Sorry you all had to watch those first 59 minutes, Patriots fans. The last 20 or so seconds were worth it.
With Sunday’s unbelievably ugly football game looking destined for overtime, rookie Marcus Jones called game, running a punt back 84 yards for an improbable game-winning score to compete a season sweep of the Jets, 10-3.
The play bailed out a miserable final quarter and change for the Patriots’ offense, which wasn’t on Mac Jones (23/27, 246 yards), and salvaged an incredible effort from the defense, who completed a two-game torture chamber on Zach Wilson (9/22, 77 yards).
Here’s what happened.
Marcus Jones saves the day.
It wasn’t even a guarantee that Jones was going to get a chance to don his Superman cape in this one. An ankle injury forced him out of the game at one point and had Myles Bryant come in to return a few punts in his absence.
But the rookie was in there when it counted, and he did what the Patriots drafted him to do.
Jones didn’t look at first like he’d have space to take the kick back far, and he had to avoid a man almost immediately. But once he got past the first wave and cut back away from the sideline, it was over.
Watch it here. Let it wash over you.
Mac Jones steadies the ship.
When you score just three points as an offense, you typically look at your quarterback and figure he didn’t play well.
That wasn’t the case against the Jets.
Jones only threw four incompletions all game and made seemingly all the right decisions against a stingy Jets defense that made things tough on him a few weeks ago.
He hung in the pocket and made strong throws in the intermediate area of the field, including a couple to Jakobi Meyers. He took what the defense gave him and checked things down to Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris when he had to. There were even a few times when he escaped up or out of the pocket to find a man under duress.
You could argue about whether or not some of the sacks were on Jones not stepping up in the pocket enough or needing to get rid of the football faster.
But let’s not act like Jones didn’t play solid football, especially given the circumstances. If he'd actually played badly, the Patriots would have lost.
Pats make offensive adjustments — just not the ones you thought.
Apparently the Patriots decided they’re not that interested in the RPOs we all want them to run.
But that didn’t mean they weren’t willing to change at all.
New England’s offense played around with some unique formations in the backfield to get both their tight ends and occasionally both their backs on the field to add blockers in the run game. Then, after getting stagnant with those looks, the Patriots leaked Jonnu Smith out of the backfield for a big catch and run at one point.
They even threw in an ever-elusive bootleg off of a stretch run fake and slipped Hunter Henry out the back for a big play in the passing game.
Too bad it wasn’t always that good.
The offensive line, which suffered injuries to both David Andrews and left tackle “starter” Isaiah Wynn, was incredibly leaky, giving up six sacks. You could put a couple on Jones, but the pressure was simply relentless. The offensive line couldn’t keep them back.
Then, you have the penalties: costly holds putting them behind the sticks and contributing to two Nick Folk field-goal misses.
Also, what in the world was going on with the play-calling late in the game?
Four straight runs straight into a turnover-on-downs in the third quarter? Running at Quinnen Williams twice and getting stuffed in the fourth?
Maybe Matt Patricia was trying to protect Jones after the beating he took, but man…
Matthew Judon gets the monkey off his back.
It took a little bit into this one, but Judon decided not to make people wait for his first post-bye sack as a New England Patriot.
His takedown of Zach Wilson early in the second half gave him 13,5 for the season, which tied his career-high set last year. It’s also the third-highest total in Patriots’ history.
But the important part was the narrative-busting.
Justin got blanked after the bye last season, registering no sacks and barely a handful of pressures. This time around, he’s remained disruptive, and the rest of the defense has been playing to his level, racking up four sacks in total.
But make no mistake: he’s the straw that stirs the drink.
