The Jets entered Thursday night’s home opener against the Patriots at MetLife Stadium with a few primary objectives in mind.
The first was obvious: Win the game and get to 2-1 after the 0-1 start.
To accomplish that, the Jets believed the second thing they needed was to get off to a fast start on offense — something they failed to do in their first two games.
They accomplished both of those objectives, defeating the Patriots, their longtime nemesis, 24-3, in their first win over New England at home since 2015.
Setting the table for the victory was the Jets’ fast start on offense.
They scored touchdowns on two of their first three drives and on their first possession of the second half.
In their first five possessions in the season-opening loss at San Francisco, the Jets had three three-and-outs as well as a lost fumble by Hall in their own territory.
In the win at Tennessee on Sunday, the Jets began with two three-and-outs and three consecutive punts to start the game, but got away with it because of the Titans ineptitude on offense.
Jets receiver Garrett Wilson, before Thursday night’s game, called it “super important’’ to get off to a faster start on offense.
“I feel like once you get rolling, if you can start hot, that kind of fuels the rest of the game,” Wilson said. “It’s something that we’re working on. We want to come out with the mindset like we want to score first, score on the first drive. You’ve got to have the mindset. You got to go out and do it.”
The Jets didn’t score on their first possession of the game, but they took a 7-0 lead on their second drive, climaxed by a 10-yard Aaron Rodgers scoring pass to Allen Lazard.
The Jets took their second possession and drove it 91 yards on 13 plays to take a 14-0 lead on a 1-yard scoring run by Hall.
They kept the fast-start theme going in the second half, taking a 21-3 lead on a 2-yard scoring pass from Rodgers to Garrett Wilson on their first possession of the third quarter.