NFL Week 7 New York Jets Vs. New England Patriots Quick Hits

Oct 16, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; New York Jets quarterback

(7) runs the ball against the New England Patriots during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The Jets fought with everything they had Thursday night but they fell short 27-25 to fall to 1-6 on the season. The Jets dominated the line of scrimmage and played well for most of the night but key blown coverages and failing to get into the end zone in the 1st half doomed the team.

1) The Jets were fighting against the Patriots and the referees – The Jets have gotten no breaks this season from the officials and that continued tonight. A holding penalty took a Jet touchdown off of the board, Chris Ivory was ruled down inside the Patriot 20 when he came nowhere near the ground, the Patriots got a phantom pass interference call against Antonio Allen just before the half that directly gave them 3 points and many Jet receivers were assaulted without penalty called on New England, including a 3rd and goal late in the half where Nelson was mugged. The 2nd half was called more evenly but even then Revis ran through Decker on a key 3rd down in the 4th quarter.

2) The Jets shoved the ball down the Patriots’ throat in the 1st half and continued that trend throughout the game – The Jets ran the ball 26 times for 124 yards in the 1st half and dominated the line of scrimmage. Chris Ivory was running people over on his way to 69 yards on 14 carries. Geno Smith scrambled efficiently for 27 yards on 4 carries and his footwork was a big part of the passes he did complete in the 1st half.  The Jets finished with 43 carries for 218 yards. Ivory had 107 yards on 21 carries, Johnson had 61 on 13 carries and Smith had 37 yards on 7 carries.

3) However not getting in the end zone in the 1st half rendered that success meaningless – The Jets could not finish any of their drives settling for field goals from 22, 46, 47 and 27 yards. Their failures were a mixture of inopportune penalties, conservative play calling and uncalled penalties on New England. On the 1st drive a touchdown was taken off of the board by a holding penalty on Aboushi, the 2nd drive had a 10 yard run to the Patriot 10 called back by a holding penalty on Colon, there was a key drop by Jace Amaro, then a 3rd down where no route made it to the end zone.

4) The Jets finally broke through to start the 2nd half – The Jets went 11 plays and 80 yards for their 1st touchdown to start the 2nd half making their 1st 5 drives all scores and all 9 plays or longer. The Jets continued to pound the ball and Chris Ivory finished the drive with a 1 yard dive over the top for the score to give the Jets the lead 19-17. The Jets gave the lead back to the Patriots 20-19 and punted twice to end the 3rd quarter. Smith led the Jets on a huge 86 yard drive that finished with a touchdown pass to Cumberland to bring the Jets within 2 but the 2 point play failed when Smith led Amaro too far/Amaro was held.

5) Blown and soft coverages doom the Jets defensively – The Jets lost Shane Vereen on the Patriots’ 1st drive when Antonio Allen bit and didn’t pick Vereen up when he was passed off to him. Brandon LaFell got loose for 24 yards on that drive as well. Vereen found a spot between Davis and Walls for a short touchdown in the 2nd quarter. Gronkowski had multiple catches when he shook free of coverage none more glaring than a 20 yard catch on the Patriots’ final 1st half drive where he was allowed to get out-of-bounds afterwards as well. That was the most passive half of football I have ever seen from a Rex Ryan team and they still gave up the big play which is very frustrating considering how well they ran the football and controlled the clock.

6) In the 2nd half is Jets started to get some pressure but Antonio Allen’s mental error costs them- Barnes, Richardson, Babin, Wilkerson, and Pace all made Brady throw quicker than he wanted to and the result were shorter gains when they were complete and more throwaways and drops for incompletions due to the ball having to come out hot. However, Antonio Allen lost Amendola on 3rd and goal from the 19 for a touchdown which is inexcusable. That stretched the Patriot lead to 8 midway through the 4th quarter.

7) Nick Folk makes them all except for the 58 yard game-winner – Folk is now 12/13 on the year with his 4 first half field goals and he bailed the Jets out on a missed coverage where his final field goal should have been blocked but he somehow snuck it between the uprights. The Jets iced him when Aboushi failed to come on the field before his 46 yard attempt but, no problem, Folk made that one too. However when the Jets trotted him out there for a 58 yard game-winner it was blocked ending the Jets comeback attempt.

8) Injuries – Geno Smith was knocked out of the game for a play with a leg injury in the 4th quarter. Bilal Powell left the game in the 3rd quarter with an apparent head injury and Chris Ivory intermittently left the game with some ankle discomfort. Antwan Barnes made his return from injury a good one both getting pressure on Brady and setting the edge against the run.