The New England Patriots came out on top with a 25-22 win over the New York Jets in a someone-has-to-win-this battle for the ages.
You won’t be seeing Sunday’s game replayed on NFL Network or ESPN Classic anytime soon, but the Patriots found a way to deliver their second win of the season after a tumultuous week in Foxborough.
At least for now, Jerod Mayo has regained some positive momentum after the ‘Softgate’ controversy following their Week 7 loss against Jacksonville.
WFAN host and former NFL MVP Boomer Esiason joined The Greg Hill Show for his weekly WEEI appearance on Monday to discuss the implications of the Patriots’ win.
“It’s a Jacoby Brissett day up there,” Esiason joked.
Brissett, who had been benched after the Week 5 loss to the Dolphins, threw for 132 yards Sunday, coming on in relief for Drake Maye, who exited the game early following a head injury.
“I'm really happy for him, because he comes in, he plays a really good second half, doesn't turn the ball over, does exactly what a backup quarterback should do,” Esiason said.
Esiason also highlighted the Patriots secondary for their shutdown performance against the Jets’ elite wide receivers on Sunday.
“I think your secondary is really a tremendous secondary. I mean, that was a hell of a performance yesterday. I know that there were some plays that were going to be made, [when] Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams are on the field. They are pretty special,” he said.
While New England fans accepted that the ship sailed on the Patriots being a true contender a long time ago, that was not the case in New York until this week.
While the Jets may have envisioned themselves as a contender when they traded away draft capital for their franchise QB’s old pal, Adams, a 2-6 record may be impossible to bounce back from.
“I don't know if Aaron Rodgers has any answers in this regard, but this team went all in, and [now] we're looking at a total overhaul next year for the New York Jets, because I think they probably have come to the realization that they are absolutely going nowhere this year,” Esiason said.
“They needed to win this game, they didn't win it. Season, to me, looks like it's cooked, and it's going to be really hard to keep these guys motivated as they move forward through the rest of the season.”
Greg Hill asked Esiason for his thoughts on the helmet-to-helmet no-call on Drake Maye in the first quarter on Sunday. Maye finished the drive after Jets linebacker Jamien Sherwood delivered the hit, but exited the game before the next possession. Esiason said he agreed with the criticism.
“I agree, especially after there was a roughing the passer against Jacoby Brissett [later in the game] that didn’t look like anything,” Esiason said.
Esiason also noted that Sunday’s game was one of the possibilities discussed earlier in the season in the when-to-play-Maye debates.
“If we think back to our conversations early on in the year, and you guys were wondering when Drake Maye was going to play, and I was saying, ‘Well it’s going take a little time, he needs to sit there and watch and see how a game unfolds and kind of have those experiences on the sidelines, so when he does go in, he is ready.’
“He was ready yesterday, if it weren’t for the dropped passes early in the game. I mean, he was taking off and running and getting first downs. He looked every bit the part of a very, very successful player and somebody who has a bright future in this league,” Esiason said.
Despite how good Maye looked to be, Esiason said, the injury he took proved the point of many who were saying he shouldn’t play this season.
“This is what happens with these young guys, man. They put themselves out there, they run, they take hits and, unfortunately for Drake, now it looks like he'll probably be out for at least a couple weeks, if not more, given the sensitivities surrounding concussions these days,” Esiason said.
Mayo told reporters on Monday that there were no updates regarding Maye’s head injury. Next week, the Patriots will travel to Tennessee to take on the 1-6 Titans.