Aaron Rodgers and the Jets offense did what was necessary when it was most necessary -- driving for a late, go-ahead score. But the good vibe -- and the lead -- did not last long.
In cruel fashion, New England drove 70 yards, led by backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett, to score a TD and come away with a 25-22 victory. New York's loss was its fifth straight ahead of Thursday night's quick turnaround game against Houston at MetLife Stadium.
After the game, the comments were short and to the point:
QB Aaron Rodgers: "Frustration."
Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich: "This is a moment of darkness."
DL Quinnen Williams: "Super disappointing."
CB Sauce Gardner: "Hard to believe."
The game was there for the taking, despite the Jets (2-6) having to burn all three of their first-half timeouts in the first quarter. They got their act together in the second 15 minutes, dominating the Patriots in every important statistical category: 7-0 in first downs; converting 3 of 4 on third down; rolling up 105 yards on 17 plays to New England's 7 yards on 9 plays. The Jets headed to the locker room with a 13-7 lead.
Yet for the Green & White, there was a long list of missed opportunities. New York drove into New England territory late in the first half, but the drive stalled and Thomas Morstead punted. Receiving the ball at the start of the second half, the Jets went three-and-out. Overall in the game, the Jets took 8 penalties for 55 yards, several of the pre-snap variety. Then there were the three early timeouts.
"Not exactly sure, one of them, one of them, was digging out the huddle when I was trying to get the protection right, when I felt like we could have gotten off but trying to take it there," Rodgers said. "But yes, it's our operation, it was a little slow."
Critically, the Jets took a delay of game penalty after Braelon Allen's gritty 2-yard run that gave them a 22-17 lead with 4:37 to play. The Jets set up for a 2-point conversion in an attempt to push the lead to 7 points but were flagged and pushed back to the 7-yard line. Rodgers found Mike Williams for a completion, but he was well short of the goal line.
"Well, they start the [play] clock at 20, and we had a shift in the motion by the time it came down to it," Rodgers said. "The defense they were playing wasn't good for the play that was called, so I figured, let's just move it back to the seven. Not that much of a difference, but they brought zero pressure, I guessed wrong, they guessed right."
The crushing defeat overshadowed some strong play between Rodgers (17 of 28, 232 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT) and WR Garrett Wilson (5 catches on 8 targets for 113 yards). It was Wilson's third game of the season with more than 100 yards receiving, but his first since consecutive big games against Minnesota and Buffalo.
With the Jets trailing, 17-16, Rodgers connected with Wilson down the visiting sideline for a critical 22-yard gain to the NE 33-yard line. On the next play Breece Hall rambled for 13 yards and one play later Rodgers found Davante Adams for 17 yards to get the Jets to the NE 3-yard line, setting up Allen's TD.
Coming into the game, Wilson led the team with 46 receptions for 460 yards coming off what he described as a subpar performance (5 catches/61 yards) against Pittsburgh last Sunday night. While Hall ran the ball 16 times for 80 yards, he was only targeted 3 times (making one catch for 9 yards) after catching 6 balls last week for 103 yards.)
"I'm pissed. They're pissed. I'm hurt. They're, they're hurt," Ulbrich said. "We are not executing in critical moments, especially down the stretch right there. We had opportunities to win this game. Should have won this game, and we do so give credit to the Patriots. It took advantage of a team that didn't execute as well as they can."
Rodgers summed it up when he said: "The NFL is hard to win, hard to ... really make it difficult on yourself. You know, offensively, we can't worry about what else happens. We got to be efficient. You know, we got to make the most of the opportunity."
