The 2024 Jets were expected to contend for a Super Bowl; instead, they appear ready to contend for the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Replacing an injured Drake Maye, Patriots backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett came to the rescue for the New England Patriots, leading a fourth-quarter, game-winning drive that delivered a 25-22 victory over the fledgling New York Jets.
This was a game the Jets had no business losing, yet seemed to go out of their way to hand to the lowly Patriots, with whom they now share the bottom spot of the AFC East at 2-6. Gang Green’s loss appeared to be a team effort punctuated by more inept kicking from Greg Zuerlein, sloppy clock management, and ill-timed, boneheaded penalties — including a false start incurred on a two-point conversion attempt.
If now or never was a football game, it would have been Sunday’s game for New York. With Hasson Reddick finally making his Jets debut after a lengthy holdout, as well as a full week of practice for wide receiver Devante Adams, the Jets needed a win to save their season from yet another disappointment.
“This is a moment of darkness, and we understand that the outside world is going to get really loud right now,” interim Jets Head Coach Jeff Ulbrich said after the game. “The only thing I know in life is that when it gets dark in life, you work. You look yourself in the mirror and figure out what I can do better.”
Much like in games past, it was the opposing team who found the end zone first. Maye led a 10-play, 77-yard drive, which was capped off by a 17-yard touchdown run by the rookie quarterback — the first rushing touchdown of the 22-year-old’s career.
However, despite sloppy clock management, including the usage of all three of their first half timeouts in the first quarter, the Jets were able to take advantage of two pass-interference penalties committed by the Patriots.
Set up from two yards out, Aaron Rodgers sent a dart into the arms of Tyler Conklin for a touchdown, but a Greg Zuerlein missed extra point kept the Patriots ahead 7-6 at the end of the first quarter.
On their very next drive, the Jets found the end zone yet again. The big play came on a 27-yard deep pass to Garrett Wilson, which put the Jets in a 1st-&-goal scenario from the Patriots 1-yard line. Rodgers found Xavier Gipson for the score.
The pass was Rodgers’ 11th of the season and the first from scrimmage of Gipson’s career. This time, Zuerlein made his extra point, putting the Jets ahead 13-7 — a lead they would take into halftime.
In the second half, the Patriots would have to go forward without Maye, who was ruled out the rest of the contest with a head injury suffered midway through the second quarter.
The injury didn’t stop the Patriots from taking the lead, though. On a drive that started on a 62-yard punt return by Marcus Jones, Brissett and running back Rhamondre Stevenson helped lead the Patriots to take a 14-13 lead on a three-yard touchdown run.
The Jets put together a pair of sustained drives in the third and beginning of the fourth quarters that put the team into the red zone twice. However, neither drive ended in a touchdown, and only one ended in points. Zuerlein went 1-for-2 on his attempts, and the Jets held a narrow 16-14 lead with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
The continued mistakes by the Jets finally came back to bite them, as Brissett was able to drive the Patriots into the red zone all the way to New York’s 2-yard line. But after a costly fumble backed the Patriots up, they, like the Jets, were unable to find the end zone, and only ended up with three points on a 23-yarder by Joey Slye to cut the Jets’ lead to one at 17-16 with 7:34 to go in the game.
But, as he’s done for much of his career, Rodgers did the job when his back was against the wall, completing all three of his passes to three different receivers to get the Jets back into goal-to-go territory. Braelon Allen, the youngest player in the league, found the end zone on a two-yard run. The Jets failed to convert on their two-point try, giving limiting their lead to 22-17.
With the Patriots down five, Brissett led his team 70 yards down the field. With a touchdown needed on 4th-&-goal from the 1-yard line, Stevenson took the ball and steamrolled his way into the endzone, putting the Patriots up 23-22.
Unlike the Jets, the Patriots were able to convert their two-point attempt. Stevenson completed his big sequence, putting the Pats up 25-22. With no timeouts left, the Jets could not put together anything sustained, and the Pats pulled off the upset.
Gang Green doesn’t have much time to dwell on Sunday’s loss. They’ve got a Thursday Night Football matchup on Halloween against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium.
Rodgers, meanwhile, echoed Ulbrich’s post-game statements in looking for ways to lead the Jets out of the “darkness.”
“I’ve been in the darkness. You’ve got to go in there, make peace with it. Offensively, our goal has just got to be to score 30,” Rodgers said. “But we’re not scoring 30, we’re underachieving. This offense can do that every single week.”
