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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Jets wide receiver Tim Patrick said this week that the offense can be the best in the NFL.
It’s time to see if the team can back up that talk.
The Jets (2-3) face a Patriots (3-2) team that has the No. 5 defense in yards allowed and No. 4 in points allowed. The Jets are going to have to find a way to score points in this game because the Patriots offense seems to have figured out its early issues — they put up 45 points and 536 yards in a win over the Raiders last week. Quarterback Drake Maye has thrown seven touchdowns and one interception in his past two games.
“We know that it is going to be a challenge,” Jets coach Aaron Glenn said. “Our guys will be ready for it. Tough team, good players. Obviously, [Maye is] a guy that was up for the MVP last year. Actually, the last couple of weeks, man he’s been playing really, really well. And the one thing about their offense is they’ve been pushing the ball down the field.”
The Jets felt good after a 17-12 victory over the Browns last week snapped a three-game losing skid. But the reality is their offense still struggled. If the Browns didn’t botch a snap on a punt, handing the Jets the ball on the 23-yard line, we might have spent the week talking about an offense that put up just 10 points. Instead, the win covered up the warts.
The Jets pointed to a rushing attack led by Braelon Allen’s 116 yards last week, but 108 of those came after contact and the Browns missed eight tackles on Allen. That indicates the offensive line was not necessarily opening up holes, but Allen was able to create yards on his own.
The offense enters this game ranked 26th in yards per game and 27th in points. They managed just 14 first downs and 142 passing yards last week against the Browns.
Then, there are the penalties. The Jets entered the week tied with the Chargers for second in the NFL with 47 penalties, two behind the Browns. They have had some especially troubling penalties on offense. They had three holding calls and three false starts last week that hurt their drives.
Glenn said the team needs to overcome those setbacks.
“The one thing that we focus on is, it’s a negative play, but we have plays to be able to get out of that,” Glenn said. “That’s where we need to have confidence, and that’s why our guys are having confidence when we get in a situation where it’s first-and-15: OK we have a play that’ll give us 65 percent of those 15 yards back. Then we have another play to get us into a manageable third down, and let’s just keep going after that. You don’t want them, but you have the confidence that you can get out of them.”
This would be a statement victory for the Jets, who are 13-47 in the AFC East over the past 10 years and 4-26 in road division games. The Patriots are the defending AFC champions, and this would be the best Jets victory in years.
“There’s a premium on this one because it is our first one [in the division],” wide receiver Garrett Wilson said. “I don’t know how to exactly put it, but it’s a big-ass game.”
Foxborough has been particularly unkind to the Jets. They are 1-14 in Gillette Stadium since Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan led the 2010 team to an upset win there in the playoffs. The lone win came in the season finale in 2023 when New England had Bailey Zappe at quarterback.
The Jets have not won a division title since 2002 and have not come close to one since 2010. If the organization is ever going to turn, it will start with these division games
“To put yourself in the hunt, it’s how did you stack up with the teams you play twice a year?” Wilson said. “And this is our first one.”