The Patriots played the third down in man-free coverage, with man-to-man underneath a single-high safety. Mitchell ran his fade route from a condensed split in tight to the formation to the quarterback’s left, matched up on Gonzalez. The Pats Pro Bowler blankets Mitchell on the deep target, while FS Jaylinn Hawkins ranges over the top from his perch to intercept the pass.
As head coach Mike Vrabel says, New England will need its best players to play their best come playoff time. After a shakier performance vs. the Ravens, Gonzalez shut down Mitchell on Sunday.
6. Patriots Starting Defense Limits Jets RB Breece Hall in First Three Quarters
The Patriots run defense was another phase we wanted to see improve, going up against Jets explosive RB Breece Hall, who came into the game with 24 explosive runs on the season. With the score getting out of hand quickly, it’s hard to gauge how effective the Patriots run defense would’ve been as the game wore on. Having said that, Hall was mostly held in check besides a 19-yard run in the first three quarters, with his 59-yard touchdown run coming in the fourth quarter when the Patriots had their backups in the game.
Before pulling the starters in the fourth quarter, New England held Hall to 53 rushing yards on 12 attempts with three stuffed runs and only one explosive rush (19 yards). Hall did get away from a few tackles on a 21-yard check-down, but he didn’t make a huge impact on the game. Hopefully, the run defense film backs up what the box score said in the first three quarters.
7. Patriots O-Line Holds Jets to 33.3% Pressure Rate Down Two Starters
Another area where the Patriots depth was tested was along the offensive line, where New England continues to play without standout rookie LT Will Campbell (knee, IR) and was missing LG Jared Wilson (concussion). On Sunday, super-sub Ben Brown, fresh off a contract extension with the team, started for Wilson at left guard. It was the second time that the Patriots started the following O-Line combination: LT Lowe, LG Brown, C Bradbury, RG Onwenu, RT Moses.
On the stat sheet, Maye was only under pressure on eight of his 24 drop-backs, or 33.3%, which is a manageable number. The Pats also had a 41% rushing success rate (61st percentile), but if there was one nitpick offensively in this game, it was short-yardage rushing. New England was only successful on one of its three late-down rush attempts, getting stuffed on a 3rd-and-goal from the NYJ 1. Those “power” situations will be critical in the postseason, either to move the chains or punch the ball into the end zone.
8. Patriots Limit Explosive Jets Return Units, K Andy Borregales Misses From 41 Yards
Another key to the game for the Patriots heading into Sunday’s matchup was limiting the Jets explosive return units, with New York’s special teams ranking first in DVOA and kickoff return average this season (30.1). On Sunday, the Pats special teams held the Jets to a 28.5-yard kickoff return average with a long of 35 yards, not too bad, while forcing two fair catches on punts. After allowing three big returns vs. the Bills, it was a good test against an explosive Jets return unit that the Patriots mostly passed. That said, Borregales missed a 41-yard field goal on a Dobbs drive, and the Patriots surrendered a successful fake punt, which they corrected on the Jets subsequent fake punt attempt later on the same drive.
“We learned when we touched the hot stove when we played Buffalo the second time around. Like, that wasn’t us,” captain Brenden Schooler said. “We did a good job relaying the message across the team the whole week, starting on Wednesday. Reiterating how important this phase is for us.”
Overall, we probably shouldn’t make any grand proclamations about the results in Sunday’s win due to the level of competition, but the Patriots are back to making inferior teams look inferior, and that’s a sign of a great football team.
