They were ticked off, emotional and stewing after a blown opportunity on enemy territory to bury the Jets in an early-season hole. The Patriots led 14-7 in the final minute of the second quarter, thanks to a jaw-dropping touchdown snare from Randy Moss' right paw, but they proceeded to give it all away.
There were turnovers, penalties and a 180-degree swing of momentum that left the Patriots with tread marks on their backs and red on their faces.
"We just sucked," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said. "That’s what it comes down to."
The Jets scored the game's last 21 points, and Brady committed three turnovers — two interceptions and one fourth-quarter fumble in Jets territory when the Pats had a chance to make things interesting — during the self-destruction. What they despised most was how quickly things fell apart, as the Patriots put together a nearly perfect first half.
"It was very frustrating, I think, for all of us to sit in the locker room after the game knowing that we can play a lot better than we played in the second half," Brady said. "And we're going to need to. That was a very frustrating performance by all of us."
The Patriots had 80 total yards after Moss' touchdown in the second quarter. Conversely, they compiled 80 yards on the two plays that led to Moss' score, but their explosive offense quickly fizzled, and their defense went down with it.
Once again, the Patriots said they didn’t have the mental toughness to come away with a road victory, which channeled the eerie reminders from a season ago.
"It's just being able to handle adversity," said wide receiver Randy Moss, who caught one pass for four yards on his other nine targets in the game. "I think the Jets handled adversity the right way, and we handled it the wrong way."
Wes Welker agreed with his teammate.
"When the going gets tough, the tough [have] got to get going," Welker said. "We didn’t do that today, and they did. It was pretty evident out there. We've got to be better."
Brady, who said everyone needed to take "a hard look" at themselves during this week's preparation for Buffalo, was 7 of 16 for 69 yards in the second half, and he was about as livid as he'll ever really get in a postgame news conference.
"When it comes down to the second half of games and our level of toughness, we've got to go out and play tougher," Brady said. "That’s all of us, and that’s starting with me. I've got to do a better job of leading this team, and certainly executing better when it's crunch time."
The Patriots' anger was clearly compounded by the fact that they lost to their division rivals who spend time talking trash and living their lives as the antithesis of what has been built in New England. Plus, if the Patriots won, they would have built a two-game lead over the Jets and stolen a victory on the road.
"They're well-coached," Moss said, "a little cocky and arrogant at times, but you've really got to commend a team if they come in, and talk the talk, and walk the walk, and then go out here and prove it on Sunday. "
It was all in the works early on, when the Patriots ran 27 of the game's initial 30 offensive plays. That’s when it went straight down the drain.
Maybe it will serve as an early wakeup call, as a loss that should help the Patriots strive toward keeping last year's failures out of this season's drive to be better. They'll continue to stew in it for now and use it as motivation. As the week progresses, though, Moss hopes the Patriots can channel that energy into something a little more positive.
"This one hurts," Moss said. "This was a very hardworking week for us, very, very hard, probably one of the hardest weeks I've ever had in my 13 years. We had a lot of expectations coming into this game to come out of here with a victory, and we ended up coming out with a loss. That’s what hurts. We'll get back to the drawing board and hopefully just take our frustrations out on each other during the week and see how the ball rolls against Buffalo."
