Patriots get back on track in East Rutherford - controlled the line of scrimmage, some big throws early from Mac Jones, a few nice returns in the punt game from Jabril Peppers, some poor checks from Zach Wilson holding onto the ball too long and Saleh just completely giving up on him and running the football near exclusively in the first half - that's good stuff.
Ezekiel Elliott showed some life in his legs... and Mac Jones throws for 201 yards and 1 TD, with 358 total yards of offense. Including this big time play from a tight end I didn't know was on the roster this week:
Rain a factor, but never led to any turnovers from either team. Great play from Brendan Schooler once again on punt coverage, but don't know why they're not doing the run in on every play for field goal defense. Slightly frustrating to see a couple of high snaps from Joe Cardona on two long field goals in the first half but they cleaned it up in half #2.
Jets made it interesting in half two, which was not great. Odd to feel like it's the second half of the AFC title for all those years in week 3 against the Jets... but that's the way it is now in New England - each game now becomes a gutter war as was not the case for two decades.
Patriots still have a chance to be good. They played two top 5 teams to begin the year and didn't necessarily know how to play to win, and found themselves playing to just stay in the game and put themselves in catch up mode. Christian Gonzalez is one of the best corners in the league already, and their secondary will become one of the best in league once they get a bit healthier. If they can get the tight ends going even more (which they did today with Brown), they can still deal with the fact they don't have outrageously explosive receivers on the outside. They need to find that slot guy to capture the middle of the field like the Patriots always have - Demario Douglas? Keyshon Boutte? It's not Juju, Bourne, or Parker. They've gotta figure that one out going forward - need a go to guy on third down in the 4th quarter.
One week at a time, Belichick still got it and the story of him loving the Jets punter Morstead told at the end of Q3 was outstanding. Welcome to play in Foxboro anytime, Jets!
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