Knee Jerk Reactions to Week 6: Patriots vs Jets

Things to consider while realizing we'll have flying cars and get back to the moon before the Jets ever get back to the Super Bowl:

--Be concerned, if you must. Look on the dark side, if so choose. Accentuate negative, eliminate the positive; if that's your thing. Focus on the bad; it's a free country. If you're hunting for mistakes, this game is a target rich environment, so bag your limit. Your pointer is going to be wiped from running out into the field to retrieve your kill. Just make sure he and you point to the fact that this was the kind of game that the Patriots weren't winning, not all that long ago. As recently as 2024 and even the early part of last year, this was a team that had to play virtually flawless. Even against a team like the 2025 Raiders, the worst team in football. But the Pats as they're currently constituted, can turn errors into wins. Like history's greatest artist Bob Ross, when this team makes a mistake, they're able to turn it into beautiful birds and happy trees. 

--And this was a win that came as they tested the depths of their depth chart. Especially on the offensive line. Where Ben Brown, their third string right guard, had to move to left guard in the middle of the game, after they lost their most steady, reliable performer this season, Alijah Vera-Tucker. Then Brown had to come out. I mean, when paleontologists are digging up Stegosaurus bones, their shovels hit Matt Pryor. And when geologists are drilling deep into arctic ice to find evidence of the Younger-Dryas Impact, they find traces of Walter Rouse. So both your guards were guys who sound like they were wearing plaid Sans-a-Belt slacks on the PGA Tour in the '70s. And Caleb Lomu was at right tackle. Meaning fully 60% of your O-line was comprised of backups of backups and rookies. And they were rock solid. I'll get more into them as we go along here, and don't want to bury the lede any further.

--Those mistakes we've discussed weren't solely the property of one man, but he did corner the market. AJ Brown had so many drops, I found myself looking for the video of his injury in the Seattle game to make sure he didn't break both his hands. But nope. I was a leg injury. Can confirm. But yesterday he caught the football like someone threw him a hornet's nest. Three catches on 10 targets. One was a blatant DPI non-call. And it felt like AJ Scissorhands dropped all six of the others. Midway through the 3rd, he caught the most routine of 5-yard outs to a chorus of sarcastic applause. Which I took as him finally getting the chance to receive a genuine Masshole welcome. One. Of. Us. One. Of. Us. That's the bad news. The good news is, he was getting targeted so much because he was open so much. Because he's moving like he did before the injury. The very first drop came on a Choice route, where he broke away from the zone defender in the middle, and Drake Maye read him all the way and delivered what should have been a 1st down strike. But he ran a sharp route. The toughest drop to swallow was on a Go where he blew right past Azareye'h Thomas:

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So his lower half isn't showing any sign of issues. It mustn't be bothering him, because he took 52 snaps. Which was the most among the skill position guys, and he was the lone WR in some Jumbo formations. So there are no ill effects from the injury. He just has to let his upper extremities know they'll be expected to catch footballs on Thursday.

--And until he does, maybe let's keep him off the "Hands" team, shall we?

In a lifetime wasted watching football games, I've never once seen an Onside Kicker target a receiver. But it's like the Jets knew it wasn't Brown's day, and he represented their best chance of winning. The fact they didn't recover is just another reason to thank your Creator for Pop Douglas. He not only saved us from that cataclysm, he was the best receiver on the field for New England.

--As for the guy throwing those dropped passes, Maye was elite. For the third straight game he had at three touchdown passes, which hasn't happened here since Tom Brady did it in 2017. In the first three games, he had one passing touchdown and six interceptions. In the three games since, he's got 10 TDs to 1 INT. In those games, he's completed 4 deep pass TDs, with 0 INTs. For the second straight week, he didn't have a single play I'd consider turnover worthy. And he just doesn't seem to possess that trait most quarterbacks do, where they're walking off the field ripping their chin strap off in frustration and staring laser beams at whichever teammate had the audacity to let them down. If Maye did, he would've gone through a gross of chinstraps yesterday. 

--Instead, he took advantage of probably the best pass protection he's had since some time in that 10-game winning streak last year. This was a Sluggo by Romeo Doubs from the slot, but as Maye was able to hold onto the ball, he stemmed it off into a deep Angle route, and Maye put it on target. Due mainly to the fact Will Campbell - who had another spectacular day for hisself - got leverage on Harrison Phillips and basically turned him into a statue:

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--On Douglas' touchdown, the primary read was to Brown on a Corner route off a designed rollout, but he was covered. Maye had time to pull the ball down, scramble to buy time, and hit Douglas scraping behind the linebackers. The major reason being that Lomu had put David Bailey, the No. 2 pick in the draft, on the ground:

Bailey had three sacks last week against Cleveland. But yesterday he managed just one QB hit. (Though to his credit, he did rip the ball away from TreVeyon Henderson.) Making him the latest in a growing line of elite edge rushers who've been neutralized by this O-line. Maye wasn't sacked yesterday, and hit just four times. Despite all the shuffling of the cards in front of him. And Lomu registered a 100% pass block success rate in his 30 passing snaps. It took a while for Doug Marrone's unit to come together (I know that sounds dirtier than I meant it. But what are you, 15? Grow up), probably owing to the fact none of them played in the preseason games. But despite losing bodies every week, they still continue to improve.

--While we're coaches their flowers, Josh McDaniels continues to expand the playbook. With a heavy emphasis on presnap motions that we weren't seeing early on. Maye is off the leash and remains in Attack Mode. We didn't see that odd "double sidecars" formation out of pistol he ran last week, but that's still on film for opponents to have to worry about. I particularly liked a 3rd & 10 call where Kyle Williams was lined up in the slot, of all places, with Pop on the outside. Douglas short-motioned in, and the two ran an X cross, with Williams on a Slant to the chains, and Maye hit him for 12. But he just wouldn't be McDaniels if he didn't check a book out of the Restricted Section of the Hogwart's Library and work this Dark Magic:

From where I was sitting (Flex: In the press box), the play looked like it was designed to go deep to Brown, but not all the Jets bit on the fake. And credit to Maye to take the profit that was available and settle for the 1st down.

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--Sometimes with Maye it's not so much the spectacle of a deep throw with pinpoint accuracy that is the most impressive thing he does on a given game day. Sometimes it's the play that's not so impactful that has you walking back to your lucky parking spot in 3B in awe of the athletic feats he's able to pull off. This one, for example:

Not even designed to be a rollout. Completely out of structure when no one was open and the pressure was coming in. Holding off Sherwood with one arm and delivering a drone strike with the other. A pass that was either going to be a 1st down or caught by the equipment manager. And Douglas made sure it was the former.

--If I had to choose one part of the McOffense to pick apart though (and why let the radio shows have all the fun), it's the almost total lack of passes to the running backs. Particularly to Henderson. He had one target yesterday, and brought his season total in receptions up to 3. THREE. This is probably a topic for another blog, but when they drafted him, I assumed he'd be a 3rd down back in the mold of Kevin Faulk, Shane Vereen and James White. And he's not even Cordarelle Patterson. 

--Sticking with this game specifically, Henderson continues to be the guy who doesn't break tackles. Yet McDaniels continues to give him the ball on gap runs that get blown up at the line of scrimmage. Usually with Henderson running into the ass of his pulling lead blocker. (If he ends up on the injury list with pinkeye, don't say I didn't warn you.) I'd think the idea would be to get him in space with tosses and screen passes and let him make people miss. But that's clearly not part of the game plan for now. 

--What clearly was yesterday, was feeding Corey Kiner late in the 4th quarter. They gave him the ball between the tackles on eight straight plays that went for 42 yards, and bled almost four minutes off the clock, from 5:49 to the 2:00 minute warning. At 

5-foot-9, 209 pounds, he seems like one of those low center of gravity guys that are hard to get on the ground, and he finished the game with a 5.2 average and no tackles for loss that I can recall. It'll be interesting to see if his carries increase going forward. But for this game, he was Corey "The Closer" Kiner. (Trademark Old Balls Industries. All Rights Reserved.)

--The NFL needs to do a better job selling me on the Virtual Measurement. Which for now is a technology in search of a reason to exist. The ABS in baseball has been a revelation. You get confirmed, indisputable results in an instant. These 1st down measurements arrive at the speed of Cliff Clavin during Catalogue Season. And I don't get how it's an improvement over two middle aged men carrying poles connected by a chain. Maybe it's just because I'm a guy. And when the system said the Pats picked up a 1st by 8-inches, my brain is wired to say, "A foot? That looked like 16 inches to me. Yup, that's a foot and a half alright." But I'm not anti-Data Center. I'm just anti-whatever this clunky, slow, impractical tech is supposed to prove. 

--As another aside, yesterday was one of those days you dream about. Mid-October in New England. Peak foliage. A perfect half moon that looks like a Black-and-White cookie in the afternoon sky. You look up at it and wonder if maybe, just maybe, Ann Michael Maye is also looking at it. It was warm enough for the defensive linemen to show sideboob. And for the Patriots cheerleaders to spend the game in pastel long sleeve tops and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader shorts that Shane Gillis would've approved of. This might be the last such perfect Fall afternoon game they get to play.  So it's just worth noting. And appreciating. I could never live anywhere else but here this time of year. 

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--OK, enough of me going all Ralph Waldo Thornton on you. Back to the football. I'm going to do something I rarely ever get to. Which is give the Jets credit. They made some outstanding plays to keep this one close. The long touchdown to Omar Cooper was a gem. A perfectly executed play action by Geno Smith that fooled everybody in the building. He removed the table, the lady was floating, he ran hoops back and forth across her body to show there were no wires, and got the secondary (Craig Woodson especially) to bite on the run fake. And that was a hell of a play by Jamien Sherwood to catch up to Douglas at the end of a 40 yard catch and run to punch the ball out and kill a drive. You might want to blame Douglas for not protecting the ball there, but there was no way for him to see Sherwood coming. He was like a fish getting caught by an eagle. Sherwood came out of a whole other dimension. And the next thing you know, the drive was being fed to some eaglets. 

--However, the Jets are still the Jets. All the way/ From their first cigarettes/ To their last dyin' day.

And somehow they managed to lose track of all 6-5, 250 of Hunter Henry in the middle of their defense:

I counted like five steps off the line, covering about three yards, and Henry disappeared off their screens like he'd engaged a Klingon cloaking device. So now I'm back to my natural instinct of pointing and laughing at this clown show. But at least I did manage to fire off a couple of compliments first, which is a muscle I don't use very often. I'm going to be sore tomorrow. 

--Once again, the thing I thought would be the biggest liabilty on this team has become one of its greatest strengths: The pass rush. Especially on the edge. Not to get way too ahead of myself here, but Elijah Ponder is putting himself on that James Harrison career trajectory of an UDFA who turns himself into a wrecking ball. Here he gets behind Robert Spillane on sort of Edge-Linebacker version of a TEX stunt. Spillane took out Olu Fashanu and drew Braelon Allen, while Ponder put on a burst that made him unblockable for the sack:

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--And on Charles Woods' interception, Gabe Jacas bullrushed Fashanu into Smith, while DaQuan Jones looped behind Ponder and Christian Barmore. With Christian Elliss blitzing off the offense's right, that left five blocking five, but Jones unaccounted for. Caught between the Scylla of Jacas and the Charybdis of Jones, Smith made a bad decision:

--What no one doubted going into the season was the interior pass rush, and it has not disappointed. At all. In fact, it's exceeding expectations. Like when back-to-back sacks turned a 2nd & 9 at the Jets 21 into a 4th & 26 at their 4. The first was by Milton Williams, the second by Barmore. The Pats were showing blitz with Spillane and Ellis in the A-gaps, which put Smith into a Max Protect call. Which might have worked if Barmore didn't do a UFC-style takedown on Joe Tippmann and step over him to get to Smith:

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Which reminds me. A few years ago I'd considered creating an alter ego. I planned to become a masked vigilante who watches over my city at night, keeping my fellow citizens safe. And I was going to call myself Max Protect. But I live in the suburbs where everyone has doorbell cameras and I decided I like sleep more than I like my neighbors. It's still a badass superhero name, though. 

--But perhaps the Front-7s finest hours were the stops in short yardage situations. On consecutive Jets drives, they forced turnovers on downs. A 3rd & 4, then 4th & 2 from the Patriots 30. Followed on the next possession by a 2nd & 1, 3rd & 1, and 4th & 1 that all went for no gain:

--In fact, those stops were somewhat indicative of how the whole game went defensively. The Jets were able to move the ball well enough between the 20s and mix in some explosive plays. But Zak Kuhr's operation stiffened at the ends of drives, forcing the Jets to go 0-3 in red zone efficiency. There's yer ballgame.

--As far as the special teams, it was a mixed bag. A mixed bag of popcorn with Reese's Pieces (the best movie theater snack ever created), but one that you spill on the floor. Andy Borregales proved again he's far from perfect on extra points, and they had their usual assortment of penalties. But the kick coverage units had their best game of the year by far. The Jets repeatedly had to start drives after kickoffs from the wrong side of their 25. Mitch Wishnowsky got a punt to drop inside the Jets 5. And Kiner added two long returns, one to the 40 and another to the 37. It's been a minute since we've seen them decisively win the special teams battle. So savor this day.

--This Weeks Applicable Movie Quote: “I felt like I was on a spaceship and… I’m not sure what to do with my hands.” - Ricky Bobby, Talladega Nights

--So this wasn't a masterpiece. It doesn't belong in a museum. It wasn't perfection. As football games go, it wasn't the Matlida De Angelis locker room scene (SFW version) from The Undoing. It wasn't even the games against Buffalo or Las Vegas. But it was proof this team can be successful without everything having to go right. Just on sheer talent, discipline, and coaching. And that's an important step in the process. 

--It's a short week, with no time to get injured guys healthy. Strap in. Thursday Night in Chicago is going to be wild.