Four Studs, Three Duds From Patriots’ Gutsy Win Over Jets

FOXBORO, Mass. — The Patriots had every reason to quit Sunday.

New England was rolling in the first quarter, but a helmet-to-helmet blow knocked rookie quarterback Drake Maye out of the game with a concussion in the second. It’s pretty easy to fold up shop when something like that happens, but the home team did the opposite in a scintillating 25-22 win over the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium.

It’s never going to be perfect with this roster, and there were still plenty of negatives to come out of the game. But at least there were a few positive performances for us to talk about:

STUDS

Rhamondre Stevenson
The Patriots have one of the best running backs in the NFL, and Stevenson proved that by scoring the game-winning touchdown when everyone in the world knew he was getting the ball. New England knows it has at least one offensive weapon to build with.

Marcus Jones
Jones wasn’t perfect by any means — being called for a couple of defensive penalties — but he did provide a huge spark. The Patriots’ second touchdown drive was set up by a 62-yard punt return from the 26-year-old, who also had sticky coverage on two end zone shots that resulted in zero touchdowns.

Drake Maye
Maye was performing extremely well before having his head taken off, rushing for 46 yards and a touchdown on just three attempts. The Patriots’ offense found success at different points without him, but it’s apparent how much better they are with the rookie.

Christian Elliss
Elliss received some deserved flak over the last few weeks, but he’s clearly improving. The Patriots essentially have made him the top off-ball linebacker, and he rewarded them with a sack, tackle for loss, pass breakup and multiple pressures Sunday.

DUDS

Craig Wrolstad
Wrolstad and the rest of his crew had an abhorrent afternoon, missing multiple calls that had an immense impact on New England’s momentum.

Maye’s concussion appeared to be the result of helmet-to-helmet contact that went uncalled, while Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers should have been called for intentional grounding on New York’s last possession of the third quarter. The Jets also benefitted from three defensive pass interference penalties, one of which was ticky-tack at best against cornerback Christian Gonzalez.

Jeremy Springer
“We’re a soft football team across the board,” Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo said following last week’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. “You talk about what makes a tough football team, and that’s being able to run the ball, that is being able to stop the run, being able to cover kicks. We did none of those today.”

The Patriots improved — albeit slightly — in two of those phases, but Springer’s unit still isn’t covering kicks. Jets returner Xavier Gibson totaled 71 yards in punt returns, which was another improvement, but not nearly good enough.

Tyquan Thornton
Mayo said he was “looking forward” to seeing Thornton’s return to the field earlier this week, but it turned out pretty awful.

Maye only completed three of his six attempts before he was knocked out of the game, but one of those incompletions would have resulted in an explosive play if it hadn’t been for Thornton outright dropping it. New England needs better from its wideouts, who accounted for the same number of drops as catches (five). Kayshon Boutte barely avoided making this list, but he single-handedly put them in position to win it.