The New England Patriots got their hearts broken in Week 2 just to have it stomped and splattered on the pavement in Week 3.
Thursday’s primetime debut of Jerod Mayo’s Patriots was a lopsided butt-kicking courtesy of the New York Jets in a 24-3 loss. It was a come-back-down-to-reality performance by the Patriots after their shocking Week 1 upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The offensive line was an absolute disaster for the Patriots on a night where the unit gave up seven sacks and 15 quarterback hits. Meanwhile, the defense looked gassed on a short week after Sunday’s 23-20 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Aaron Rodgers went 27-of-35 passing for 281 yards and two touchdowns. It was a dominant performance from the 40-year-old quarterback, who made the Patriots defense look average. Unfortunately for New England, average isn’t good enough when their offense is well below average.
Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett completed 12 passes for a pitiful 98 yards. The rushing attack had been the team’s bread and butter in the first two games, but the Patriots weren’t as committed to it for some strange reason. They finished with only 15 total carries for 78 yards.
Rookie quarterback Drake Maye got some garbage time work late in the fourth quarter. He appeared to potentially be on the brink of a scoring drive before the Patriots ran out of time. In his short time in the game, he was sacked twice by an aggressive Jets defensive front.
However, he did show the ability to make plays with his legs and keep the drive going. He picked up 12 rushing yards and went 4-of-8 passing for 22 yards.
Overall, the ugliest stat line of the night was the time of possession with the Jets having the ball for 40 minutes in comparison to the Patriots’ 19 minutes.
Gang Green dominated at the line of scrimmage, ran the ball effectively and converted 10-of-15 third downs. The Jets looked more like the Patriots than the Patriots.
It will be a tough flight home for the team after this loss. Hopefully, a few extra rest days will be good for the players ahead of another brutal three-game stretch for the Patriots against the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans.
