FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Just when you think the Jets can’t sink any lower, they find a way.
The Jets lost to the dismal Patriots on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, 25-22, giving up a last-minute touchdown to suffer their fifth straight loss and fall to 2-6 and putting their season on life support before Halloween even arrives.
The Jets took a 22-17 lead three minutes left in the game, but the Patriots put together a game-winning drive that would make Tom Brady proud. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who was playing in place of an injured Drake Maye, orchestrated a 12-play, 70-yard drive.
Rhamondre Stevenson scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 22 seconds left in the game and then scored the two-point conversion to sink the Jets to new depths.
On the game-winning drive, Brissett scrambled for 14 yards on one third down and then threw a 34-yard pass to Kayshon Boutte, who beat Sauce Gardner, to move the ball to the Jets’ 9-yard line. The Jets stopped them for three plays before Stevenson plunged in from the 1.
The Patriots snapped a six-game losing streak and are 2-6 just like the Jets, tied at the bottom of the AFC East.
This was ugly all around for the spiraling Jets. They somehow burned three timeouts in the first quarter, struggled to move the ball for much of the game, had plenty of missed tackles, two delay of games penalties and a few special teams gaffes to round things out.
They needed a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to regain the lead in the fourth quarter. Trailing 17-16, Aaron Rodgers went 3-for-3 for 42 yards on the drive and Breece Hall had 26 yards rushing. Braelon Allen scored a 3-yard touchdown to give the Jets a 22-17 lead. The Jets went for two, but took a delay of game penalty and then Rodgers’ pass to Mike Williams came up short.
New England had some success early, highlighted by rookie quarterback Drake Maye opening up the scoring with a 17-yard scramble for a touchdown. But Maye sustained a concussion and left the game in the second quarter. The Patriots were very conservative with Brissett and the Jets defense had more success against him.
The reeling Jets now have three days to prepare for Thursday night’s game against the Texans at MetLife Stadium.
The Jets answered Maye’s touchdown with one of the strangest touchdown drives you’ll see. They managed three first downs off of Patriots penalties, including two pass interference calls, one that put the ball on the New England 2. Rodgers threw a touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Conklin from there. Kicker Greg Zuerlein, who has struggled all year, missed the extra point and the Jets trailed 7-6.
The Jets used three timeouts on the drive, leaving them with none remaining with 1:31 left in the first quarter.
The Jets put together their best drive early in the second quarter, moving 60 yards on eight plays. Rodgers hit Xavier Gipson for a one-yard touchdown and a 13-7 lead.
With Maye out of the game, the Patriots struggled to get anything going and even ran out the clock at the end of the first half rather than trying to cut into the Jets’ lead.
The Jets received the ball to open the second half and failed to do anything with it and had to punt. Patriots returner Marcus Jones took the punt 62 yards back to the Jets’ 26. Rhamondre Stevenson scored a three-yard touchdown five plays later and the Patriots took a 14-13 lead with 10:55 to go in the third quarter.
On the ensuing drive, Rodgers hit Garrett Wilson for a 35-yard gain to the Patriots 35. Wilson made a beautiful catch on the play and clearly benefitted in this game from the attention the Patriots paid to Davante Adams. The Jets got to the Patriots’ 11 but could not reach the end zone. Zuerlein hit a 29-yard field goal to put the Jets up 16-14 with 7:54 left in the third quarter.
The Jets put together another good drive to start the fourth quarter but they again stalled. Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss sacked Rodgers on third down to knock the Jets back from the 18 to the 26-yard line, making it a tough kick for the struggling Zuerlein, who missed the 44-yard attempt wide left, keeping the Patriots within two points. Zuerlein has now missed six field goals this season.
The Patriots then put together a 14-play, 61-yard drive that ended with Joey Slye 23-yard field goal and a 17-16 Patriots lead with 7:34 to play. The Jets helped the Patriots on the drive with some sloppy tackling and a roughing the passer penalty on Micheal Clemons. The Patriots converted a third-and-11 and a third-and-9 on the drive.