The vibes were high at MetLife Stadium on Thursday night, as the Jets hosted the Patriots for New York’s 2024 home opener.
Even with a slow start to their regular season thus far, Jets fans came in fired up to see Aaron Rodgers make his return to East Rutherford, NJ for the first time since tearing his Achilles four snaps into his Jets career last season.
That energy was fueled all game long, as the Jets dominated the Patriots from start to finish, handing New England a 24-3 loss that moved them to 1-2 on the season.
Here are your “Ups & Downs” from Thursday Night Football. Let’s start positive:
Ups
- Bryce Baringer: Yep, it was that type of night.
Through three punts, the second-year punter averaged 52.7 yards per punt.
That number bumped down to 48.5 after his fourth boot of the game - but that’s only because Baringer perfectly pinned the Jets at their own 8-yard line after a purposely short, skyed 37-yard punt.
He got the average back up to 49 after his fifth and final punt.
The Michigan State product is a stud, and he deserves his flowers.
But when your punter is the first guy that comes to mind for the “Ups” section, you know where you’re at as a franchise.
- Joey Slye: The six-year veteran out of Virginia Tech was one-for-one on field goal attempts, giving New England their only points of the ballgame on a 44-yard field goal with 3:56 to go in the second quarter.
Legs came to play on Thursday night.
That’s about it.
Downs
- The Offensive Line: For a third consecutive game, the offensive line was a problem. From the offense’s first series of the game, it was clear that Jacoby Brissett was going to have another game running for his life.
On play #1 for the offense, Brissett was nearly sacked from pressure up the middle off a play action, luckily finding safety valve Hunter Henry in the flats for no gain. Two plays later, it was more pressure up the middle leading to an incompletion downfield on 3rd and 9. With guard Sidy Sow missing his third straight game as he continues healing from an ankle injury, it’s no surprise that the interior would struggle against a talented Jets front.
On the Patriots’ second possession, Brissett was sacked by defensive lineman Michael Clemons and edge rusher Will McDonald IV on 3rd and 7 from the Patriots 49 yard line for a loss of 8 yards. Clemons and McDonald made their way past the left side of the offensive line on their way to the quarterback.
On the Patriots’ third possession of the game (yes, we’re doing this again), the offensive line allowed a sack on 2nd and 1 from the Patriots 49-yard line to set up a 3rd and 9 for the offense. Jets cornerback D.J. Reed bailed the Patriots O-line out that next play, committing defensive pass interference to set New England up for 1st and 10 from the Jets 25 yard line. But, of course, Brissett was sacked on the ensuing play for a loss of 9, killing the momentum for the offense and eventually leading to a field goal from kicker Joey Slye rather than a trip to the end zone.
On their fourth and final possession of the first half, Brissett was nearly sacked on a three-man rush with 1 second left on a Hail Mary heave to the end zone. Yes, that’s correct - Brissett was almost sacked on a three-man rush.
On their fifth possession of the game, Brissett was nearly sacked on 3rd and 5, forcing an incompletion to wide receiver DeMario Douglas who seemingly had the space to pick up a first down. Clearly, the offensive line was picking up right where they left off to start the second half.
On the first play of their sixth possession of the game, on what was Brissett’s most impressive ball of the night, the nine-year veteran got crushed by the Jets pass rush while completing a 22-yard pass to Douglas off play action. On a play that should have gone towards helping Brissett build his confidence, he was forced to worry about picking himself up off the field and getting ready for the next play.
Later on in the possession came the worst sequence of the game for rookie Caedan Wallace, who was thrust into the role this week with Vederian Lowe out with injury and Chuks Okorafor away from the team on the “Exempt/Left Squad” list. After Brissett completed a ball to tight end Austin Hooper for a gain of 21 on 3rd and 4 that would have set up 1st and goal from the 2-yard line, the play was called back after Wallace was called for holding.
One play later on 3rd and 14, Brissett was sacked for a loss of 12 by All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to push the Patriots out of field goal range. Wallace was called for holding on this play as well, but the penalty was declined.
We can skip over the seventh possession!!! (because Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled on first down)
On their eighth possession, Brissett was sacked by defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw on 3rd and 8 for a loss of 9 yards, forcing Baringer to come in for his fifth punt of the ballgame.
While Brissett was able to escape a lot of would-be sacks against the Seahawks and Bengals, that just wasn’t the case in Week 3.
Oh, and some bonus action for you guys - they allowed two sacks with Drake Maye in at QB on the final possession of the game for New England.
The first sack came on the first play after the two minute warning, as Maye was taken down for an 8-yard loss by McDonald and Leonard Taylor III. Luckily, the rookie popped right back up.
A few plays later, Maye was almost sacked on a ball to Kayshon Boutte. He went down to the ground after throwing the ball, and again - thankfully - popped right back up.
Fittingly, the game ended with Maye's second sack, as his helmet popped off on a 5-yard loss.
Ouch.
- Front 7: Everything the Jets offense was able to do was underneath the defense. Rodgers would find his receivers and running backs under 10 yards, and watch as they racked up YAC all night long. Patriots linebackers were exposed in a big way in the passing game, most notably veteran Jahlani Tavai (more on him later).
An early example of this was on the first play of the second quarter, as Rodgers found receiver Allen Lazard underneath the defense on 3rd and 6 from the Jets 13=yard line, and watched him pick up 27 yards to keep the drive alive. Later on that drive, New York punched in a 1-yard touchdown run by Breece Hall to give them a two touchdown lead.
In addition to the lack of success defending the short pass, the Patriots front was unable to get a real push in the running game. Rodgers, along with running backs Breece Hall, Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis combined for 133 yards on the ground and a rushing touchdown.
- Pass Rush: Rodgers was only sacked twice the entire ballgame. Outside of those two lapses by the Jets O-line, the 40-year-old quarterback had all day to throw, working from a clean pocket as he picked apart the Patriots defense en route to the victory. And when it wasn’t from the pocket, it was on a designed rollout with tons of space to work with. I could have included this in the section for the front seven, but I felt like this aspect of their performance needed to be highlighted as a big weakness for New England. If you give one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time all day to throw, he’s going to find open pass catches in space.
- Jahlani Tavai: On the Jets’ second drive of the game, Tavai committed a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on what would have been a nice tackle for no gain on 1st and 10 from the Patriots 46-yard line. For the man who was given the green dot on his helmet as the leader of the defense with Ja’Whaun Bentley out for the remainder of the season with a torn pec, you can’t have that type of mental mistake. Instead of 2nd and 10 from the 46, Tavai set up the Jets with a 1st and 10 from the 31. Four plays later, Rodgers threw his first touchdown as a Jet at MetLife Stadium, setting the tone for the rest of the night.
This, plus a bad night for the front seven, landed the veteran linebacker in the "Downs" section on Thursday.
Incomplete
Drake Maye: The number three overall pick made his debut! At long last, we got to see the rookie play in a game of consequence!
Unfortunately, the plays were not of consequence, as he came in the game in relief of Brissett for New England’s final possession. Giving him any sort of grade in that type of performance feels unfair.
With the Patriots’ loss coming on a Thursday night, the team will have their lone “mini bye” of the season this weekend, as the rest of the league plays out Week 3 on Sunday and Monday.
New England’s next game is on the road in Week 4 against the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers. Before Thursday’s game kicked off, the Patriots were listed as 8.5-point underdogs at FanDuel, and sat at +360 on the moneyline.