FOXBOROUGH – After playing up and down early this season – seemingly up and down to the level of their competition through six games – the Patriots got off to a fast start on the way to a much-needed easy 54-13 win over the overmatched Jets Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
During a halftime ceremony for his induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame former All-Pro defensive lineman Richard Seymour called the Jets the “homecoming” opponent and the game played out that way as New England built a 31-7 lead at halftime, never punting in the first half while knocking New York rookie QB Zach Wilson out of the game along the way.
Before turning the page to next Sunday’s potential turning-point trip to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers, here’s a look at some of the highs and lows from the Patriots' first home win of the season to improve to 3-4 overall:
Thumbs up
Josh McDaniels – New England’s offensive coordinator has been under fire in recent weeks, but he dialed up the perfect start against the Jets. A nice run for Damien Harris, a chunk play screen to Jonnu Smith for 28 yards and then a trick play Kendrick Bourne-to-Nelson Agholor 25-yard touchdown pass. McDaniels also got the screen and short passing game going with more consistency, including a well-designed 15-yard catch-and-run touchdown for Brandon Bolden in the second quarter. Sure, it’s just the Jets, but McDaniels jump started the offense early on the way to the easy victory and when you put up 54 points and more than 550 yards on offense the coach has to get some credit.
Damien Harris – From his first run of the day – a 12-yard pickup – Harris was finding plenty of room to run against the Jets front. With the Patriots line playing better of late, including Mike Onwenu settling back into the right tackle spot he played a year ago as a rookie, Harris has hit his own stride. After a 100-yard effort in the loss to Dallas, Harris had 14 carries for 106 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the blowout of the Jets.
Brandon Bolden – The veteran backup had one of the more productive days of his career, catching 6 of 7 passes thrown his way for 79 yards. With James White on IR, Bolden has become a bigger part of the offense taking over the bulk of the third-down back duties. Bolden took full advantage of McDaniels’ play design on the 15-yard catch-and-run score in the second quarter.
Matt Judon/Christian Barmore – The free-agent addition and the second-round pick were two of the more consistent, impactful front seven defenders against the Jets even if it didn’t show up much in the stats.
Judon put the hit on Zach Wilson that knocked him from the game. Barmore continues to show the ability to get penetration and pressure the QB, notching a near sack late in the second quarter and helping out on a fourth-down stop. Judon and Barmore are becoming consistent headaches for opposing offenses from the outside and inside of the New England front.
Mac Jones – The centerpiece of the Patriots offensive attack got plenty of help, but Jones was solid in his own right on the way to his first-career 300-yard passing day. With the benefit of a good run game, solid run-after-catch yards from his receivers and overall complementary good football, Jones guided his squad to the blowout by completing 24-of-36 passes for 307 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 111.7 passer rating. It was the second straight week and third time in four games that Jones has thrown for multiple touchdowns and notched a rating of more than 100. His nine touchdowns on the season are already more than Cam Newton threw in all of last season to lead the New England offense.
Thumbs down
Rhamondre Stevenson – The rookie running back seemed to exit Bill Belichick’s doghouse of late, especially with a touchdown and a couple nice catches against the Cowboys. But Stevenson was a curious healthy scratch against the Jets, J.J. Taylor replacing him on the game day roster and in reserve reps in the backfield. Taylor had one reception for 5 yards and nine rushes for 21 yards and two late touchdowns against New York.
Gillette Stadium crowd – Sure the Patriots had been 0-4 at home, but it’s still a bad look for there to be so many empty seats – red seats in the club seat area as well as lots of blue seats in the upper deck – for a beautiful Sunday afternoon game in October. The home crowd was great against the Bucs and Saints earlier this year, but the crowd was half Cowboys fans last week and half missing early this week. So much for calling them the Foxborough Faithful.
Jalen Mills – After giving up the game-winning touchdown to CeeDee Lamb in the overtime loss to the Cowboys, Mills’ struggles continued against New York. Mills had an ugly missed tackle on a quick throw to Elijah Moore early on. The veteran then got beat in the back of the end zone by Corey Davis for a 3-yard touchdown. In the third quarter Mills was flagged for pass interference on third down to extend New York’s scoring drive to open the second half. Mills, who is playing out of position out of necessity as an every-down outside cornerback, was solid earlier in the year but things have taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks in the depleted back end of the defense.
Patriots’ health – Dont’a Hightower (elbow/ankle) missed the game. Jonathan Jones was placed on IR. And then the injuries piled up some more against New York. Jonnu Smith (shoulder), Devin McCourty (abdominal), Harvey Langi (knee), Carl Davis (wrist), Shaq Mason (abdomen) all missed time due to injury against the Jets. Sometimes a telling sign of severity of the injury, both Smith and Langi were downgraded to Out just after halftime, while McCourty did not return back watched the blowout game from the sideline. The Patriots had 16 players on the injury report last week and things don’t seem to be getting any better after the meeting with New York.