Defense and special teams stole the show once again for the New England Patriots in Sunday’s monumental divisional win over the visiting New York Jets.
The Patriots defense continued to terrorize Jets quarterback Zach Wilson on the field, while rookie third-round draft pick Marcus Jones wore the red cape and scored the 84-yard game-winning touchdown on a punt return.
There was nothing easy about the game for the Patriots. The offense was held to only three points, and the team lost two starting offensive linemen. However, they managed to come away with a victory to stay alive in the AFC playoff picture.
Every week presents a new challenge. So the Patriots will celebrate the win, take what they learned from the Jets and use it in hopes of having a better outing on Thanksgiving night against the Minnesota Vikings.
Here are the winners and losers from the Jets game.
Loser: Matt Patricia
The play-calling in this game was so frustrating that it nearly gave me a heart attack, especially on the final drive in the waning seconds of the third quarter, when the Patriots opted to go for it on fourth down. Matt Patricia went from changing things up a bit earlier in the game to becoming too predictable with the run game in the second half.
On that particular drive, the Patriots were stuffed on four straight rushing attempts and turned the ball over on downs to the Jets. It was a flat-out ugly sequence of events.
Maybe it’s because Patricia doesn’t trust Mac Jones, or maybe he really believes Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson can run through a wall. It really doesn’t matter at this point when opposing defenses are on to the fact that it’s usually run, run and pass.
Make no mistake, it wasn’t all bad. It was great to see play-action on the early-downs, which is something the Patriots should use more often to mix things up.
Winner: Mac Jones
The few Bailey Zappe chants that broke out at Gillette Stadium must have been due to boredom or someone having a few too many adult beverages during the game.
Mac Jones played one of the most efficient games he’s had all season, despite being down two starting offensive lineman when facing a ferocious Jets defensive front. He went 23-of-27 passing for 246 yards and a 104.6 quarterback rating.
It’s time to stop blaming Jones for all of the problems in New England.
The play-calling was terrible at times, and Jones barely had time to breathe in the pocket. And yet, he didn’t turn the ball over, and he remained patient enough to take whatever the defense gave him. It was a solid all-around performance for the second-year quarterback, even though the offense was held to only three points.
Winner: Matthew Judon
Matthew Judon led the charge on the defensive side with five tackles and 1.5 sacks on Sunday. Zach Wilson has clearly struggled whenever he’s forced to throw under pressure, and Judon spearheaded a defensive front effort that kept him on his heels throughout the entire game.
Even without the turnovers, the Jets quarterback was seeing ghosts, and his throwing accuracy was compromised throughout the game.
Judon is proving that his breakout year is no fluke, and he really is a viable NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Wilson will still be hearing footsteps in his sleep after Sunday’s game.
Loser: Nick Folk
The conditions were not favorable for great field goal kicking in Sunday’s game, and it was evident even before the game started. Nick Folk’s kicking struggles in the warm-ups was an early sign that trouble was brewing. This obviously wasn’t going to be a day that the team would be able to depend on his leg.
So there’s clearly hope for a strong bounce-back performance for the veteran kicker after missing two field goals against the Jets. Sunday’s game was simply one of those rare moments so far this season where we’ve actually seen him struggle in a game.
We’ll see if he can turn things around on Thanksgiving night.
Winner: Marcus Jones
Rookie return specialist Marcus Jones showed exactly why the Patriots made the decision to draft him in the third round. When the game was on the line, he returned a punt to the house for 84 yards and locked up the game for the Patriots on a day when the offense couldn’t get anything going.
They desperately needed someone to make an explosive play, and the rookie delivered emphatically with a haymaker with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter to deliver the knockout blow on the Jets.
With the offense still going through growing pains, the Patriots are going to need players like Jones to continue to contribute home run plays or help swing the battle of field position in New England’s favor. Let’s just hope teams don’t stop kicking to him after his miraculous return in this game.
