Uncompetitive loss reflects badly on coaching staff, and more takeaways from Patriots-Jets

There is no other way to put it: the New England Patriots were embarrassed on national television on Thursday night against the New York Jets. Their 24-3 loss was as bad a game as you will pretty much ever see.

Let’s get into our takeaways from the Patriots’ Week 3 contest.

1. Unprepared and undisciplined team is a reflection of the coaching staff: The Patriots have a first-time head coach, a first-time defensive coordinator, and a first-time special teams coordinator and a first-year offensive coordinator. A bit of a learning curve had to be expected early on in the season, but Thursday was not that: the Patriots looked unprepared and, as a result, uncompetitive against the Jets.

Sure, it’s a short week, and early in the season, but the coaches’ inability to get the team ready was still concerning particularly for what is supposed to be an elite defense. The Patriots had multiple unnecessary and easily-avoidable penalties on that side of the ball, and after being a great tackling team the first two weeks couldn’t complete takedowns all night.

The also, somewhat curiously, appeared to try to overcorrect their wide receivers not being actively involved on offense the last two games. The result was an uneven run/pass distribution early on in the game.

“The first thing I have to look at myself in the mirror. Make sure I did everything that I could to get the guys ready to go. Based on the score today, I needed to do more,” said head coach Jerod Mayo after the game. “Just have to set the reset button, this is NFL football, and we have to get better.”

Games like Thursday’s should be expected from a young staff and team, but they are going to have to take this as a learning opportunity and turn around real quick. Performances like the one we saw on Thursday are, simply, unacceptable in the NFL — and ultimately, a verdict on the coaching staff.

2. The Patriots are who we thought they were, and that’s OK: All offseason the narrative surrounding the Patriots was that they were going to suck this year, and they had a chance to be the worst team in football. Then, they won and played well in week 1 in Cincinnati, and the story changed to them maybe not being as bad as everybody thought thought.

Turns out that they are exactly the team we thought they would be all offseason after all, at least based on their performance on Thursday. There is no need for panic, though: this is the first year of a major organization-wide rebuild, and slip-ups like that are unfortunately part of that process.

3. The line keeps killing the offense: The Patriots did not have the most polished offensive line to begin with entering 2024. Then, their left tackle and left guard both got hurt, and now the group is on the brink of collapse.

Despite fielding two rookies, you would still hope for more than what you got from the group against the Jets on Thursday. Because what the Patriots did get was a pressure on nearly two thirds of their dropbacks and seven total sacks.

“It’s a race to get better every week,” said center David Andrews. “Look, it’s early in the year, there’s a lot of football left to be played and it’ll be bad if we don’t learn from this. Try to take the good and try to fix the bad and that’s what we’ll try to do. Get some rest, try to keep people healthy over these next couple of days and be ready to go for the next whatever stretch it is.”

Andrews and the interior did not look particularly good on Thursday. The biggest problems, however, were once again at tackle.

There was hope that Caedan Wallace would hold his own at left tackle, and he did not. His holding penalties seemed to be suspect at best, but he didn’t play well in his first career start regardless.

Michael Onwenu, meanwhile, looks miscast at right tackle. The Patriots don’t have anyone else to play there, but still took a really solid guard and — at least based on the last two weeks — turned him into an average at best tackle (that is being paid like an elite tackle). The hope is that Wallace can go back to his college position and develop into the right tackle of the future, and that a left tackle will be drafted highly next spring to allow Onwenu to kick back inside.

Unfortunately for the 2024 Patriots, though, that is a story for another time.

4. Jacoby Brissett is toughness personified: Jacoby Brissett is not among the league’s top quarterbacks. He struggles throwing the ball accurately and consistently, and has run into some sacks as well. There is no questioning his toughness, though.

He took an absolute beating against a talented Jets defense, and just kept getting up. His toughness is something that should be commended, even if the results on the field haven’t been good.

“I’m big man, I can take it,” he nonchalantly said during his postgame presser. “I’m always going to get back up. That’s one thing about me. I’m always going to get back up, and find ways to make plays. That’s what it comes down to. It’s football. I’m supposed to get hit. I didn’t sign up for this sport to not get hit, so I don’t really pay attention to that.”

Hopefully, the team will see and acknowledge the toughness displayed by Brissett and use it as motivation to play better moving forward.

5. The injury bug continues to bite: Last week, the Patriots lost Ja’Whaun Bentley for the season and Vederian Lowe for at least this game. On Thursday night, Jabrill Peppers was in and out of the lineup because he was banged up, while both Caedan Wallace and Michael Jordan had to depart as well. That now means that they could now be down to their fourth left tackle and third left guard — not exactly what you want to see when you’re facing the San Francisco 49ers defense next game.

We’ll see if any of the guys who are hurt can come back for that contest. The injuries piling up is something that this team can ill-afford, however.

6. Bryce Baringer is a weapon: One of the few bright spots for the Patriots at the moment is punter Bryce Baringer. For the first time this season, he didn’t average over 50 yards per punt against the Jets, but he averaged 49 while three of his five punts pinned the Jets inside their own 20-yard line. He can consistently flip the field for the Patriots, and if the defense can get stops, the Patriots should have a chance to get good field position in a few games this year.

7. Christian Gonzalez is the real deal: The Patriots defense overall struggled against the Jets, but Christian Gonzalez mostly put the clamps on one of the best young receivers in the game. When the Patriots went with man coverage, the second-year defender followed Garrett Wilson everywhere he went, and mostly shut him down.

Wilson finished with five catches for 33 yards and one touchdown that was a perfect throw by Aaron Rodgers to maybe the only place he could put it. That touchdown, by the way, was the first allowed by Gonzalez in his NFL career.

The Patriots sure have something in their young cornerback.

8. Kyle Dugger and Jahlani Tavai in coverage is an adventure: The Patriots extended both Jahlani Tavai and Kyle Dugger this offseason, which was the right thing to do. But while their statuses as team leaders on and off the field is undisputed, they both looked bad on Thursday night.

Neither of them was able to cover Tyler Conklin all night, and he finished with five receptions for 93 yards — the most yards he’s ever had in a game. On a night where Christian Gonzalez was doing his work, it would have helped to have the other leaders on defense help out a little bit too.

“This is a performance-based game, we are professionals and we have to show up and play regardless,” said Tavai. “There’s no excuse for what we did, right now it’s another one we got to take and we’re onto the next.”

9. Aaron Rodgers is returning to form? After looking like a shell of himself the first two games of the season, Aaron Rodgers looked fantastic on Thursday, routinely making tough passes look easy, and using his legs to get out of trouble multiple times. His performance on Thursday could be a sign that he is back to his old self and ready to dominate the league again, which would be bad news for the Patriots and the rest of the AFC East.

Of course, the Patriots playing their worst defensive game in a while also helped.

10. The quarterback depth chart shouldn’t be reevaluated: The Patriots have a mini-bye coming up and the question most are going to be asking is whether this the right time to make a move at quarterback and replace Jacoby Brissett with Drake Maye? Personally, the answer to that question should be a resounding “No.”

Of course, Jerod Mayo and company might have a different perspective. Fact is that Maye would add a dimension to the Patriots attack it does not have with Brissett under center: he can make throws the veteran simply cannot make at a consistent basis, and has the athleticism to make plays with his legs as well.

Whether they replace Brissett or not, the Patriots need to start playing significantly better, and that begins at the quarterback position.