When you've had the success the Patriots have enjoyed for the last two decades, most stats make you look good. And in New England's case, that goes doubly for playing against rookie quarterbacks.
After the latest 25-6 shell-shocking of the Jets, Bill Belichick improves to 22-6 against first-year QBs in his Pats tenure, with many of those wins coming against the AFC East rivals. So while Zach Wilson had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad Sunday, he can try and take some solace in the fact that he's not the only New York quarterback in the last 20 years to do the same thing. Here's a history:
2021 - Zach Wilson: Okay, even by Jets standards this was bad. His first two passes were intercepted, as were three of his first five. When all was said and done the rookie from BYU completed 19-of-33 passes for 210 yards, no touchdowns and four picks -- which is one more than he threw in the entirety of his senior season in college. His quarterback rating was 37... remember, if you throw every pass incomplete it's 39.6.
2018 - Sam Darnold: Darnold didn't start New York's first game that year against New England (Josh McCown did), so his only look at Belichick as a rookie came in Week 17. And though his individual day wasn't as bad as Wilson's, the final score was worse. In the Patriots' 38-3 shellacking Darnold threw for just 167 yards, and although he wasn't picked off he did lose a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
2013 - Geno Smith: There's some very good, and some very bad. In Week 2 of the season, Smith looked every bit the part of a rookie in a 13-10 Jets loss. He completed just 15-of-35 passes (43 percent) with three interceptions. But a month later he came back and became a rare rookie QB to beat Belichick in a 30-27 thriller. He threw for one score and ran for another (while also throwing a pick-six), and led a 15-play drive in overtime - admittedly helped by a roughing the kicker penalty on the Patriots - to pull off the stunner.
Since then, rookie QBs are 1-10 against Belichick, with only Tua Tagovailoa last year able to win.
2009 - Mark Sanchez: The Sanchize got off to a great start to his NFL career, beating the Patriots in Week 2 by a 16-9 final. He put in the type of performance expected from a rookie in that era: 14-of-22 passing for 163 yards and a score, but he had zero turnovers and let his defense keep Tom Brady and company out of the end zone.
The rematch in Week 11 was a bit more humbling, a dominant 31-14 Patriots victory in which Sanchez went just 8-for-21 with a touchdown, four interceptions, including a pick-six that opened up the scoring, and a lost fumble.