Patriots vs. Jets: Full Report Card Grades for New England
In another week that was not what you would call a "pretty" win, the New England Patriots prevailed in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets.
Tom Brady was clearly hampered for the entirety of the game, but he put the team on his back and settled in for a signature game-winning drive that we have all become accustomed to. By finding his rookie wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell, who burned old buddy Darrelle Revis for two touchdowns, including the game-winner, the Patriots were able to escape New Jersey with a solid divisional win.
They came out flat and uninspired, but the Patriots played like a different team for most of the second half, and it propelled them to a victory.
Brady continues to be the greatest of all time, as he earned a milestone 200th career win that puts him in a tie with Peyton Manning that he will break likely next week.
The Patriots are still working out a lot of kinks, but they are starting to piece some nice football together at various times, and this is all setting them up for another postseason run at Brady and the franchise's fifth Super Bowl title.
Quarterback
1 of 10
There were some ridiculous calls on Twitter to put in Jimmy Garoppolo after the first quarter and a half because Brady was clearly playing at about 50 percent at best. With a lingering knee injury likely suffered in the closing seconds of last week's game against the San Francisco 49ers, Brady looks off the mark. Though the only thing that was ridiculous is doubting Brady.
On the final drive of the game, Brady used all the magic he had left for the day to plant his back foot and deliver some big-time throws, including the pass up the seam to Chris Hogan where Brady perfectly looked off the safety with his eyes. Brady also hit Mitchell on some huge throws throughout the game, including two touchdowns, and nearly connected for another on a fade in the back-right corner of the end zone.
It wasn't all perfect for Brady, as he finished the game 30-of-50 with 286 yards and two touchdowns. He was inaccurate on his deep passes and missed too many throws early on where he misfired with overthrows and wild passes. Luckily, none came back to haunt him.
Brady's game-winning drive in signature fashion makes up for many of his earlier issues, as they were likely all related to his injured knee.
Grade: B+
Running Back
2 of 10
Once again, the Patriots have a trio of solid running backs.
Dion Lewis: He was shifty as can be, as most evident on an opening screen catch at the start of the game. Lewis had a few contributions in the passing game, and he also had a nice 15-yard run. He's back and will be worked into the offense more and more.
LeGarrette Blount: This clearly wasn't a great matchup for Blount, as the Jets boast one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. But the big RB delivered, with his biggest run setting up the time-eating kneels of the victory formation.
James White: He almost scored on the two-point conversion, and he probably should have gotten that ball across. That's something Bill Belichick will not be happy about, since the execution was good but White was moving too quickly and lost awareness to get the ball over the line. But let's praise White for his big 4th-and-4 conversion as he stretched and got exactly to the first-down marker earlier in the drive.
Grade: B
Wide Receiver
3 of 10
A round of applause goes out to rookie Malcolm Mitchell, as his clutch plays lifted the Patriots to victory. He sends this positional unit's grade way, way up.
In a less discussed play of the game, Mitchell ignited the then-lifeless Patriots with a great catch on 3rd-and-5 in the second quarter. The Patriots then started to move the football. Mitchell's celebration and energy after the catch breathed some life into the offense and the sideline as he pumped everyone up.
Mitchell also bested former Patriot and struggling cornerback Darrelle Revis for two touchdowns.
Julian Edelman had eight catches for 83 yards on 11 targets and made one really tough grab in traffic on a third down.
Danny Amendola was nonexistent, though the return of Chris Hogan was a positive note for the offense, as he caught that big seam pass to set up the game-winning touchdown.
Mitchell's emergence is a major plus for the offense going forward.
Grade: A-
Tight End
4 of 10
Can we just give this grade a sad emoji?
Rob Gronkowski looked poised to have a decent game, as he received two early targets, but the the star tight end injured his back and was ruled out for the game. His injury is not likely to be serious, and he shouldn't miss any time, but the takeaway here is the Patriots should bubble-wrap Gronk until January.
The Patriots were forced to play with no tight ends after Martellus Bennett exited the game for a few plays after a nice run on an end-around. Bennett had a quiet game, but he showed his toughness by coming back into the game on a bad ankle.
Grade: N/A or an A for Bennett's toughness
Offensive Line
5 of 10
Facing the Jets defensive line is one of the toughest positional matchups in the NFL even though the Jets are now a 3-8 team. So this wasn't going to be an easy one for especially the interior of the offensive line.
While David Andrews was getting manhandled for most of the game but even more so early on, the offensive line actually had a quietly solid game.
Brady wasn't sacked by the fearsome Jets defensive front. Zero sacks. That's a major win.
Brady was smacked around quite a bit, especially early on, though.
Marcus Cannon made a heads-up play by reacting right on queue to Leonard Williams jumping offsides on a 4th-and-inches.
The run game was also fairly effective considering the circumstances and opponent.
Grade: B+
Defensive Line
6 of 10
Starting with the run defense, the Patriots deserve some major praise. Malcom Brown made a nice play by running laterally and landing a hit on Matt Forte that allowed the rest of the team to swarm to the football. That was the story of stopping the run game, as the Patriots held the Jets to a measly 2.8 yards per carry.
The pass rush was an entirely different story. Other than Trey Flowers drawing a holding call early in the game that ended up being declined, the pass rush was back to being nonexistent. That was until the final big play of the game where Chris Long landed his first sack since week 1. Long stripped Ryan Fitzpatrick of the football, and Flowers pounced on the loose ball to clinch the game.
The defensive line delivered when it needed to, and sometimes one big play at the right time is almost enough to erase the bad.
Grade: A-
Linebacker
7 of 10
Dont'a Hightower had a pretty quiet game with just three total tackles. He was handled when he approached the line of scrimmage.
Meanwhile, Elandon Roberts stepped up big time as he put his run-stuffing skills on display. No play was better evidence of this than in the first quarter when Roberts burst into the backfield with perfect downhill execution and blew up Forte.
Let's give a little credit to Kyle Van Noy who ended up in a man-to-man coverage situation against the way-faster C.J. Spiller on a deep route. Van Noy probably should have been flagged for defensive pass interference, but he stuck with Spiller through the play in the ultimate mismatch. No linebacker can make that play, but Van Noy was close, and that counts for something when he is mainly a pass-rusher right now.
Grade: B-
Secondary
8 of 10
Outside of forcing a big turnover where Devin McCourty held wide receiver Robby Anderson's arm, allowing Malcolm Butler to knock the ball free and recover it, Butler had a very un-Butler-like game.
Butler was beat for two touchdowns and at least seven catches, including the "Butt Touchdown" by Quincy Enunwa. Whether it was Brandon Marshall or Enunwa, Butler lost the physical battles, and this was his worst game of the season. The Jets' big wide receivers were too much for the Patriots' top cover corner to handle.
Eric Rowe had one nice pass breakup where I thought he timed the contact perfectly.
And in the "we-don't-praise-him-when-he's-good" spotlight, Logan Ryan had two passes defensed and led the team with five solo tackles and seven total tackles. That's a pretty good game for the highly criticized cornerback who has now had back-to-back quiet but good weeks.
Grade: C
Special Teams
9 of 10
Getting the bad out of the way, Stephen Gostkowski missed his fourth field goal of the season as he pulled a field goal wide that just felt like it would come back to haunt the Patriots. Luckily, it did not.
Gostkowski bounced back by making three field goals in the game, but he clearly lost the confidence of Belichick, who didn't send his kicker out for a long field goal on fourth down. The Patriots ended up converting on the down. Basically, Gostkowski needs to kick all of his field goals from the left hash.
Alan Branch blocked a field goal that paid off big time as the big fella got way up high for the block (h/t Mike Reiss).
Nate Ebner drew a block in the back on a key late-game kickoff, which was a heads-up play.
Grade: B+
Coaching
10 of 10
If the Patriots could get a low grade for time management, they would. Belichick wasted about 24 seconds at the end of the first half, as the team still had a timeout to use and instead burned the time. The Patriots also called a timeout after a close spot in the first quarter that gave the Jets the opportunity to discuss the play and throw the challenge flag. The call was overturned and the Patriots were forced to punt the ball away.
Belichick also didn't accept a holding call that would have backed up the Jets another 10 yards and pushed them out of field-goal range. It would have meant a repeat of third down, but it was a long situation and the Jets ended up making the field goal.
The Patriots were forced to call a timeout as they had 10 men on the field at one point, too.
The offensive playcalling was mainly good outside of the fake halfback dive and fake end-around screen pass that was too cute at a time when the offense was finally starting to gain some momentum. The 4th-and-4 play call pass to James White was an excellent decision and perfectly executed.
The defense made some very good second-half adjustments for the second week in a row.
The Patriots were also disciplined, as they only had two penalties for 15 yards.
The time management was a major issue, as well as a couple of gaffs, but the halftime adjustments and discipline of the team help out the grade.
Grade: C+
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