The New England Patriots won their eight straight game on Thursday night, defeating the visiting New York Jets 27-14 at Gillette Stadium. They thus became the first team in the NFL to win nine games this
year, are now the top seed in the AFC, and secured their first winning season since 2021.
With all that said, let’s get into our lessons learned from the rivalry game on Thursday night.
The Patriots are giving 2001 vibes
The Patriots have the longest win streak in the NFL right now, and are looking well on their way to at least qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in four years. This all is coming after winning a total of eight games in the last two seasons combined. A remarkable turnaround, reminiscent of the Patriots’ 2001 team.
Back then, the Patriots signed one the best free agent class in the history of the NFL, bringing in starters all over the field, including, but not limited to, Mike Compton, Roman Phifer, Antowain Smith, David Patten, and a certain Mike Vrabel. They also had a heck of a draft, adding Richard Seymour and Matt Light to solidify both sides of the line. While not all of the additions became household names, they contributed to the Patriots winning their first Super Bowl at the end of the 2001 season.
This year, the Patriots have brought in a ton of impactful players as well, including Stefon Diggs, Mack Hollins, Milton Williams, Robert Spillane, Khyiris Tonga, and Morgan Moses, among others. They also have gotten big contributions from rookies Will Campbell, Jared Wilson, TreVeyon Henderson, and Craig Woodson.
In both of those seasons, New England came seemingly out of nowhere and developed into serious contenders in the AFC and NFL overall. Time will tell if this year’s Patriots can make a deep playoff run like the 2001 team did, but they are looking great right now and like a team to set the foundation for years to come.
More lessons learned from Patriots vs. Jets
New receivers keep fueling the offense: Both Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins had big games on Thursday night, and they have been reliable targets for Drake Maye all season long. In four of the last five games, either Hollins or Diggs have led the Patriots in receiving, and Thursday was another night where the two of them showed off their importance to the Patriots offense. Hollins has proven himself very useful in both the passing and running game, with his play on Thursday highlighted by a leaping catch over the middle. Diggs, on the other hand, was open all night long, and was the engine that kept the offense moving. Going back to the point above, it’s tough to do better than the Patriots did in overhauling their offense this offseason.
Kyle Williams is not ready for a big role: After taking a pass to house in Tampa last Sunday, Kyle Williams failed to duplicate the magic against the Jets. In fact, he found himself on the wrong page with Drake Maye all night on Thursday and ended the game with zero catches even though he was targeted three times. Williams looks like he can help the Patriots in the long run, but he’s just not there yet. He’ll get 10 days to try to figure it out.
TreVeyon Henderson has arrived: The Patriots scored three touchdowns on Thursday night, all courtesy of rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson. The first two were rushing scores, with the second being a fantastic run, and the third was a receiving touchdown from Maye. The Patriots didn’t have a ton of success running the football, but Henderson found a way to contribute all game. He averaged only 3.3 yards per carry, but he cashed in when he got to the red zone, plus he contributed in the passing game, finishing with five catches for 31 yards. Most impressively might be his pass blocking, though, which has gotten significantly better since the start of the season. Overall, you can see how much more comfortable he is in the system now. The Patriots are still going to want to give Rhamondre Stevenson his fair share of snaps whenever he’s ready to come back, but Henderson has proven that he deserves to get as many, if not more, reps than the veteran with his play.
Stop blocking DEs with TEs: Drake Maye was sacked only once on Thursday night, and it was by Will McDonald, who had four quarterback takedowns in his previous game. That one sack came while being blocked by Hunter Henry without any help, and the rep went as expected. The Patriots have actually relied on their tight ends as pass protectors a lot this year, but the results are mixed. It is a positive that they throw a lot at a defense to deal with, but Henry against McDonald, for example, creates a mismatch that very well can put the offense in a challenging situation.
There is still a lot to work on: Even though they have won eight in a row, there are a few issues that the Patriots still need to clean up. First is opening drive performance. The Patriots get gashed almost every week on the first drive of the game, and that happened again on Thursday night. The defense buckles down after that, but you can’t just give away points, especially when you’re playing against teams better than the Jets. The other thing that they can improve is their ability to put teams away. For the second straight week, the Patriots had an opportunity to put the Jets away at the end of the first half and the start of the second, and they finished those drives with a missed field goal and a three-and-out. Leaving teams to hang around hasn’t come back to bite them yet, but when you’re in the playoffs playing against superior teams, it’s something that could turn out to be a season-ending issue.
Drake doesn’t play at MVP level, except when he does: Drake Maye is looking like a serious MVP candidate this year, but that also means that the bar has gone up significantly. He played well on Thursday, going 25-for-34 for 281 yards and a touchdown. He was very good, but he wasn’t at the MVP level that we’ve all been accustomed to seeing him at, outside of the drive in the third quarter that ended in his passing touchdown. On that particular series, of course, Maye looked every bit like the NFL’s most valuable player. He had back-to-back outstanding throws to Stefon Diggs, which were the types of plays we are used to seeing him make all season. He was uncharacteristically wild on a few of his pass attempts, but still played solid overall. Did he have his best game? No, but he kept his MVP hopes alive on Thursday night and more importantly led the Patriots to victory.
Christian Barmore keeps wreaking havoc: Christian Barmore has been a disruptive force all season long, but hadn’t been able to break through with a sack all year. He finally ended that streak on Thursday. For a guy who missed all of last season, and had concerns about whether he’d be able to play again at all, this year has been a great one (despite the benching that occurred against the Browns earlier this year). Now that his medical issues appear to be a thing of the past, Barmore is back to being the force that he was before, regardless of what the stats say. The Patriots have arguably the best interior defensive line in the league, and Barmore is a huge part of it.
Andy Borregales is still a rookie kicker: The Patriots’ kicker hadn’t missed a kick since missing a pair of extra points in Week 2 in Miami, but he sent a 45-yard field goal attempt wide right at the end of the first half. In warmups, he had hooked his kicks left from that side of the field, but that particular kick never hooked, and simply sailed past the target. Obviously, though, he is still a rookie and hasn’t kicked in cold conditions before, so there is still a learning curve. And as he showed, he bounced back in style by hitting two more field goals down the stretch.
The Patriots need those the 10 days off: The Patriots have been a little banged up, and they got a little more banged up on Thursday night when Milton Williams left with an injury. Mike Vrabel later said that Williams wanted to go back out there, but they ultimately decided that it was not worth the risk. The Patriots could also use Kayshon Boutte back for the passing game, and Rhamondre Stevenson to at least give TreVeyon Henderson a break running the ball. Hopefully, with 10 days off, the Patriots can get healthy and be back to full strength, or at least close to it, for next Sunday’s trip to Cincinnati.
