Patriots Report Card: (Awful) Grades For Horrendous Loss To Jets

The Patriots got wrecked Thursday.

New England found itself on the wrong side of a complete ass-kicking in their matchup with the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, which is something they readily admitted in the aftermath. The Patriots suffered their most lopsided loss in this matchup since "A Bug's Life" and "You've Got Mail" were dominating at the box office, so it's easy to say that things went poorly.

Here's a closer look at how each key group fared in the loss, both positive (don't laugh) and negative:

QUARTERBACK: C-
Jacoby Brissett deserves a medal for the beating he's been taking over the first few weeks of the season, but the fact of the matter is that there are things that could have been done better by both guys who received snaps Thursday.

Brissett had a couple bad misses early on, while Drake Maye was nearly intercepted after telegraphing where he was going with his first ever pass attempt. Are we blaming the QBs for what happened? Nope, but there are still standards that need to be met.

WIDE RECEIVERS: C+
The Patriots entered the night with 85 total receiving yards from their wideouts on the season and came one yard short of matching that total against the Jets. DeMario Douglas found ways to get open, especially after he was schemed a few touches. Ja'Lynn Polk is a dude, he just needs increased opportunities. It wasn't a disaster!

(Yes, we're grasping at straws with that one.)

OFFENSIVE LINE: F-
Is it possible to expel a student for bad grades? The Patriots might want to look into that.

We don't have to do too much explaining here. New England's pressure rate allowed through three weeks is the 16th-worst of any team since 2006, per Chad Graff of The Athletic, and was made much worse after they gave up seven total sacks and pressure on more than half of Brissett and Maye's dropbacks.

PASS-RUSHERS: D
Aaron Rodgers is almost 41 years old and his ankle exploded just over a year ago. You could only sack that guy twice?!

The Patriots' lack of pressure isn't really the problem, though. New England lacked discipline, which allowed Rodgers to escape the pocket and make plays in space -- including one touchdown and nine (!!!) first downs.

LINEBACKERS: D+
Jahlani Tavai and Raekwon McMillan did a bad job trying to replace Ja'Whaun Bentley in the middle of the defense. It's that simple.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B+
Bryce Baringer is pretty sweet!

Baringer had four punts downed deep inside opponent territory, setting New England up with solid field position throughout the entire night. Joey Slye nailed his lone attempt. Brenden Schooler and Joe Cardona each had a couple of impressive tackles. It wasn't a bad night from Jeremy Springer's unit.

COACHING: D
Alex Van Pelt is essentially calling offensive plays for the very first time. DeMarcus Covington is doing the same on the defensive side of the ball. Yes, it's going to take time for them to find their groove, but two specific examples stood out as contributing factors to Thursday's mess.

Covington's mistakes related to his style of defense, as his desire to attack the opposition came back to bite him when Rodgers checked into a pair of quick-hitters in the face of pressure to pick up a couple of first downs. Covington can easily adapt, and there's no reason to think he won't, but you still would have liked to see him make that adjustment mid-game knowing he was down multiple starters.

Van Pelt hasn't figured out the passing game quite yet, and we saw exactly why on the final third down of the game for Brissett and the starters. AVP called for all vertical routes, despite the fact that they needed just nine yards to pick up the first down. Brissett was forced to hold onto the ball while routes developed, which led to his final sack of the night and a proverbial nail in the coffin. It was four-down territory, so there would have been no shame if AVP called for short crossers to pick up a few yards and at least give his offense a fighting chance.

The Patriots need better from almost every group on the team, but the coaching staff might be the biggest losers throughout the first few weeks of the season.