Over the last two seasons, the Jets defense has been forced to carry the team on gameday. On Thursday night, it got a complementary performance from its offense and, playing with the lead, limited to the Patriots to 11 first downs and 139 total yards in a 24-3 victory at MetLife Stadium over an AFC East rival.
"I thought we were really really good," HC Robert Saleh said. "We talk about playing to a standard and playing with relentless effort and sending 11 heads to the ball at all times and I thought we did that tonight. We upheld that standard."
The game began with punts by both teams before the Jets took the lead 7-0 on a 10-yard TD pass from Aaron Rodgersto WR Allen Lazard with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter. Once in the lead, the defense never allowed the Patriots into the game.
"[Having the lead] gave us a totally different mentality and made it a different ball game," said S Chuck Clark. "When the offense is keeping their drives alive, the opponent feels like they have to force it. It gives us confidence that we can just go out there and attack and be aggressive."
The dominant performance started up front with the pass rush. Without Pro Bowl edge rusher Jermaine Johnson, who sustained a torn Achilles tendon in the Week 2 win at Tennessee, second-year DE Will McDonald IV registered 1.5 sacks in the first half, and finished with 2 for the game.
After McDonald took down Patriots QB Jacoby Brissett in the second quarter, he did Johnson's patented hammer-swing celebration. Going back to the Titans game, McDonald has notched 5 sacks in the last 7 quarters.
"I just got to continue to play my role," McDonald said. "After Jermaine went down, I just had to step up. Being able to hold everybody accountable, even the little ones. Just keep stepping up, keep executing."
All-Pro DT Quinnen Williams also found Brissett in the backfield for his first sack of the season. The Green & White finished the night with 7 QB takedowns. In addition, Clark, in the fourth quarter, ripped the ball away from RB Rhamondre Stevenson for a forced fumble and recovery. Coming into Week 3, the Patriots had allowed just 4 sacks in two games and had yet to turn the ball over.
"No matter who's out there, we expect guys to rush the passer at a very high level," Saleh said. "And we feel like with our back end, if you rush the passer, you're going to get production and we did that tonight."
The Jets defense was also without its captain, LB C.J. Mosley, who missed the game with toe injury he sustained last week – it was the first game he's missed since Week 7 of the 2021 season.
Mosley's running mates, All-Pro LB Quincy Williams and LB Jamien Sherwood, who was wearing the green dot for the first time since his rookie year in 2021, quarterbacked the unit. Williams led the team with 8 tackles and 1 tackle for loss, and Sherwood registered 5 tackles.
"I felt like I did really well with the communication but of course there will always be things I can clean up and fix," Sherwood said. "I thought from front to back everyone was able to play fast because of our communication and it ultimately led to us getting the W tonight. We got to be able to carry this going forward."
Though the Patriots rushed for more than 170 yards in each of their first two games, the Jets limited them to 78 yards and held Stevenson to a mere 23.
"Credit to San Fran, I'll go back to them with the way they ran it, taught us a couple of things with regards to the things that we needed to get fixed," Saleh said. "And I felt like last week we defended the run very well. I know the quarterback had the scrambles. And then this week, felt like against that team, their backs are pretty damn good. I feel like we did a pretty good job."
