Jeff Ulbrich had a review of the shadow the Jets had just stepped into at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon, and it had nothing to do with their upcoming Halloween home game against Houston.

"This is a moment of darkness," the interim head coach said grimly after the Jets' three-lost-leads 25-22 loss to the Patriots, "We understand that the outside world is going to get really loud right now. But the only thing I know in life is that when it gets dark and it gets hard, you work and you point the finger at yourself and you look inward and you figure out, What can I do better from an individual standpoint?

"If we do that collectively, which I believe we will, that's your only opportunity to dig yourself out of this. That's your only opportunity to improve and fix some of these wrongs."

This one was really painful for the Gareen & White to absorb. They came in on a five-game losing streak hoping to knock off the Pats, on a six-game skid, including the Jets' Week 3 home 24-3 triumph, and get back into the game of jockeying for playoff position over the final two months of the season.

The problems this time, unlike the fall-from-ahead loss at Pittsburgh, weren't energy-related.

"I thought the energy was great today," QB Aaron Rodgers said, echoing his coach's assessment. "I thought the guys were engaged, played with some passion. Just execution-wise, we didn't do enough."

The grim details began with the Jets using all three of their first-half timeouts in the first quarter for varying reasons. They committed eight penalties for 55 yards. Kicker Greg Zuerlein missed another extra point and a 44-yard field goal attempt that, if successful, would have given them a 19-14 lead early in the final period. The defense, although forcing no takeaways, yielded only 247 yards, yet also allowed the Patriots to convert seven of 15 third downs.

Fast-forward to the Patriots' final drive. With Jacoby Brissett at QB since the second quarter after rookie Drake Maye left with a concussion, the home team gained 70 of its scrimmage yards and converted third-and-9 and third-and-10 plays to move to fourth-and-goal, inches away from taking the lead.

From there RB Rhamondre Stevenson plowed over for the go-ahead TD plus the two-point conversion reception that virtually assured no worse than an overtime if Rodgers and the Jets offense could move within field goal range in the final 22 seconds.

They couldn't.

"I'm pissed], they're pissed. I'm hurt, they're hurt," Ulbrich said of himself and his players after losing leads of 13-7, 16-14 and 22-17 in the last three quarters. "We are not executing in critical moments, especially down the stretch right there. We had opportunities to win this game, we should've won this game, and we didn't. So give credit to the Patriots. They took advantage of a team that didn't execute as well as they can."

The talented additions that Ulbrich and the Jets folded into their operation for the past two games had limited effect on the outcome. WR Davante Dams had 4 receptions for 54 yards, with his 16-yard catch setting up rookie RB Braelon Allen's temporary 2-yard bulldozer touchdown for that 22-17 edge.

And pass rusher Haason Reddick, who joined the Jets during the past week, practiced and was cleared to the active roster Saturday, played little and had no stat line on the defensive sheet.

"Honestly, it was really hard for me to see what Haason was doing," Ulbrich said. "I'll take a look at the tape and let you know. But he was dialed in, he was focused. I felt his energy. So it'll be interesting to see the tape."

The Jets did return injured CBs D.J. Reed and Michael Carter to the secondary, but other players who might have helped out with the execution were missing due to injuries — RG Alijah Vera-Tucker, WR Allen Lazard and safeties Tony Adams and Ashtyn Davis. Then C.J. Mosley, who was working back slowly from his toe injury the past two games, sustained a neck injury in warmups and couldn't play.

But Brick didn't use his team's health as a reason for the Jets' continued woes. Instead he put the challenge ahead on his shoulders first and everyone else on the football side after that.

"It's my job to put them in the best position to be successful. I obviously didn't do that," he said, adding of the possibility that he might give up his defensive playcalling duties as he serves as the IHC, "I'll take a hard look at everything. If that's one of the things that'll help us, then it'll definitely be on the table."

But that won't be the only thing he and his staff examine in the hurryup half-week to their Halloween test from the Texans. There is the entire team process, practices, meetings, walk-throughs.

"That's where we're fortunate," he said, " that the character of this locker room, I think they're going to demonstrate who they are.

But Ulbrich also knows after talking the talk, the Jets have to walk the walk.

"We talk about being at our best when our best is required, and that was not it," he said. "We say that's not who we are, but it's who we are until we demonstrate otherwise.