Not even a streaking New York Jets team seeking revenge could stop an angry New England Patriots team coming off an embarrassing primetime Monday Night Football loss.
The speeding locomotive arrived at MetLife Stadium and plowed right through the awaiting Jets.
Buy Patriots TicketsNew England’s defense deserves the game ball for this matchup after forcing Zach Wilson into becoming a turnover machine. The Jets quarterback threw three interceptions that consistently set the Patriots up in good field position and ultimately led to the 22-17 victory.
Safety Devin McCourty snagged two of the interceptions, and Jabrill Peppers stepped in for the injured Kyle Dugger and led the Patriots with eight total tackles. The same defensive front that got plowed over like snow on the roads by the visiting Chicago Bears in Week 7 showed up to play and shut the Jets’ run game down this time out.
It was a remarkable bounce-back showing.
As for the offense, Mac Jones was fine as the starting quarterback. He did throw one interception, but he also had some luck in avoiding another two picks, including a pick-six before halftime. The latter was called back on a roughing the passer penalty.
Jones has the talent under center, but he’s going to have to improve on limiting the turnovers if he hopes to quell the Bailey Zappe chants for good. But he’s also going to need help from the offensive line, which played flat-out terrible at times on Sunday. The Jets defense finished the game with six sacks and eight quarterback hits.
That’s an ugly statistic no matter who is under center for the Patriots.
It obviously wasn’t the prettiest performance, but the Patriots did manage to knock off a tough Jets team that was on a four-game winning streak with a 5-2 record.
That’s a win the Patriots would take any day of the week. And to top it all off, the victory moved coach Bill Belichick past George Halas and into second place behind Don Shula for the most wins as an NFL head coach. The Patriots can celebrate this one and then prepare for a return back to Gillette Stadium next week to take on the visiting Indianapolis Colts.
