But the win showed how far the Patriots have come in their first season under coach Mike Vrabel. Ten months ago, a half-empty Gillette Stadium booed the Patriots off the field as they finished off a 4-13 season.
Thursday night, in the first primetime game at Gillette Stadium since Week 2 of 2023, the stadium buzzed with lights and DJs and pyrotechnics as the Patriots improved to an NFL-best 9-2. They once again took care of business against an inferior opponent and didn’t succumb to a trap game. It was their eighth straight win, their longest streak since 2019.
The Bills got upset by the Dolphins on Sunday. The Packers recently lost to the Panthers. The Patriots keep getting it done.
It wasn’t the prettiest performance — they had some trouble in the red zone and let the Jets hang around a little too long. They nonetheless got the job done on a short week, winning by double digits despite playing their 11th game in a row without any breaks.
Now comes a well-earned mini-bye, with 10 days to prepare for their next game at Cincinnati.
The way the season is unfolding, the Patriots might be looking at another bye in January.
⋅ Someone should check Drake Maye’s birth certificate, because he plays with a maturity far beyond his 23 years. Maye was sublime again Thursday, completing 25 of 34 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown without much help from the run game.
Maye did a great job of taking checkdowns throughout and not forcing too many deep passes, hitting TreVeyon Henderson five times for 31 yards and a touchdown, plus several underneath throws to Stefon Diggs (nine for 105) and Hunter Henry (four for 45).
Maye showed excellent pocket awareness and mobility, like when he shuffled and slid around two defenders and stepped up to hit Diggs for 21 yards over the middle.
And he showed impressive poise, keeping his eyes downfield on several throws and making an impressive flip throw to Diggs on an improvised play.
Maye entered the game as the betting favorite to win MVP. Thursday will do nothing to dispel that.
⋅ I’m starting to think the Patriots are letting their opponents score on the opening drive on purpose, just to make the games more competitive.
The Jets became the sixth team in 11 games to score a touchdown to open the game — two others scored field goals. They marched 72 yards in 14 plays and converted four third downs. The Patriots have not exactly been victimized by a group of Hall of Fame quarterbacks, either — Geno Smith, Aaron Rodgers, Bryce Young, Dillon Gabriel, Baker Mayfield, and Justin Fields.
Like always, the Patriots clamped down after the first drive, forcing the Jets to punt on their next four as they built a 21-7 lead.
â‹… You can always count on the Jets to trip over their own shoelaces. They committed two defensive penalties on the same play, and also left Mack Hollins wide open for a 19-yard catch. They had a penalty for 12 men on the field coming out of a timeout. Receiver Adonai Mitchell dropped two passes on third down. They let DeMario Douglas pick up an extra 10 yards when they forgot to touch him when down, and Fields wrecked a third-quarter drive with an intentional grounding penalty.
The Jets needed to be perfect on Thursday to pull off the upset. Instead, they were the Jets.
⋅ Vrabel lived dangerously with the clock right before halftime in Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers, and didn’t handle it well on Thursday.
First, he was a little too nonchalant. The Patriots got the ball near midfield with 1:48 left in the first half and all three timeouts, yet only had 27 seconds left when they got a first down. I understand not wanting to give the Jets the ball back before halftime, but Fields is not Baker Mayfield.
Vrabel later could have opted to take a shot at the end zone from the 28-yard line with nine seconds left, or at minimum move closer for a field goal, but instead called an inside handoff and settled for a 45-yarder which Andy Borregales put off the right upright.
The Patriots then went three-and-out to start the third quarter. It was one of the only times this year they failed to convert the pre- and post-halftime double score.