The Jets jumped out to an early lead on the Patriots and never looked back, dominating New England en route to a 24-3 win on Thursday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers looked like his vintage self, throwing for nearly 300 yards, and carving up the Patriots defense by spreading the ball around to all of his weapons. Eight Jets had multiple receptions in the win while the Jets also ran for over 130 yards, holding a decided advantage in time of possession by holding the ball for over 40 minutes of game time.
New England struggled to mount much of a response with their offense. They picked up just 139 yards of total offense, while Jacoby Brissett was sacked five times and took 10 QB hits. Defensively, New England missed 14 tackles in the mistake-filled contest.
Here's how it all went down in the Rapid Recap.
1. Jets Jump Out Front
The Jets offense was humming out of the gate on their first two possessions, with a holding penalty and a sack by Deatrich Wise Jr. as the only positive Patriots defensive plays that slowed them down. Those two plays forced a Jets punt on their first drive but New York avoided the mistakes on their second possession, going 58 yards in eight plays for an easy touchdown and a 7-0 lead in the game.
Jahlani Tavai's unnecessary roughness penalty added 15 yards to the drive when it looked like he was about to get a tackle-for-loss. Those kind of mistakes hurt the Patriots throughout the night.
New England didn't have many answers for the Jets attack in the early going, with Aaron Rodgers going 8-of-9 for 63 yards while the Jets also racked up 34 yards on the ground. New York didn't face a third down on their trip to the end zone and Rodgers connected with six different receivers through two possessions.
2. Jets Offense Starts Cruising
The Patriots defense put up a bit more resistance on the Jets third drive, forcing three third downs, but not enough to get off the field as New York added another touchdown on a relentless 12-play, 92-yard drive. Rodgers continued his torrid pace as the Patriots struggled to make any kind of positive plays on defense. Missed tackles were a major culprit, a dangerous combination with so much space inside that opened things up for the Jets runners.
Jabrill Peppers went out with an injury, further depleting the Patriots defense on the drive and his absence didn't help matters. The Jets quickly accumulated 193 yards of offense.
It was a dominant start for the Jets, as they racked up 14 first downs to New England's one, and held the ball for nearly 17 minutes to New England's 4:37.
Down 14-0, the Patriots were stuck looking for a spark.
3. Patriots Put Points on the Board
It wasn't pretty but the Patriots managed to respond on their next possession, grinding out an 8-play, 50-yard drive that included 35 yards of penalty yardage. Tyquan Thornton drew a key pass interference penalty, good for 34 yards, the biggest play of the drive. Joey Slye finished the drive off with a 44-yard field goal.
Brissett was sacked twice on the drive as free rushers continued to be a problem that held the offense back. The rejiggered offensive line had trouble picking up the Jets aggressive blitzes and Brissett was under duress throughout the game.
The drive took a lot of work and needed a big penalty break, but it was effective in stopping the bleeding. Penalties were New England's biggest ally in this first half.
4. Jets Keep Cruising
The New England score didn't cause the Jets to flinch. New York picked right back up where they left off the previous two drives, cutting through the Patriots defense with little resistance on another 12-play drive. Even with an opportunity to get a third-down stop just before the two-minute warning, Rodgers again fired a perfect pass up the seam to his open tight end Tyler Conklin, keeping the drive marching down the field. That was the fourth conversion in five third-down attempts for the Jets.
They'd pick up their fifth conversion out of six third-down situations later on the drive as they crossed into New England territory. Then the Patriots would finally get their second third down stop of the game, their first since the first drive of the game.
New York settled for a field goal attempt but the kick was hooked and missed wide, one of the few breaks New England caught during the first half. It was a textbook first half for the Jets. They outgained New England 252 yards to 40 yards for a 14-3 lead at the break.
5. Jets Hit Cruise Control
The struggle continued for New England's offense out of the gate in the second half, as they went three-and-out on their opening possession and punted the ball back to the white-hot Rodgers and his offense.
Rodgers picked right back up where he left off, converting two more third downs with pinpoint throws. If he showed any rust through the first two games of the season, Rodgers looked every bit the Hall of Fame quarterback he is against the Patriots, even making one conversion by making a throw on the run, showing no ill effects from his injury from last season.
This time it was an 11-play, 66-yard drive that was capped off by a two-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson that made it 21-3 as New England found no new answers in the locker room at halftime. At this point, the yardage differential ran to 318 to 46 and the blowout was on.
A Rhamondre Stevenson fumble early in the fourth quarter led to another three points for New York, extending the lead to 24-3.
6. The Patriots are now 1-2
With the loss, the Patriots fall to 1-2 on the season. They had few answers to a dominant Jets performance, struggling to make positive plays on either side of the ball, much less getting stops and scoring points.
Other than some impressive punts from Bryce Baringer there wasn't much positive to highlight, especially in the first half when the Jets dictated play and built an early lead. Demario Douglas ended up with a five-catch, 49-yard night, as one Patriots receiver had some production, but much of it came after the game already appeared out of hand.
Drake Maye also made his regular season debut in mop-up time, though his first pass was nearly picked off and he was tackled hard on a third-down scramble that came up short of the sticks, while also taking a sack.
It was a total team effort from the Jets in a big divisional win and one that will leave the new-look Patriots scrambling for answers. New England will now have a long week to pick up the pieces before another tough test on the road in San Francisco against last year's NFC representative in the Super Bowl.
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
