Patriots remain victorious against NY Jets

9/24/23 by Cooper Sherman

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ- The New England Patriots defeated the New York Jets 15-10 on Sunday afternoon. This was the Patriots 15th straight win against the Jets. The last play of the game was a Hail Mary by Zach Wilson that just dropped to the turf near the hands of Randall Cobb.

It was a defensive battle at MetLife Stadium. A Patriots’ field goal was the only points scored in the first quarter. At halftime, the score was 10-3 with the Patriots leading. The third quarter was not any more exciting as the only points were still a lone New England field goal.

In the fourth, running back Nick Bawden scored on a one yard run for the Jets to make it 13-10. With the momentum slightly shifting the Jets way, that was stopped soon after by linebacker Matthew Judon sacking Zach Wilson in the end zone for a safety. With this play, the Jets could no longer tie the game with just a field goal. This was huge for the Patriots and was the unofficial end to the game.

New York had two more drives but they were short lived, being four and three plays.

The Patriots defense held strong throughout the forth quarter. The Gang Green punted eight times and recorded a measly 171 total yards in the game. New England recorded 358 total yards.

Quarterback Mac Jones did not have his best day on the field, completing 15 of 29 passing attempts, 201 yards and a touchdown. Jones only threw for 59 yards in the second half.

The unlikely star of this Patriots offense was wide receiver Pharaoh Brown, who caught two passes for 71 yards. The bulk of it was a 58 yard catch and run touchdown in the first quarter around five minutes in.

On the losing side, Quarterback Zach Wilson continued his struggles. He completed 18 of 36 passes for 157 yards and zero touchdowns. He was also sacked three times. So far this season, Wilson has thrown two touchdown passes and four interceptions.

Wide receiver Garrett Wilson led the team in receiving with five catches for 48 yards. Wilson did not get much help from New York’s running backs as Dalvin Cook and Breece Hall combined to rush for 36 yards on 20 attempts.

If you needed any more evidence that this game was a defensive slugfest, there was one red zone trip by either team in this game. The Jets reached it with 6:46 to go in the fourth quarter.

That didn’t end up mattering though. It is a rare sight that you see teams struggle this much to get deep in their opponent’s territory. When there are two teams with elite defenses yet struggling offenses, this is the game audiences get.

With this win, the Patriots avoided going 0-3, which hasn’t happened since 2000– the first season Bill Belichick was coach.

“Have to convert and get more points. 15 is not; generally you’re going to need more than that. But it was good enough today,” Belichick said to reporters after the game, “It was a great job defensively, especially in the first half.”

The Patriots head to Dallas next week for another tough matchup against the 2-1 Cowboys, but with their puzzling 28-16 loss against the 0-2 Cardinals, the Patriots should make it a competitive game just like they have against the Eagles and Dolphins.