Jets-Patriots on ‘Thursday Night Football’: What We Learned from New England’s 27-14 win

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1. Maye, Vrabel earned national spotlight with eighth straight win. It wasn’t his finest game of the season, but Drake Maye kept the Patriots rolling with a solid showing in Thursday night’s win over the Jets. Maye hit on his first 11 throws of the night, which was his longest career streak to start a game, but he cooled off a bit, throwing a few passes that could have been picked and missing a few open targets. Still, Maye rebounded with downfield shots to Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins, earning some “MVP” chants from the Foxborough crowd after one ad-libbed conversion to Diggs. Maye didn’t turn it over, which was his best stat. Hollins couldn’t haul in what would have been a catch of 50-plus yards, and Maye couldn’t turn a Justin Fields fumble at the Jets’ 8-yard line into a touchdown. The Patriots had more empty possessions than you’d like to see against a depleted defense, but Maye didn’t do anything to hurt his MVP chances, and the Patriots have won eight straight games in a season for the first time since Tom Brady was QB. That also reflects well on Mike Vrabel, who might be one of the Coach of the Year favorites now.
2. Fields can’t elevate shorthanded Jets offense. With Garrett Wilson injured, the Jets had to be creative offensively to generate yards — and they had a pretty good formula on the opening drive, marching 14 plays and 72 yards for a TD and eating up half the first quarter. They were running effectively — nine straight runs, 11 total — and keeping Drake Maye off the field. But the Jets seemed to get away from that formula the next three drives of the first half, all three-and-outs. They returned to the run-heavy approach at various points in the second half, but Fields was guilty of a painful grounding call and — down 10 points midway through the fourth quarter — coughed up a fumble that led to a Patriots field goal. Fields stung the Patriots early and late in the game, but why he wasn’t used more as a runner was a curious decision. He and Breece Hall touched the ball on nearly half the Jets’ offensive plays, but it could have been more in a game that never truly was a blowout.  
3. Henderson stepped up again for the Patriots. In his first nine NFL games, TreVeyon Henderson scored one touchdown. In the span of the past four days, Henderson has increased his TD total to six and taken control of the New England backfield in the process. Henderson scored the Patriots’ three TDs, the first two on the ground and the third through the air — the rookie’s first NFL TD reception. That made Henderson one of two Patriots rookies with three or more TDs in a single game, joining Rob Gronkowski, who was honored at halftime after retiring a Patriot. Henderson’s first TD run was a gem, powering through contact into the end zone, and he showed great vision on the second. With Rhamondre Stevenson out again, Henderson logged his first 20-touch game in the NFL, closed the game out and looks to be New England’s feature back for the foreseeable future.
4. Mitchell struggled in Jets debut. Considered an intriguing throw-in in the Sauce Gardner trade, Adonai Mitchell received de facto WR1 treatment with Garrett Wilson out but didn’t impress in his Jets debut. The Jets didn’t hesitate to get Mitchell involved, but he caught only one 10-yard pass on six targets. When throwing to anyone other than Mitchell, Justin Fields was 14 of 20 passing for 106 yards and a TD. Fields had more success throwing to John Metchie III. In just his second game as a Jet, Metchie caught a TD on a broken play and led New York in receiving yards with 45. Mitchell dropped a pretty deep ball from Fields, and Fields and Mitchell couldn’t connect on a wide-open third-down play right before the half. They just seemed off all night, even if being covered by the Patriots’ Christian Gonzalez is no easy assignment. Physical talent has never been the issue with Mitchell, and he’ll have plenty of time to acclimate to the Jets’ offense, but his debut was a dud.
5. Patriots’ defense did its job, even with some warts. The Patriots will take 14 points and 245 yards allowed almost every game, but the defense did allow the Jets to convert eight third downs and keep it a relatively close game most of the night. The Jets didn’t have many offensive options outside the run game, but the Patriots still allowed them to average 5.0 yards per rush and march deep into New England territory three times. They also received some potentially concerning news with defensive tackle Milton Williams, who left the game with an ankle injury. He tried to return but came out after only a few plays and didn’t play in the second half. In his place, Khyiris Tonga was disruptive all night, Elijah Ponder had his second sack in as many games and Christian Barmore had his first sack of the season. This was a solid performance overall, but the Patriots lost contain multiple times on Fields, which no doubt will give Mike Vrabel some homework material for his defense over the mini-bye.

Next Gen Stats Insight for Jets-Patriots (via NFL Pro): TreVeyon Henderson gained more rushing yards after contact (70) than total rushing yards (62) in his three-TD performance against the Jets. Henderson forced a career-high nine missed tackles across 24 touches, while playing on 56 of 62 (90%) of offensive snaps.

NFL Research: The Patriots have reached eight straight victories in a single season for the eighth time in franchise history and the first without Tom Brady. They reached the Super Bowl in four of those previous seven seasons, but only won one of those Super Bowls.