The New York Jets hadn't defeated the New England Patriots at MetLife Stadium since 2015 … until tonight. The Jets beat the Patriots in a convincing 24-3 win on "Thursday Night Football," marking quarterback Aaron Rodgers' first home victory since coming to New York.
It also marked Patriots rookie Drake Maye's first regular-season appearance, as he was put in the game late in the fourth quarter, following a long night for starter Jacoby Brissett. The Patriots veteran went 12 of 18 for 98 yards and no touchdowns, taking five sacks for a loss of 46 yards behind a struggling offensive line. Maye finished 4 of 8 with 22 yards.
The Jets looked the most complete they have so far this season, coming out strong and staying in control for the entire game, on all sides of the ball.
Rodgers may be the oldest player in the league, but he sure didn't look like it. He finished with his best performance by far this year, going 27 of 35 for 281 yards and two touchdowns, along with 18 yards rushing, including a long of 11 yards.
The Jets' touchdowns came from a pass to a familiar Rodgers' receiver Allen Lazard, who played with the future Hall of Famer with the Green Bay Packers. Their other trips to the end zone were thanks to a Breece Hall rushing score and a Garrett Wilson TD grab. They added a field goal in the fourth quarter.
The game was completely lopsided from the beginning. The Jets had 27 first downs, compared to the Patriots 11 and finished with twice as many total yards (400) as the away team (139).
The Patriots offense struggled again to move the ball down field as the passing game continues to suffer, with just 61 yards in the air. DeMario Douglas didn't get many catches the last two weeks, but had a team-high 69 yards receiving on seven receptions.
New England couldn't get out of its own way, with five punts, a fumble, one field goal and seven total sacks between both QBs. The game ended in what is a metaphor of the night for New England, with a sack on Maye to ruin any chances at a touchdown.
The 1-2 Patriots will face the San Francisco 49ers next week, while the 2-1 Jets will host the Broncos.
Suffocating defense and pinpoint Aaron Rodgers passing. We'll get into the defensive stuff a bit more in the next section, but suffice to say that the Jets put a chokehold on New England's offense. Will McDonald continued his hot start with another 1.5 sacks, Chuck Clark had a sack and a forced fumble, Quinnen Williams was dominant. Rodgers, meanwhile, had his best game of the season, completing 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns, adding 18 yards on three scrambles. He was moving around much better than at any point in the previous two games, and repeatedly made plays outside the structure of the offense. (He also sprinted more than in any game since 2018, according to NextGen Stats.) If you were looking to build a case for the Jets as a real contender, it would look a lot like how things looked in this game.
There were many reasons, but the main one was a wholly inept offense. The Patriots had just 40 total yards at halftime, and they ended the game with only a mere 139, averaging a pathetic 2.9 yards per play. Rhamondre Stevenson was completely boxed in by New York's defensive line, totaling only 23 yards on six carries. Jacoby Brissett had basically no time to throw, and was limited to 98 yards per attempt on 18 throws. He was also sacked five times and spent most of the evening running for his life. (Drake Maye experienced the same when he came in toward the end of the game. He also almost got picked on his first career pass attempt.) New England also turned it over and took numerous crushing penalties. There was just no room for the Pats to do anything at all, and they were drawing dead once New York put some points on the board.
After the two teams traded points on their respective opening possessions, the Jets calmly marched 73 yards on eight plays across four minutes and 13 seconds for their first touchdown of the night. Rodgers went 4 of 5 for 32 yards on the drive, with a touchdown to Allen Lazard.
Lazard made a great move to avoid a tackle by Marcus Jones in the flat, then beat Kyle Dugger to the line for the touchdown. The Jets never looked back.
This is just vintage Rodgers stuff right here. There is basically no window for him to make his throw to Garrett Wilson on the goal line, and he finds a way to fit the ball in there anyway.
If that ball is thrown even a few inches back further inside, it gets picked off and taken the other way for a touchdown. Instead, it was Wilson's first score from Rodgers -- the first of what the Jets obviously hope will be many six-point connections this season.
The Jets improve to 2-1 with the victory. They'll host the Denver Broncos in the second (hopefully not) annual Nathaniel Hackett Bowl in Week 4. The Patriots, meanwhile, drop to 1-2. They will go on the road to take on the San Francisco 49ers in Week 4.
New York was in control of this one from pretty early in the first quarter, and New England never seriously challenged once the Jets went up 7-0. Drake Maye showed off some of his athleticism late in the game, but that was just about all that went well for the Pats. This game was not as close as the final score. It was a much better home opener for the Jets than the one they had last year.
The game is all but over, but this will be our first chance to see the No. 3 overall pick in a regular-season game. Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo admitted after the preseason that Maye had out-performed Jacoby Brissett. New England still ended up turning to Brissett as the starter for these early-season games. If Maye performs well in his chance here, maybe we'll see a full-time change under center sooner than initially predicted.
Morgan Moses has been downgraded to OUT by the Jets. It'll be Fashanu at RT the rest of the way.
Rhamondre Stevenson had been off to a very strong start to the season, but he's been quiet tonight and just made the latest of several Patriots mistakes. Chuck Clark came down and stripped the ball out of Stevenson's hands and recovered the fumble himself. New York is set up with a short field and a chance to extend its lead to four scores.
New York upgraded its tackle situation this offseason by bringing in both Moses and Tyron Smith. Well, Moses just got rolled up on the final snap of the third quarter while blocking for Aaron Rodgers, who was sacked on the play. Luckily, the Jets used their first-round pick on Olu Fashanu, who will presumably step into the lineup for as long as Moses is out.
The Patriots put together their best drive of the night... and proceeded to fall apart. They got all the way down to New York's 23-yard line and drew a pass interference penalty that would have set them up in the red zone, but it was offset by a holding call. After another holding wiped out a 21-yard completion on third-and-4, there was yet another holding call on third-and-14, but it was declined because Quinnen Williams sacked Jacoby Brissett. Instead of a red zone trip, the Pats punted from New York's 45.
It took a while before Garrett Wilson made his presence felt in this game, but he did it on back-to-back plays to pick up New York's third touchdown of the night. First, he took a smoke screen and made a man miss to get inside the 5-yard line. Then, he ran a rub route to the front pylon and caught an absolutely beautifully-placed throw from Rodgers for a score. The Jets are firmly in control of this game.
For a guy coming off a torn Achilles and who looked VERY stationary for the first two weeks of the season, Rodgers looks terrific physically tonight. He has repeatedly made plays outside of structure, whether buying time to throw or actually taking off to run. He's already done it a few times on this drive.
The Patriots are averaging 2.2 yards per play. They have gained zero or negative yards on 10 of their 21 offensive snaps. Will McDonald is living in the backfield. There is NOBODY open down the field. The Jets are putting this offense in a chokehold. They are also blitzing like crazy:
The Jets are up 14-3 at the break. Here are a few key stats:
The Jets got the ball back with 3:56 remaining in the half and executed really well in the four-minute offense before running out of time and settling for a field goal attempt. Greg Zuerlein, though, hooked the field goal attempt to the left of the uprights, and New York's lead remains 14-3.
Stevenson got his pinky finger caught in a linebacker's facemask on his carry early in this drive, and has been getting checked out on the sideline. Antonio Gibson entered the game in his place and took the rest of the snaps. Something to watch for the rest of this game.
After a facemask penalty on Rhamondre Stevenson set them back, the Patriots have benefitted from a pair of penalties against the Jets. Linebacker Jamien Sherwood got called for unnecessary roughness (on a VERY weak call) on a pass over the middle, and now D.J. Reed got flagged for pass interference on a throw up the left sideline intended for Tyquan Thornton.
After review... Breece Hall did indeed break the goal line and get into the end zone. Hall has 11 touches for 48 yards and a touchdown, while New York is now up by two scores. This is NOT a good situation for New England, whose offense is not built to be in comeback mode. Especially against a Jets defense that is elite against the pass.
The Jets should challenge. This is a touchdown for Breece Hall.
Allen Lazard did almost nothing in his debut season with the Jets after signing a big contract. He caught 23 passes for 311 yards and one touchdown on only 49 targets. He had a huge game against the 49ers in the season opener (6-89-2), but was quiet against the Titans last week (2-11-0). He's off to a big start tonight: 3 catches for 48 yards and a score.
The Pats got a first down instead of going three-and-out this time, but they'll regret Jacoby Brissett's big miss on a throw to Austin Hooper on a crossing route on the next series. McDonald picked up his fourth (partial) sack of the season on the next snap, forcing a punt. He had three last week against the Titans. (He split the sack with Michael Clemons.)
Rodgers made a quick decision to flip the ball out to Allen Lazard in the flat on what appeared to be a called run play, and his former Packers teammate did the rest from there. Really nice pair of moves from Lazard (who now has three touchdowns on the season) to get himself across the goal line. 7-0 Jets.
The rich got richer when New York added Braelon Allen to a backfield that already included Breece Hall. Already tonight, they have combined for 33 yards on just 4 carries (and they each have a double-digit-yard rush), while Hall has added 2 catches for 9 yards.
New England's offensive line looked positively overwhelmed on its first series. Jacoby Brissett was under quick pressure on both of his throws and Rhamondre Stevenson was contacted at the line of scrimmage on his only carry. The Pats punted after taking only 1:32 off the clock and gaining one yards.
New York quickly moved into Patriots territory with a pair of first downs on its first four snaps -- certainly a much better four-snap sequence than the one with which the Jets opened MetLife Stadium last year, which ended with Aaron Rodgers' Achilles tear.
But the Jets drive went backwards just as soon as it reached positive territory, first with a penalty on Morgan Moses and then a sack. They couldn't recover from second-and-26 and ended up punting.
Still, Rodgers looked considerably more mobile early on than he has in either of this season's first two games, and that's a pretty good sign.
Here are a few of the battles to watch out for that will help decide this game:
New England's offensive line is shaping up to be a bit healthier this week, as both David Andrews and Mike Onwenu -- each of whom was listed as questionable -- will be active on Thursday night. Sidy Sow remains out, though. Also out is linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley, who is expected to be out for the rest of the season with a torn pectoral muscle.
C.J. Mosley will be out for this game. He suffered a right toe injury last Sunday against the Titans and did not return, and on the short week, he didn't have enough time to make it back. Mosley and Quincy Williams form one of the NFL's top linebacker duos, so his absence is a big one. That's especially true because Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett has been peppering his tight ends with targets this season.
