Inept offense sinks New York Jets in 30-14 loss at New England Patriots
The ugly start to the season for the New York Jets ensued on Sunday against their AFC East rivals.
The New England Patriots (3-0) defeated the Jets 30-14 at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. The Jets (0-3) have now lost seven straight matchups and 11 straight on the road in the regular season against the defending Super Bowl champions.
With starter Sam Darnold (mono) still resting and backup Trevor Siemian (ankle) out of the season, the Jets called on third-string quarterback Luke Falk to make his first career start.
Falk heavily struggled, as he finished 12-of-22 for 98 yards and an interception for a 47.1 passer rating. The defense of the Patriots harassed Falk into five sacks.
However, Jets coach Adam Gase praised the awareness of Falk and put the onus on the rest of the offense.
"The guy that's in his first NFL start knows what's going on and other guys aren't executing it the way it should be done," Gase said.
The Jets only had six first downs and were shut out offensively, as their two touchdowns came on special teams and defense.
"It's brutal...It's infuriating," Gase said. "Because you're watching the defense and special teams play as hard as they can and execute what they're being asked to do and they're doing it well for the majority of the game and we're not holding our end on offense."
The Jets have been outscored 70-33 to begin the season and haven't scored an offensive touchdown since the third quarter of Week 1. On Sunday, the Jets went 0-for-12 on third downs and tallied just 105 total yards.
The Patriots raced out to a 30-0 lead before the Jets finally got on the board with 21 seconds left in the third quarter, as Arthur Maulet scored a touchdown on a muffed punt.
The Patriots pulled quarterback Tom Brady midway through the fourth quarter.
However, after a 61-yard pick-six by Jamal Adams off Jarrett Stidham cut the deficit to 30-14 with 6:23 remaining, the Patriots brought Brady back to close out the victory.
Brady finished 28-of-42 for 306 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 103.9 passer rating.
The Patriots took a 20-0 lead into halftime. In the first half, Brady completed 19 of his 28 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns.
On their opening drive, the Patriots capped off a 9-play, 88-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run by Sony Michel.The Patriots extended their lead to 13-0 on a 25-yard play action score from Brady to Phillip Dorsett with 4:25 in the first quarter.
Brady then connected with Julian Edelman on a 3-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 20-0 early in the second quarter.
Jets running back Le'Veon Bell had 35 yards on 18 carries and 28 yards on two receptions. Jets wide receiver Braxton Berrios added two receptions for 29 yards.
In the first half, the Jets punted on all six drives and could only muster 66 yards and three first downs offensively.
For perspective, the Jets only had four more yards than Edelman (62) at the half.
Brady spread the wealth throughout, completing at least six passes to Edelman (7 receptions, 62 yards), Dorsett (6 receptions, 53 yards), Josh Gordon (6 receptions, 83 yards) and Rex Burkhead (6 receptions, 22 yards).
After the early woes, the defense settled into a rhythm as they forced the Patriots into four punts through beginning of the third quarter.
However, that mini streak was snapped after a Falk interception set up a 37-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski to push the deficit to 23-0 with 8:49 in the third quarter.
"If we make one mistake they capitalize on it," Gase said. "That's what they do so well. That's what they've done so well for the last 20 years."
After an acrobatic 3rd-and-22 conversion by Gordon, Burkhead had a 2-yard rushing touchdown three plays later to make it 30-0 with 3:07 in the third quarter.
Brian Poole led the Jets with 12 total tackles and 10 solo.
The Jets will have a much needed bye in Week 4 and return to action in Week 5 at the Philadelphia Eagles (1-2).
Adams and Bell are keeping the faith and refuse to hit the panic button on this season.
Meanwhile, Gase intends to take full advantage of the break and implore the Jets to do some heavy soul searching.
"We've got to look at a lot of things over this bye week," Gase said. "I never thought I'd say 'Week 4 bye week, I'm glad it's here.' We've got to address some things. We've got to figure out what's going on. We're not in sync. We're not doing a good job of working together. We're kind of all over the place. So we've got to get that fixed."
