Patriots & Done
Jets embarrassed in New England. Read if you can stomach it.
✈️ - Welcome to the first official edition of the Jets way. First of all I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s already subscribed, you’re absolute legends and I appreciate all the support. At the start I’ll be doing two newsletters a week, so please do share with your fellow Jets fans if you like the content.
We’re officially done with the Patriots for the 2021 season, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks good riddance to them. It was a beat down in bean town, and you’ll be forgiven for feeling a little bruised this morning. If you’re still rocking your Jets hat, then fair play to you.
🏈 Game Day 🏈
🗽New York Jets 13 - 54 New England Patriots
📍Foxborough, MA
Oh the pain!
554 yards and 54 points. Call Saleh Houdini because his defense have disappeared. The lack of experience reared its ugly head, and with Mosley inactive, the Jets lacked any visible leadership on the field, you couldn't see much on the sideline either. Multiple players missed time throughout the game with injuries and the lack of depth on the defensive side of the ball was evident.
Coming into today’s game, the Jets had gained 79 yards and scored 0 points during the first quarter in 5 games this season. We hadn’t beaten the Patriots in the last 11 meetings spanning 2,128 days. We'll need to wait a little longer for that victory and for some first-quarter points.
1st Half ⌚
The first half was about as bad as it gets. The Jets were out-matched and out-coached, and that's before losing Zach Wilson to a knee injury. You could say the refs should have protected him on the sideline hit, the simple fact is you’re not getting help from the zebras in New England.
Josh McDaniels Masterclass
The Patriots put up 300 yards in the first half alone (106 rushing and 194 passing). The Jets were unable to stop the Patriots from moving the chains and New England picked up 20 first downs in the first 30 minutes, moving the ball at will.
Josh McDaniels played with the Jets, showing both a creative spark and a ruthless edge. Some won’t like the fact that the Patriots were still throwing the ball late in the game, but this isn’t a charity contest, it’s an NFL game and if you can’t stop them, then they have every right to keep pounding. All gas, no brake…remember.
The Jets failed to diagnose the misdirection plays, constantly getting burned on screens and gadget plays. This is where Mosley is so important, his play wouldn’t have been able to prevent everything that happened, but the communication he offers is priceless for a roster packed with so many young players.
109-4, that’s Big Bills record when the Patriots are leading at the half in Foxborough. So there was very little hope of the Jets staging a dramatic Sunday Night Miracle comeback.
Give me something
There was one positive in that diabolical first half. We saw some points and it came from the most unlikely of sources. Mike White, with his first career pass, found Corey Davis in the back of the end zone.
It was a nice throw by White and an even better catch by Davis. White moved away from the pressure coming from his right and placed the ball where only his receiver could snag it. There wasn’t a lot to like yesterday, but I liked this.
The Jets in the first half of games this year have been outscored 106-20. There’s bad, and then there's that.
What Script? ✍️
All week we heard about how the Jets had identified and rectified the issue with the slow starts. I so wanted to believe it, so when Zach Wilson took the ball for the first time, I was hopeful. Here’s what happened:
1st down: Run to the left between McGovern and AVT. GVR is beaten straight off the snap by Lawrence Guy who gets across and hits Carter before he’s made it back to the line. Gain of one yard.
2nd down: Stretch run to the left outside tackle, again a Patriots player gets a hand on Carter before he gets back to the line. Hard to tell if anyone in particular is at fault, McGovern tried to get over but was too late, seemed to believe he was being held. Gain of two yards.
3rd down: Blitzer coming from the nickel position, Wilson doesn’t identify that that’s where the pressure is likely to come from and has Ty Johnson lined up to his left rather than right. Crowder is free as it’s his corner that’s blitzing, but Wilson tucks the ball and gets sacked. Rookie QB not identifying that if the pressure is coming from there, someone is likely open.
So you’re telling me that with two weeks to prepare, this was the best you could come up with.
2nd Half ⌚
Then the 2nd half started and the Jets did something quite surprising. They actually got the ball into the hands of Elijah Moore and in a result that can only be a shock to the man calling the plays. #8 did this:
This was Moore’s only carry of the game. I’m surprised the Jets didn’t attempt another end-around with Moore considering the success of the first. The old adage of you keep running it until they stop it obviously hasn’t reached Florham park yet.
The only other positive was Denzel Mims getting 20 snaps, and running 15 routes. At least they’re trying to get him slightly more involved.
And while the Patriots tacked on a FG, the Jets defense came up with their first real stop of the game with 2:11 left in the 3rd quarter, forcing the Patriots into their first punt. That’s not a typo, the Jets didn’t force the Patriots to punt the ball until the 3rd quarter was almost in the books.
Unfortunately for the Jets and Mike White, the former Western Kentucky product couldn’t sustain his early game form. He threw two interceptions to put the exclamation mark on a dominant performance by the Patriots and then the impressive Harris put the bold on that exclamation mark by taking in the TD to move the Patriots over 40 points.
If the scoreline wasn’t embarrassing enough, the Jets were publically flogged when the Patriots removed their rookie QB with 7 minutes to go in the game to give Brian Hoyer some run.
The Patriots continued to throw, the Patriots continued to score and when Hoyer kneeled with 54 points on the board, there was a sense of relief that the game was finally over.
Mac Jones would finish the game completing 24/36 passes for 307 yards and 2 TD’s. The Patriots would have 554 yards and 54 points.
The Jets need to take a long hard look at themselves, they were destroyed in every facet of the game. Even the usual run defense was severely lacking with Damien Harris averaging 7.7 yards per carry between the tackles.
📉 Stat Corner 📊
This was the first time in Jets history that the defense have allowed at least 430 yards in 3 consecutive games. Not only are we bad, we’re historically bad.
Before today’s game, the Patriots hadn’t scored over 30 points in a single game all season. They had 30 by half-time.
The Jets allowed just 6 pressures and 1 sack yesterday.
As a unit the Jets missed 9 tackles yesterday. Sherwood, Phillips & Mate all had 2 missed tackles while Carter, Williams & Cashman all had one each.
Brandin Echols was targeted 4 times by the Patriots and allowed 3 receptions for 83 yards, which is 27.7 yards per reception.
The five highest-graded offensive players on the Jets yesterday according to PFF was Corey Davis (70.6), Moses (69.6), AVT (69.1), Johnson (67.4) and Carter (63.6).
The five lowest-graded defensive players on the Jets yesterday according to PFF was Blake Cashman (29.1), Quincy Williams (29.6), Sheldon Rankins (32.9), Nathan Shephard (40.5) and Del’shawn Phillips (46.6).
The Jets have now been outscored 44-0 in the first quarter of games this year, it’s hard to keep digging yourself out of a hole.
The Jets pass rush put in their lowest pressure rate of the season at just 14.3%.
This was the first time the Jets have allowed 50 points in a game since September 3rd 1995. It’s the first time we’ve allowed 54 points since September 9th 1979, a crushing 56-3 win by the, who else, New England Patriots. A team has only scored 54 points or more 4 times since 1986. Yes, it’s bad.
J. C. Jackson now has 1+ INT in four straight games against the Jets, that’s the longest streak v the Jets since the 1970 merger.
The Jets have now lost 6 games in a row coming off their bye week. That extra prep time doesn’t seem to help Gang Green.
The Jets have allowed at least 1 sack in 41 straight NFL games, that’s the longest active streak in the NFL. If you think about the resources plugged into trying to fix the line over the last 24 months, that’s not great.
Targets 🎯
Jamison Crowder - 6
Corey Davis - 6
Elijah Moore - 6
Keelan Cole - 2
Denzel Mims - 2
Ryan Griffin - 2
Michael Carter - 8
Ty Johnson - 7
Braxton Berrios - 0
Daniel Brown - 0
🗣️ Who Said What?
Sheldon Rankins was asked what he thought about the Patriots throwing in garbage time:
“probably some things i’m not going to say, but it’s our job to stop it”
Robert Saleh wasn’t a happy bunny:
“Sometimes you get your fucking teeth knocked in”
“If you need someone to yell at you, playing child’s game for a Kings ransom, then you don’t deserve to wear the logo, period”
Zach Wilson on his injury:
“Kinda felt like it twisted, felt a pop in there. Just was obviously thinking of the worst scenario in my head, which sucks, but just making sure it’s going to be alright”
Expect Zach to miss a few weeks, so it’s time for Mike White, because the Jets didn’t think signing a decent veteran was worth it.
🚫 That’s Dumb ❌
There are some really bad takes out there and while this isn’t exactly Jet-related there are comparisons to be made in relation to opinions being formed too early on young Quarterbacks.
Here's PFT seemingly forgetting that Mahomes failed to beat out Alex Smith back in his 2017 rookie season, i’m not sure the Chiefs regretted trading up for him 6 games in and i’m sure they don’t regret that trade now.
💪 Draft Chat 🦆
With no QB making a case for that #1 overall selection, it’s time to accept that whoever lands the worst record in the NFL this year will be welcoming Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux into their locker room next year. I don’t believe that will be the Jets, we’ll win more games as the season goes on, but Kayvon is a force.
4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 7.5 tackles for a loss in 4 games. He’s also showing signs of getting better every week.
Spencer Rattler however, a player hotly tipped to be the #1 pick and Heisman favourite before the season, is currently riding the bench in Oklahoma, and its only a matter of time before he enters the transfer portal.
🤔 Final Thoughts
The Jets spoke all week about how they'd identified and rectified the issues with starting slow. They came out with a 3 and out on their opening drive and then followed that up with 0 points in the first quarter. Coach Saleh said it was time to put up or shut up, well… maybe it's time to be quiet.
It was good to see Elijah Moore finally given the chance to make something happen with the ball in his hands and he delivered with a TD. Why has it taken so long?
You can't judge a coaching staff this early into their tenure, but the honeymoon period is coming to an end. The Jets better start putting a product on the field or the fans will turn and turn permanently. I can’t listen to one more press conference where the coaching staff blame a lack of execution, its week 7, if the players aren't executing then that's either on the coaching staff for not getting them ready or the GM for getting players who are incapable of executing the coaches vision.
I haven’t lost complete faith with this coaching staff yet, but my confidence is starting to falter. The players just don’t look prepared to face the challenges on any given Sunday, and that rests on the coaching staff.
We now have to welcome in the Bengals who put 41 points and over 500 yards of offense on the Baltimore Ravens, who’s looking forward to that one?
We love you Rex, but maybe take a break from the sunbeds.
