggling right now. Just a Hall of Fame quarterback like that, you hate to see him go out that way."

The Patriots don't play the Jets again this season, so maybe that's why they took some shots at Rodger, who, to be fair, still generated +0.27 expected points added per play with 233 yards and two touchdowns. New England earned some bragging rights, but it wasn't like they completely shut Rodgers down.

5. Patriots Run Defense Improves But Still Work to be Done

Another talking point from the post-game locker room was that the Patriots run defense made some marginal improvements, holding the Jets to 112 yards on 28 attempts (4.0 average).

The Jets still had 11 successful runs to four run stuffs, and Jets lead-back Breece Hall had a 16-yard run and an 11-yard run but didn't hit on any monster plays. The Pats allowed over 185 rushing yards in the previous three games, so this was a step in the right direction.

"Just stop all the cute [expletive] and get back to the basics," Godchaux told reporters. "Just knockback football, play our assignment, not a lot of calls. Just do what we do and stop the run. I know they got over 100 yards today, but I thought it was a pretty good job in the run game."

Earlier this week, Godchaux told Patriots.com that the Patriots were going to get the run defense sorted out, so what gave the Pats nose tackle confidence that they'd figure it out?

"The run defense is all about the mindset. Once you got the mindset, you're going to knock a [expletive] back and you're not going to let them drive you off the ball. I mean, the double teams, sometimes they're going to win. They get paid, too. But if you have the mindset that you're going to be disruptive, knock a guy back, shed blocks; it's all in the mind."

Although he acknowledged some game-planned runs hurt them, the Patriots showed some pride in stopping the run in Sunday's win.

6. CB Christian Gonzalez Shadows Jets WR Davante Adams, M. Jones on Wilson

With the Patriots playing 14 drop-backs in man coverage, the matchups were Gonzalez shadowing Adams and Marcus Jones on Garett Wilson. Although he got beat away from the ball on a few occasions, Gonzalez mostly shut down Adams. On 23 routes vs. the Jets wideout, Adams only had one catch for 16 yards. Jones, on the other hand, struggled in his 22 routes against Wilson, allowing five catches for 113 yards on eight targets. Wilson caught two fades, a crosser, and a corner route on Jones for explosives. Wilson is an excellent receiver, and Jones made up for it with his 62-yard return, but the Jets WR had his number on Sunday.

7. Evaluating Backup QB Jacoby Brissett's Performance vs. Jets

Moving over to the offense one last time, my initial review of Brissett's performance was that this was his typical brand of game-managing football. Brissett didn't make any "wow" throws until hitting Boutte on the game-winning drive, and had a few "minus" plays where he took an unnecessary sack and threw short of the sticks on third down.

Ultimately, a big-time throw with the game on the line and zero turnover-worthy plays will do for a backup quarterback thrust into action. The hope is that Maye will be back sooner rather than later. Still, Brissett did his part and came through in the clutch. Kudos to him for staying ready and playing well in the big moments. He has been a pro's pro this season.

8. Give-and-Take for the Patriots Special Teams Units

Although it was mostly positive for the Patriots special teams, the punt coverage unit gave up another big return on Sunday (40 yards). Xavier Gipson is one of the top returners in the league. Still, special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said to put it on him if the Pats give up another big return this week after allowing a 96-yard punt return touchdown in London. This is becoming a recurring issue, which is on the coach, per Springer himself. They have to clean that up.

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer