It’s still unclear how the New England Patriots were able to emerge victorious over the New York Jets on Thursday night.
The box score reads like a blowout by the Jets. They won the time-of-possession battle 40:54 to 19:06, they didn’t turn over the ball, they outran the Patriots 218 to 63, and they had just seven penalties to New England’s nine.
Some poor play-calling by the Jets’ coaching staff certainly was to blame. Anytime they were close to the end zone, the Jets abandoned their established running game and chose to pass. Jets quarterback Geno Smith dropped back nine times on 13 plays inside the red zone — despite the fact that the Patriots were allowing 5.1 yards per carry and didn’t show any signs of improvement as the game went along.
Oh, Jets.
Check out this week’s takeaways from the Patriots’ 27-25 win at Gillette Stadium:
CHANDLER JONES RECORDS REQUISITE SACK ON GENO SMITH
Jones has made a career out of dominating Smith. The two played each other twice in college, and Jones recorded two sacks in each of those games. They’ve played three games against one another in the pros, and Jones now has five sacks after taking down Geno on Thursday night.
The Patriots’ defense did a nice job getting after Smith, recording 26 pressures on 49 dropbacks.
Check out this week’s pass-rush charting stats:
Chandler Jones: sack, QB hit, five hurries (seven pressures)
Rob Ninkovich: six hurries (six pressures)
Chris Jones: two QB hits, two hurries (four pressures)
Dont’a Hightower: sack, hurry (two pressures)
Casey Walker: sack, hurry (two pressures)
Vince Wilfork: two hurries (two pressures)
Patrick Chung: QB hit
Deontae Skinner: hurry
Zach Moore: hurry
Check out the Patriots’ season-long pass-rush charting stats:
Chandler Jones: 4.5Â sacks, eight QB hits, 15 hurries, 28 pressures
Ninkovich: four sacks, four QB hits, 19 hurries, 27 pressures
Hightower: three sacks, five QB hits, nine hurries, 17 pressures
Wilfork: two QB hit, seven hurries, nine pressures
Jerod Mayo: sack, QB hit, four hurries, six pressures
Chris Jones: 1.5 sacks,, two QB hits, four hurries, six pressures
Joe Vellano: one sack, two hurries, three pressures
Collins: two QB hits, two pressure
Kyle Arrington: one sack, one pressure
Skinner: one sack, one hurry, two pressures
Logan Ryan: one QB hit, one pressure
Sealver Siliga: one QB hit, one pressure
Tavon Wilson: one hurry, one pressure
Dominique Easley: one hurry, one pressure
Patrick Chung: one QB hit, one hurry, two pressures
Alfonzo Dennard: one hurry, one pressure
Walker: one sack, two hurry, three pressures
Moore: one hurry, one pressure
DARRELLE REVIS LIMITS JETS’ BEST WEAPON
Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis allowed just two receptions to high-priced Jets free-agent receiver Eric Decker for 42 yards. On Decker’s first reception, Revis thought he had a bead on the ball and leaped up to swat Geno Smith’s pass and whiffed.
Revis, for the most, did a nice job of limiting Decker. Revis also allowed a 1-yard screen pass to Jets tight end Jace Amaro.
Brandon Browner was targeted only once by Smith. The play didn’t count because Browner, who made his Patriots debut, also was called for holding. Upon further inspection, Browner still should have been flagged, but it was illegal contact, not holding.
Check out this week’s pass-coverage charting stats:
Alfonzo Dennard: 4-5, 55 yards
Darrelle Revis: 3-5, 43 yards
Devin McCourty: 2-4, 33 yards
Logan Ryan: 2-4, 23 yards
Dont’a Hightower: 2-3, 16 yards
Patrick Chung: 1-2, 10 yards, TD
Jamie Collins: 1-3, 9 yards
Tavon Wilson: 1-2, 9 yards
Chandler Jones: 0-1
Rob Ninkovich: 0-1
Check out the Patriots’ pass-coverage charting stats for the season:
Revis: 18-32, 263 yards, TD, INT, two pass breakups
Dennard: 14-21, 192 yards, 2 TDs
Ryan: 13-21, 169 yards, TD, INT, three pass breakups
Jerod Mayo: 12-16, 127 yards, TD
Kyle Arrington: 9-18, 127 yards, TD, pass breakup
Wilson: 4-6, 80 yards, pass breakup
Deontae Skinner: 5-5, 72 yards
Collins: 7-21, 68 yards, interception, pass breakup
Hightower: 13-17, 63 yards, pass breakup
Malcolm Butler: 3-5, 53 yards, pass breakup
McCourty: 5-12, 46 yards, 2 TDs, INT, 2 pass breakups
Chung: 4-8, 39 yards, TD, pass breakup
Ninkovich: 4-6, 35 yards
Chandler Jones: 2-3, 23 yards, two pass breakups
Dominique Easley: 1-1, 8 yards, interception
Nate Ebner: 1-3, 3 yards
Duron Harmon: 0-1
Chris White: 0-1
Vince Wilfork: interception
BRADY’S RECEIVERS DROP THE BALL FOR PATRIOTS QB
Brady had 17 incompletions Thursday night, and seven can be blamed on inaccurate throws.
Brady’s receivers dropped four of his passes (two by Julian Edelman, one each by Rob Gronkowski and Shane Vereen). Gronk had one other questionable drop, but Brady’s throw was very low.
Four passes were thrown away because of pressure allowed by Brady’s offensive line, one incompletion was the result of a tipped pass by Jets defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson, and one pass was thrown away.
Overall, Brady had much more time to throw for two reasons. First, his offensive line played better. Also, the Jets rushed just three linemen on some plays.
It wasn’t Brady’s best game, but it still was an improvement over his first four weeks of the season, before he rebounded in wins over the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills.
