2024 Week 3: Patriots 3, Jets 24
A changing of the guard is happening in the AFC East, though it is likely just for this season. The Dolphins are slowly becoming one of the worst teams in the league, New England and Buffalo will fight for mediocrity, I assume Pats will be just under .500 and Bills just over .500, and the Jets win the weak division.
In order for the Patriots to have a chance in this game they needed to stick to their guns and try to run the ball 40+ times and let the defense stop Rodgers and the Jets offense… instead they lost all sense of their identity off the bat and came out throwing. A bad passing attack going into a top secondary is not going to end well, and it didn’t.
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QB Report:
- Aaron Rodgers (27/35 for 281 yards, 2 TD) looked great in this game, the best performance of his since his MVP seasons. He took complete command of this offense and it paid off. The Jets have a hard schedule ahead of them and if Rodgers is able to play like he did in this game then the Jets should be able to weather the storm. They play DEN-MIN-BUF-PIT-HOU in 5 of their next 6 games.
- Jacoby Brissett (12/18 for 98 yards) is not the problem in the New England offense, the O-line and the WR group are. Their best receiver is Demario Douglas (7-69-0/9) who isn’t bad, but he shouldn’t be any team's top receiver.
- It’s tough to give an opinion on Drake Maye’s (4/8 for 22 yards) first snaps in the NFL… he was facing one of the best defenses and was behind one of the worst O-lines, but it was also garbage time and the Jets were just playing prevent. There was no real effort on any side of the ball at that point, everyone knew that game was over.
- If the Patriots drop their next 2-3 games the calls for Maye to be the starter might get too loud.
RB Report:
- Another game where Braelon Allen (11-55-0, 3 catches for 13 yards) was the better running back than Breece Hall (18-54-1, 4 catches for 29 yards).Hall and Allen will split snaps for the rest of the year and then after that, who knows what the future holds for Hall? The future for NYJ should be Allen and let a team overpay in a trade for Hall, I think.
- Rhamondre Stevenson (6-23-0) fumbled for a third consecutive game. Stevenson will start to lose snaps because of this eventually giving way for Antonio Gibson (5-29-0). If the Patriots find themselves losing games Gibson will play more than Stevenson, as he did in the back half of this game.
WR/TE Report:
- KJ Osborn (0-0-0/0) in my eyes has been the best receiver for NE this year. No targets in this game because NE is allergic to throwing downfield.
- Hunter Henry (2-9-0/3) had a major drop off after his big game against Seattle in Week 2, everything in this passing game is dead unless it’s a random Demario Douglas or Antonio Gibson event. The Seattle defense may be something worth attacking with the TE.
- Allen Lazard (3-48-1/3) made all of his money in the first couple drives of this game and was a ghost after that. This has been the story of his career.
- Mike Williams (3-34-0/4) and Lazard will likely be rotating in and out as the ‘big man’ receiver. Both are tall and have a good catch radius.
- Garrett Wilson (5-33-1/9) was close to having a huge game, a near-miss toe tap and penalty took away another touchdown and 30+ yards from his stats. Wilson is the true #1, then Hall.
D/ST Report:
- Not much to report on either side of the ball, the Patriots game planned poorly on the offensive side of the ball and the NYJ corners did what they do best. Will McDonald (3 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 TFL, 4 QB hits) seems to be having a bit of a breakout after busting in his rookie year last season… he has 5 sacks in the last 2 games. We’ll see in the coming weeks if this is just a blip or something more.
image source: https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-week-3-recap-new-york-jets-24-new-england-patriots-3. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)